Apron Week!

I've decided to make this week Apron Week on my blog. I actually was going to start yesterday, but had kind of a blah day and didn't get it done.

I'm going to start with my personal apron collection. I like vintage aprons, but don't really have that many. Part of it is that having three (and one more waiting to be made) I don't feel I have a really good excuse to buy any more. I don't need a lot of things cluttering up my house, even actually useful things.
This green one is my baking apron. It is not actual vintage, but was a sort of experiment I did, to see if the front half of a vintage dress pattern would make a good apron. Answer: well, it's got plenty of coverage (thus the reason I use it for baking) but there is a reason most aprons don't have bust darts. The back of the dress being gone throws things off kilter, and the bust darts slip down and look odd.

This apron is not an actual vintage apron either, although the swirly green and blue fabric is vintage that I got at a garage sale years ago, and the pattern is traced off of an apron that my great-grandmother made. This is my "hostess apron". I use it when I'm having people over and am going to be cooking. That way I've got somewhere to wipe my hands, but it looks cuter than the other aprons.

This apron is actual vintage, and is probably my favorite. It's my "everyday" apron. I've gotten in the habit of cooking in an apron now, and if I forget to put one on, I tend wipe my hands on my clothing, out of habit. The design is cross-stitched onto the gingham. I keep thinking I'm going to trace this off and make a similar apron, but haven't got around to it.

I hadn't worn an apron to cook in since I was a kid, until about a year and a half ago, when I was having a birthday dinner party for myself. I was cooking, wearing an old tee-shirt to keep from splattering my good clothes, and planned to go change before the guests arrived. Well, the guests arrived early and I never got downstairs to change. I wore the grungy tee-shirt, and it wasn't a big deal, but I was the least dressed up at my own party. I thought, if I'd only had an apron (but I've never liked the ugly canvas barbecue aprons), then I stumbled across some vintage apron websites and an obsession was born.