Kitchen Aprons

If you remember your grandmother or great grandmother, you probably recall her wearing a kitchen apron whilst she was home and dressed. Kitchen aprons began as a very simple but essential part of a woman’s wardrobe and date back before your grandma.

Women of the middle class did all their own work and in order to keep their clothes clean, they wore their kitchen aprons all day long. Lower class women may have owned only two dresses and keeping one as clean as possible was very important as well as having one as a backup. Women who had servants did not ever wear aprons. They didn’t have a need, but the servants wore aprons.

The first aprons were made of feed sacks and were not very stylish. They were decorated with simple rick rack and buttons if those items were available and either tied at the back or buttoned down the back. The aprons showed just a few inches of hemline in the 1920s and 1930’s. Wasting was not a practice during these hard times so kitchen aprons were made from any fabrics available.

Then came the fifties and times were more affluent. But the apron was then more of a uniform that added fashion to your dinner party outfit and magazines pictured many women wearing half aprons which cinched the waistline that were made of lovely materials. Some practical for day time and others more frilly for the dinner party. Many of these aprons are found in Vintage clothing stores, flea markets and Ebay.

The 1960s ushered in the slogans written on the full length kitchen apron. “Kiss the Cook” was popular and the funny slogans on aprons made them super as gifts. Dad took the kitchen apron out into the backyard to the BBQ pit where he was “King” at the grill.

Before the doctors’ white coats they were wearing aprons. Nuns’ habits were, and in some cases still are, protected by aprons. Nurses wore aprons as well as hospital technicians who did certain lab work. Children use their dad’s old shirts are aprons for finger painting and other art projects. Carpenters were aprons to hold tools and some short aprons to hold the tools are referred to as tool belts, but kitchen aprons are here to stay and are used once again in the modern kitchen as well as the professional kitchen.

You may have made aprons in the past. Patterns are still available, but your first project at home was a simple cutout and a chance to use your mom’s sewing machine. Vintage patterns are available. Do they still teach sewing in home economics? Learning to make a kitchen apron is a simple project that can incorporate a few sewing techniques for the beginner.

Practical kitchen aprons will be around forever. Nostalgic aprons are great to hang on the door knob of your kitchen cabinet, but also to wear to keep that cute white shirt from being splattered with today’s dinner or being splattered with baby’s dinner. Whatever your reason, the kitchen apron is here to stay and it is still fun to make your own fashion statement with one!

Kitchen Aprons at Kitchen Aprons and Retro Kitchen Aprons