The theme this Sepia Saturday is 'aprons'. I remember when I was about six or seven, my friend Mary Gamble and I were in her kitchen and her mother was teaching us how to do up the bows at the back of our aprons. Well, actually, we didn't call them aprons, we called them pinnies. And, when you think about it, doing a bow behind your back is quite an accomplishment. And I remember when I was about 12 or 13 in our sewing class at school we made our own bibbed aprons (and matching hats) to wear in cooking class.
Every woman I knew wore an apron - my mum, my nana, my gran, the mothers of my friends - but now hardly anyone does. Maybe for a barbie, or if we're cooking something really messy, but they are made out of a plastic or a designer-linen. Not lovely, soft, cotton, hand-made aprons with frills, lace, gingham, rick-rack or gathers like our mother's.
As I looked through my albums to choose some photos of people wearing aprons they seemed to fall naturally into a theme. Can you guess before I tell you at the end?
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| My great-grandmother, Martha Taylor, at Cobden with her house cow. |
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| My husband's aunt, Elva Alford, at Mologa feeding her pet lamb. |
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| Lily Rowe nee Stone, at Bendigo with her pet dog. |
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| My mother-in-law, Shirley Alford, at Mologa with a champion milking cow. |
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| My husband's aunt, Joy Phelan, at Mitiamo with her pet chicken. It's been for a ride in the pram I'm guessing. |
Now I suggest you take off your apron, grab a cuppa, and check out the Sepia Saturday webpage to see some of the other contributions to the theme.
Hi, those are lovely pictures. I hate word verification, and I don't get spam because I monitor my comments...so this is exceptional that I'll go through that guelling process for you. This time only. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteOh yes the ones we had to make at school. I seem to remember making them out of gingham and then we had to cross stitch the borders! A nice series of pinny shots.
ReplyDeleteLet's have a campaign. Bring Back the Pinny ! Let's all don a pretty pinny and march on Parliament. Such a wave of nostalgia looking at those photos. And they rermind me of all the aprons I made whenever there was a fete. The other stand-by was a roll-up-and-tie knitting needles holder.
ReplyDeleteWell, animals can definitely make a mess without even trying, as our mothers no doubt knew! Great natural shots.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea linking pinnies to pets.
ReplyDeleteLove that pet chicken! I've know several people who had pet chickens (a character in my novel has a pet chicken); I, myself, never got into 'em!
ReplyDeleteMy first project in my school sewing class was a drawstring apron. I still remember going to buy the fabric for it (and that was more than 50 years ago).
ReplyDeletePets and aprons - how cute and lovely! Nice to learn another new (to me) word - pinnies.
ReplyDeleteHazel
I can't decide which is cuter - Elva or her lamb.
ReplyDeleteNice bunch of working aprons. That prize cow is impressive.
ReplyDeleteThat is a fine collection. And until you mentioned it, I had forgotten how difficult a skill tying a knot behind your back is. That's possibly the reason why I try and avoid aprons as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteA perfect post and every one a prize winner!
ReplyDeleteLucky you - all those aprons! Pretty much the only ones I could find were dress ups!
ReplyDelete