The History of Aprons

Just got this email and thought l would share, so many memories came to mind of my Grandmother and her apron, and l love the last line

The History of 'APRONS'

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few and because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons required less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold, Grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.
After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the autumn, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

Send this to those who would know (and love) the story about Grandma's aprons.

REMEMBER:
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. ٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶

The Govt. Would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but love.

That's lovely griffo . thanks for sharing.

Nice.

In my (Scottish) family, aprons are pinnies. Actually, I'm wearing one at the moment, having just finished baking.

So true - thanks for sharing

Nellbee we knew them as pinnies as well
An interesting note in the email was a picture of 2 patterns for aprons and a note that the size 14-16 was classed as a medium size apron and 12-14 was a small, how times have changed there as well
There were so many different styles of aprons as well

nowweareinthemodernageasmygrandkidssayiwearan
aproneveryday. verymodernones.foundsomeniceoneson
trademe. bothmygrandmothersusedtowearoneallthetime.
keepyourclothesclean.cheersforthegoodoldapron.

That was so lovely - thank you for sharing it.Brings back lots of memories.

Thanks griffo4.It made me want to check on the derivation of that friendly word.I've got a long stripey butcher's apron which I fling on if I'm doing something messy with flour.

"apron (n.)
mid-15c., faulty separation of a napron (c.1300), from O.Fr. naperon 'small table-cloth', dim. of nappe 'cloth', from L. mappa 'napkin'. Napron was still in use as recently as late 16c. The shift of Latin -m- to -n- was a tendency in Old French (e.g. conter from computare, printemps from primum, natte 'mat, matting',from matta). Symbolic of 'wife's business' from 1610s. Apron-string tenure was in reference to property held in virtue of one's wife, or during her lifetime only."

i made some for sale. put a sign outside advertising aprons for sale.school boy came in and wanted to know what an apron was. he wasnt sure how to say the word.

Known by the same name in the NE of England where I come from, I too, wear one when I'm baking.I don't get as much use out of it as my Mum and Granny did, they wore theirs 24/7, posh ones for weekends though. The OP post brought home a lot of childhood memories for me.

What a mine of interesting information you are elliehen !

lsn't it amazing how some things stir up some long forgotten, lovely memories of our childhood