(SBA) - Last Saturday, I attended the annual “Lavendar Ladies’ Luncheon” at Community United Methodist Church. This event has been a long-standing tradition in Sergeant Bluff sponsored the Church circles, honoring women who are seventy and older. In the past, the luncheon included women throughout the community, but as our church population ages, there are fewer and fewer younger Circle members to do the cooking and decorations for this elegant event. As always, the tables were beautifully decorated and the meal was delicious. After the meal, Jerry Logeman from the Sergeant Bluff Historical Museum provided the program. The theme for his presentation was the history of aprons. What follows is a truncated version of his talk.
As long as there has been clothing, dirty work and the need to keep clean, aprons have existed. The earliest recorded instance for wearing aprons is found in medieval paintings, as early as the 1300s. The word “apron” comes from old French for napkin or small tablecloth, “naperon”. In medieval times, seed sowers wore white colored aprons to carry seeds into the fields. Male workmen, including blacksmiths, wore aprons to protect their bodies and their clothing. For centuries, women have worn aprons to protect their clothing as they cooked and cleaned. Aprons were used to protect surfaces from hot pans and as dusters during housecleaning. Women used their aprons to collect eggs and vegetables from their gardens and to shelter shy children when company arrived. Many young women learned to sew by crafting their own aprons. I sewed my first apron from gingham in 7th grade home economics. Mary Lee Wise remembers that her first apron included a terry cloth scrap of fabric so that the wearer could wipe their hands as they cooked. In cold weather, women wrapped their aprons around their arms for warmth. The aprons also wiped sweat from many brows as women toiled over hot stoves
Since early times, apron-like garments were worn at the front of the body, for practical, decorative and ritualistic purposes. There is no end to the number of patterns that can be used to craft aprons. Half aprons (like the first one that I sewed) extended from the waist to the thighs. A full (or bib) apron also covers the chest, tying behind the waist. Crossback aprons include straps that cross in the back and come up over the shoulders. An early apron style was the pinafore which tied at the waist, but was pinned to the garment below at the neck. In the early 1900s, young girls often wore such aprons over their day dresses to keep them clean. Today, Amish girls wear such aprons daily. A “hostess apron” was a half apron, often from daintier fabrics including organdy, lace, satin, silk and cotton lawn. These aprons were really for “show” and not for work. Sharon Krogh remembers the ladies who served refreshments after her wedding wearing matching aprons to signify their role in the happy event. A smock is more like a dress than an apron and may have sleeves. Such aprons were popular in the 1930s for painting and gardening. A cobbler’s apron covers both the front and the back with ties or buttons on the sides. Such aprons were popular in the 1950s. A chef’s apron is made of a single piece of fabric that goes over the head and ties in the back. These aprons are popular with men who barbecue and often include clever sayings. Logeman brought many aprons with him as part of his presentation. One clever pattern is made from a man’s dress shirt and can be purchased at the Historical Museum for $10. The Museum is open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. One of Jerry’s most interesting aprons was crafted of many metal pieces, held together by small metal rings. Such aprons were worn on the kill floor of packing houses and the pattern placement of the metal pieces followed the trajectory of the man’s blade. These mail-like garments were worn underneath canvas aprons that could be more easily cleaned of blood and detritus than could the metal aprons.
During the Depression, when fancy fabrics were too expensive for daily wear, many women fashioned their aprons out of feed sacks, often embellishing them with embroidery or rick rack. During World War II when many women working in factories wore sturdy aprons to protect their clothing. As clothing became cheaper to buy, many women quit wearing aprons and as women moved into the workforce and more meals were consumed outside the home, aprons have become a thing of the past. My mother, who never cooked, owned a single apron—one that she would wear only when entertaining her bridge club. Today, aprons are enjoying a resurgence in popularity and retro patterns are sold once again in fabric stores. As more young people watch the cooking shows that are ubiquitous to every television channel and experiment with making meals “from scratch,” perhaps aprons may once again be worn with pride, as well as for practical reasons.
