My Grandmother's Aprons

My grandmother’s aprons embarrassed my mother to tears. There was an expression in the days that I was growing up, it was called, “going through the depression.” That was used whenever a child wanted something, or if you saw some things that were weird like I did. For instance if you wanted a piece of candy at the store, “they” would say, “if you ever went through the depression” you would know not to ask for things. These mind sets generally lasted a whole life time for these folks.
My grandmother had a chubby tummy. She, like most ladies in those days always wore an apron so their dress would not get “mussed”. Another word you don’t hear anymore.
Before I really get into the apron thing, you have to understand that most ladies had three different kinds of dresses. The first, being, a Sunday dress. The second kind of dress was a “good” dress. Most ladies had two of these. They were used for going into town to shop, or to go visiting. Then there was the “housedress”. This dress was worn every day of the week. Most were made from feed and flour sacks, scraps of materials, etc. They really would have taken a beating if it had not been for the apron. The apron had three different styles. The cobbler apron which wrapped completely around the ladies and was held together by a sash. The second was the most common apron. It was a full length apron that hooked over the head of the lady and also had a sash to keep it together. Most aprons had pockets to put hankies in and a multitude of things I saw come out of mother’s apron pockets.
The third kind of apron was a half apron, which was generally worn, if the lady was expecting company and might get caught in the kitchen while finishing up the meal for her guests. The half aprons were generally pretty, many with embroidery and finished with biased tape to match the material.
Half aprons when I was a pre-teen were used as gifts for waitresses at weddings. The waitresses wore these as they were serving the guests their cake and drinks. These aprons were lovely. They were most always organdy which was see through. The bride had them match the colors she had chosen for her wedding. If she used white organdy they were decorated with matching satin embroidery flowers and lace.
Okay, getting back to my grandma, she, of course, had gone through the depression. I had a feeling, however, she was extremely frugal anyway. She made her own aprons as most ladies did, but she leaned against the counters when she cooked and baked and wore out the “tummy” of her apron repeatedly. There was a fix for this. She patched the apron with an unmatched piece of material. She did this several times with several different colors, whatever she had scraps of. My mother would chide my grandma about her aprons all the time. She still had patched aprons when she died.
When I was ten years old I made my first apron. It was cotton and easy to work with. I thought I was doing a good job, but my work did not please my mother. She said and I quote because I can hear her say this many many times, “If a job is worth doing, it worth doing well.” I didn’t agree with her then, and I still don’t agree with her. I think that she was passing on to me what she had been taught when she made her first apron many many years ago.
A few years ago I sent my brother's daughter one of my Grandmother's aprons. It was lavender and white check with embroidered cross stich connecting the checks. I had starched and ironed it. As I was doing this, I thought, I wonder if Grandma starched and ironed her aprons. I think not, but I sure could be wrong.