Hello and welcome to Show & Tell Sunday for October 5th. This week's show and tell theme is Vintage Aprons, and there are lots of wonderful collections to visit today.
Thanks to Cindy at Junque Art for hosting this week. Cindy has the full list of participants listed on her site, and you'll also find them at the bottom of this post.
I'm having a special giveaway for Sunday and Monday visitors to this page, so please be to sure leave a comment at the bottom of this post to enter your name in the drawing. One lucky person will win the sparkly PINKTOBER Breast Cancer Awareness pin shown at the left. This is the 2008 limited edition pin from Hard Rock Cafe, and it's adorable. The silver body of the guitar is set with rhinestones (every girl's favorite), and it flips open to reveal the glittery pink BCA ribbon on the inside. Wear it on your favorite denim jacket and let the world know you support breast cancer screening and research. The drawing will be held Tuesday morning and the winner will be posted on my blog.
And now to the aprons. The ones I'm showing today were purchased at a rummage sale in Lincoln City, Oregon, during my 2 week junking trip through the Pacific Northwest in August. These aprons were 25 cents each ... dontcha just LOVE that? ... and most are destined for my eBay store.
The aprons are being modeled today by my well-endowed mannequin, Babe. Babe is 6'3" tall, and she got her name by standing around topless and generally startling whatever unsuspecting soul walked into the room, myself included. Once I became accustomed to her companionship, I started greeting her daily with a chipper "Hey Babe!"
Babe got all dressed up to show off the aprons in true Donna Reed/June Cleaver style, so she's also modeling two vintage dresses made by my mother, and a hefty string of my grandmother's faux pearls. Babe's hair, height, fabulous figure, and graceful self-confident style are all very Jackie Kennedy. Her pearls are pure Barbara Bush, though they originally came from the era of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Babe's dress is a lovely pink and white gingham topped with white daisies. Her apron is one of my favorites, a pale green souvenir from Reno, The Biggest Little City In The World. The street scenes are wonderfully detailed, and the cars place this apron firmly in the 1940s.
This lovely lavendar gingham apron, with contrasting waistband and ruffles, was probably made in the 1950s to mid 60s, based on the peplum-styled ruffles that shown off a slender waist. It has a deep 4" hem, machine-finished with a zig-zag stitch. The lace trim on the ruffles appears to be vintage Wright's Seam Binding, which was a very affordable substitute for more intricate lace.
Isn't this delicate white apron gorgeous? It's made of a very sheer white-on-white floral print cotton, embellished with lovely floral handkerchiefs edged with lace. The fabric and trim, as well as the length, place this apron in the late 50s/early 60s. The pink dress gives this apron a pinkish hue in the top and bottom photos, while the apron has more of a grayish-white appearance in the middle picture, where it's being worn over a black skirt.
For the next photo, Babe wriggled into another custom dress made by my mom in the 1960s. I love the crispness of the oversized red plaid, which reminds me of picnics. Unfortunately for Babe, the dress could not be fully zipped, due to her bustiness.
This red apron appears to be another 40s to 50s find and, like most of the others, is homemade. It features a bright red cotton duck apron, topped with a deep contrasting pocket made of textured gingham-and-flowers fabric that's scalloped on both edges. Vertical stitching divides the pocket into sections.
This bachelor-button-blue apron has lots of nifty details. This is an apron for a skinny girl, due to the 5 gore skirt and total lack of gathering for fullness. The fabric has a linen feel to it, with a bit of texture and a looser weave, and the color indicates Depression-era, meaning the fabric could have been a feed sack. This apron has a tulip shaped hem and small side pockets, and the edges are finished with navy blue bias tape.
Many thanks to Babe for modeling in the middle of the night, so that I could get these photos online Sunday morning. Living on the west coast means I always feel like I'm late getting things posted, which is actually true, as many of my posts show up right around midnight.
Please don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in my drawing for the Hard Rock Breast Cancer Awareness Pin. And be sure to go by Cindy's page to be entered in the drawing for a darling vintage apron.
