Customer Reviews

The Apron Book: Making, Wearing, and Sharing a Bit of Cloth and Comfort

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was on the verge of purchasing this book, but at the last minute headed off to the library to take a look at it. What I found was a book filled with memories and anecdotes shared by various people involving aprons (mom's, grandma's or otherwise). There are beautiful pictures of many vintage aprons with lots of history. Also included are 3 simple patterns and directions for a "Waist Apron", a "Basic Bib Apron," and a "Smock Apron," with ideas for varying the pockets. Don't misunderstand, plenty of ideas can be gleaned from the pictures of aprons on display, but the book is limited in pattern styles - and that's what I was after. I've got plenty of cookbooks, so for me the recipes were wasted space. If you are looking for a book of reminisces and vintage images, this book will serve you well. However, if you are after a large variety of patterns to begin with, the Apron Book falls short.

I loved the colorful mix of worn aprons in my mother's kitchen drawer and I'd give anything to have one wrapped around my waist right now. Unfortunately, those aprons are long gone, but as I hoped, THE APRON BOOK brings me right back to the wonderful memories I associate with the aprons of my childhood.

As the author suggests, this book IS like an apron, simple yet beautiful, nostalgic yet useful. The gorgeous photos of vintage and contemporary aprons make you want to get our your machine and start sewing. The instructions are clear and the book inspires you to be creative and original.

This book is not just a stroll down apron memory lane. It's a warm and charming invitation to bring aprons back to our everyday lives. I will give this book as a gift many times over....with a homemade apron, of course.

When my friend EllynAnne asked me if I had an apron story, the memories came flooding back. Grandma in pearls and stockings with a brightly colored hand-sewn apron over her dress, my mom with that same apron tied over her work clothes at the end of the day, and finally me--you guessed it, in Grandma's apron--cooking away in junior high home economics class.

How pleased I am now to read The Apron Book, and I'm here to tell you it sounds just like EllynAnne in person. She's taken her "girl-raised-in-the-south" voice to these wonderful apron memories, a rich mixture of gentility, tradition, and folksy humor, with her own finely tuned ability to tell a story. I only wish I could serve my teenaged son and his friends bottled sodas swathed in tiny aprons. Check out the picture, it's a hoot! Please oh please publish the pattern for those.

And how especially honored I am to see my family heirloom apron, unfortunately now too worn to wear, featured in this handsome volume. EllynAnne has elevated our everyday aprons out of the kitchen or backyard barbeque pit into an American icon.

I purchased the Apron Book for my wife as a Christmas present. She & my daughter have been doing a 'home based' business and part of that is my wife making aprons. She really enjoyed the book and has made some real great aprons from the patterns she found. Thanks for a great book that really engages the reader. It is neat to see the fun projects my wife and daughter share.

My copy of "The Apron Book" just arrived. I could hardly wait to sit down with a cup of coffee and get lost in an era that seems so long ago, but so close to heart. Earlier in the year, I attend "The Apron Chronicles" a traveling exhibit of aprons and their stories, told by EllynAnne herself! The exhibit was amazing! Aprons do have a voice and they're heard throughout the pages of "The Apron Book". In "The Apron Book" Geisel has done an extraordinary job bringing the aprons to life. Each apron pictured has a heartwarming story filled with love that only an apron could tell. They come to life and it is as if you're there. The tidbits of info scattered throughout the book from what to do about over salted soup to the perfect pocket placement on an apron are a delight. I can't sew a stitch but I've read every pattern in the book! Thanks EllynAnne

I just received my copy of "The Apron Book..." and thumbed through it as excitedly as a small child on Christmas morning! My first impression is one of anticipation! Although the book is peppered with personal reflections that the author has gathered from others over the years, it's also filled with colorful pictures of vintage aprons and factual narratives that leave the reader with a greater sense of appreciation for this simple piece of cloth and the people who wore them. I sense that many readers will be moved to resurrect their own aprons just to experience the warm, comfortable feeling that author, EllynAnne Geisel evokes in her writing. "The Apron Book" is also filled with recipes, sewing patterns, and tips for the domestic diva. It all comes together in a delightful book that is meant to be savored and enjoyed many times over.

My sister loaned me her copy and I enjoyed it so much I ordered my own. It includes wonderful, heartwarming and funny stories, quotes and recipes. The patterns and instructions in the book are easy to follow. It inspired my sister and I to sew aprons for Christmas presents for many of the women in our lives.

This is a cute book about aprons. The photos are just marvelous---very bright and colorful!

Each sub-category, in each chapter, comes with a funny or sweet story about the various "special" aprons photographed.

I am giving it a 4-star rather than a 5-star because with over 500+ collectible aprons that the author owns, I wish she had photographed even a small array or "collage-photo", showing more of her pretty aprons. Maybe she could have added a few additional pages to her book, with a combo-photo of more of her aprons.

The author mentions so many interesting aprons that she owns in her collection (but did not show), and so I wanted to see a few more aprons she mentioned throughout the book... (for example: maybe even a photograph or two of a "collage" of just 40 more aprons would have been great).

However, maybe once the author sees how well her first book on aprons is selling right now, she will write a volume #II next time---which I will buy.

I ordered this book for my 91 year old mother in law. She has enjoyed it to the fullest! She has had fun recalling the many aprons in her life and bemoaned the fact that aprons have gone out of style! This book is loaded with lovely photos and a variety of rememberances of past aprons by a variety of contributors. It even comes with an apron pattern! Highly recommended!

This is a wonderful book enabling the reader to take a stroll down memory lane. My 85 yr. old mom is an "apron-aholic", I purchased the book for her and am giving it to her for Mother's Day along with an apron I made using the pattern included in the book. The book is a great timeline of the evolution of the apron with fun tidbits and recipes along the way. Such fun!