From rickrack to ruffles

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jun 20, 2004 by Capital-Journal

F A S H I O N F O R W A R D

Aprons serve as ties to earlier times

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN NOWAK/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

BY LINDA LEE

If you don't wear an apron, I bet that you remember someone in your family who did. And just remembering that conjures up a different place, a simpler time, a story and a face. Aprons serve as symbols of home, motherhood and housewifery, from images of nurses wearing crisp white aprons attending soldiers, women wearing plain cotton aprons tilling the soil and gathering potatoes, and 1950s housewives serving the family dinner in their rickrack and ruffled edged aprons.

And let's not forget that our fathers and grandfathers have worn their share of aprons, too, as fishermen and tradespeople, and more recently, at the grill.

American slaves brought their aprons to America, embroidering and sewing their folk tales and family lore to them. Catherine Beecher in her Treatise on Domestic Economy in 1841, promoted the apron as the professional uniform of the housewife.

By the second half of the 19th century, more women began to wear aprons for their work in garment factories, hospitals, restaurants and shops.

During Word War I, women began to wear a new apron style called the Hooverette, which came out during the war when Herbert Hoover was food administrator. It was a wraparound full apron that "covered all of you." Affluent women in the 1920s wore decorative half aprons in silk or linen. The aprons of the 1930s were used for hard work. Garments were cut close to conserve fabric and aprons mirrored those fitted lines.

In the late 1940s and all of the 1950s, when women were encouraged to give up their wartime jobs and settle for "women's work," aprons were in their heyday. By the 1960s, women were questioning women's rights and as the era of glorified housework went by the wayside, so did aprons.

While aprons may not be the latest fashion craze, there is a serious new interest in collecting aprons and thereby studying our social history. On any given day, eBay lists about 500 vintage apron items for sale. Local antique stores always have a few on hand. And there are many more to be found in those attic trunks and boxes left behind by our mothers and aunts. If you are interested in learning more about collecting, "Aprons: Icons of the American Home," by Joyce Cheney, is a wonderful read.

While a few of our local stores such as Patio, Pool and Fireside, the Linen Tree and the Kitchen Gallery continue to sell new aprons, the majority of aprons are still handmade and handed down. McCalls pattern 3979 and Butterick pattern 6567 contain several views for making vintage aprons. The Sewing Workshop Pattern Collection offers the Tamari Apron pattern, an asymmetric, Asian-style apron. Sarah's Fabrics in downtown Lawrence has a great selection of '50s and '60s inspired cotton prints, perfect for making aprons.

Today's aprons are generally the one-cut, full-length barbecue style. Until Donna Karan or one of her high fashion contemporaries decides to put an apron on the runway and start a trend, it appears that the apron will continue to be relegated to the kitchen and the outdoor grill. hk

Linda Lee, Topeka, is director of interior design for EDDP Architects, owns The Sewing Workshop Pattern Collection, a line of innovative sewing patterns, and is an avid fashion follower. Readers can contact her at dezynn@aol.com.

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Fashion

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