Day 4 of an apron a day....

Anyone hosting a party? Well, this was all the rage of a store-bought hostess apron. I have never been much for the see-through aprons, but they are cute. Never made or bought one; too many weird thoughts of housewives meeting husbands at the door in this and heels and not much else. This is cute but is definitely not one of my favorites because of the fore mentioned reason. I like the pattern a lot, so I will probably make one, but it will be more Valentine's (notice heart-shaped pocket) with normal non-see-through cotton fabric.

This, of course, is a single pocket, tie around the waist hostess apron; 5 pieces (7 if you count the two ruffles) which makes this one fairly simple in structure.

The cat on the pocket is machine embroidered makes me wonder when she actually purchased this one. I wish I new the actual ages on these aprons if any one can help with that please post on the appropriate apron thanks.

I do have some cute sheer Halloween fabric who knows it may rub off on me some time in the future and I may end up with a halloween hostess apron. As Halloween can always be kitch and I would still love it. If you didn't know Halloween is my favorite holiday. Valentine's is my least favorite holiday followed by Mother's day.

We are trying to date these so far I think this one is 1950- 1960 because of the style of apron. Best bet 1950's.

Day 3 of an apron a day....

This is the second apron that used the same panel as yesterday's apron. As you can see, the pocket is lower on this apron and much larger. There is a lot of bias tape around the edges which gives it a stronger graphic image. I also took a better picture of the little Dutch girls on this one. This is still an over-the-head, tie around the waist type of apron ,but the pockets are actually one large pocket that was then sewn up the middle forming two pockets. The pockets are also at the very bottom of the apron.

We are trying to date these so far I think this one is 1930- 1940 because of the style of apron; probably 40's is the best bet.

Day 2 of an apron a day....

Another of GGH aprons.

This is one of two aprons that use this panel for an apron. Of course, this is a full apron and the other is also just a little different style than this one. I will post the other tomorrow and you can compare them and see which style you like better. The nice thing about panels like this is that you have variety in color in the apron without a lot of hard work.

This apron is a single pocket over the head tie around the waist sort of thing.

I am pulling patterns from all of these. I do have some panel fabric of my own that I will use when making up a new one of these.

When this is all done I hope to have a similar-style copy of all the aprons. Of course not the same fabrics, especially not the ones that are plastic.They were very useful, I'm just not sure I want to sew plastic. Yesterdays will be a challenge to reproduce with the embroidery and painting, but I think they will all be fun in their own way. Some are quick and easy, like this one; some difficult, like yesterday's.

We are trying to date these; so far I think this one is 1930- 1940 because of the style of apron.

An Apron a Day for a month or so.. Day 1

Great-Grandma Harbaugh (GGH) had a lot of aprons; some she made and wore, some we think her mother owned (that is saying something, too), some we think where just gifts or that she found junking or just purchased at the store. Not sure which are which. My in-laws plan on distributing them to the grandchildren on all sides of the family I think come Labor Day. Till then, they are in my possession; just on loan so I can try to make patterns from them for future use. Also so they can all be seen as one collection before being distributed throughout the family. So, I am going to try and post an apron a day, minus Sundays, till I get through all of them. If we find more later down the road, I will add them at that time. There are about 30 of them at the moment. I am posting a topic on the side bar called GGH aprons so if people just want to see the collection they can as the aprons get posted; this will also to make it easier for family to find them, as well.

They are all different styles; some with chicken scratch, embroidery, plastic, utilitarian, Sunday best, and so on.

Here is the first for your viewing pleasure:
This one has embroidery and lace and even some hand painting on the petals of the flowers. (None of these aprons are cleaned or pressed; pictures taken straight as they came from the drawers they had been stored in.) Since they are not mine, I do not want to possibly do something to them that may damage them in any way. So the pictures with show age and wrinkles just like we all do in time.

Bib section with embroidery and lace.

Pocket section of apron; two pockets on this apron, so pretty.

Here you can see the painting on the large petals of the flowers. Not sure if that was done first or second, meaning before or after the embroidery.

Full view of apron

We are trying to date these; so far I think this one is 1910- 1920 because of the style of apron. Probably late 1920's, close to 1930; I have seen a similar pattern dated 1928.


Update in the process of drafting a pattern from this one I discovered it was a pre-printed pattern. Meaning it was stamped with the pattern to be embroidered on it. If any one knows of this kit and has the old number I would greatly appreciate adding it to this post for family reference.