She Pulls Her Man Around By Her Apron Strings

Aprons, originally uploaded by Red Colander.

St. Louis woman, with her diamond rings,
She pulls her man around, by her apron strings;
She wants for powder, and for store-bought hair,
The man she loves he wouldn't go nowhere

(St. Louis Blues, William Christopher Handy)

The part about store-bought hair gets me. Everywhere I look lately I see aprons. June's issue of Canadian House & Home. And this darling book, given to me for Mother's Day by my lovely sister-in-law.



I love the stories - especially Harold Sasaki's tale of his grandmother whose apron pockets always held tobacco and cigarette paper - and the photographs are wonderful but it's the patterns I'm positively giddy over. I've collected aprons here and there over the years; I like to give them as hostess gifts with a bottle of olive oil or a set of vintage serving spoons. I like wearing them too. But they've become such a hot collectible recently and good ones are hard to find anyway, so I'll try my hand at making one or two. It'll give me a reason to dip into my overgrown fabric stash, and I like the idea of connecting in some way with apron makers - and wearers - of the past.