The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a pot holder 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 fall, 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 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.
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'. They 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.
I received this in an email from a friend and it brought back memories of my Grandma Harkness and my Great Aunt Cora. They both wore aprons all the time. (And made them all - mostly from print feed sacks!) I remember them doing many of these things mentioned above, especially carrying eggs, baby chicks, apples and vegetables. I also wore an apron a lot of the time, especially when I had good clothes on.
Thought my daughter and granddaughters might enjoy this bit of history.
Hum...now I want one. Does that mean that I have to learn how to cook?!!
ReplyDeleteCool blog though, Gma! It's fun to hear you talk about Gma Harkness and Great Aunt Cora!
This made me very nostalgic for my grandmothers. They have both 'graduated' to something better, but I have many wonderful memories of them getting up early, donning the apron, and making the most scrumptious pancakes known to man. My entire pursuit in life is going to be to make a pancake 1/2 as delicious as them. My grandma anderson made sourdough "pannies" the night before.
ReplyDeleteI will now think of them more when I put on my apron (which I'm often teased about, even though it's a very manly red apron). Thanks for sharing.