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

~ (Author) "HOW DID aprons go from being an indispensable part of a woman's workaday wardrobe to an American icon to a sweet scrap of collectible nostalgia..." (more)
Key Phrases: every apron, apron body, waist apron, Repeat Steps (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Easy-to-follow instructions, quirky facts, personal stories, and vintage illustrations make this book as charming as each pretty cover-up featured inside." -- Homemakers magazine

"EllynAnne Geisel has restored dignity to a symbol of domesticity long gone from many kitchens‹the apron." -- Denver Post

"Part how-to, part history, this book is like grandma's pudding—comforting and a great treat." -- Create & Decorate

"The Apron Book unfolds like a bolt of fabricŠthe pattern of a life remembered through a homely object." -- NPR¹s Weekend All Things Considered

Product Description

Vintage aprons and modern designs are turning up in movies, magazine spreads, upscale shops, and hip retail venues like Anthropologie, whose trendy line of aprons is selling as fast as they can stock them. The Apron Book is an infectiously enthusiastic guide to aprons, old and new, that are suddenly everywhere.

Aprons take us back to our favorite place¿hearth and home. Vintage aprons help us remember home and family the way they used to be, while bright and sassy contemporary aprons confirm that nesting is all the rage. Actress and trendsetter Julia Roberts has a closetful of vintage aprons. Celebrity custom-made apron auctions have become an annual event for several popular charities in the past few years.

The Apron Book provides full-color photos of new and vintage aprons from the author's collection, patterns for four basic apron styles and myriad variations, recipes, tips on collecting and preserving vintage aprons, and heart-tugging stories from the author's traveling apron exhibit. The book also explores the heyday of aprons and looks at the various roles aprons still play when worn in the kitchen, around the house, by the backyard grill, on the job, and for special occasions.

Warm and inviting¿but like an apron quite practical!¿this book is a celebration of a great American icon and reminds us of what we loved about the people who wore them.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (September 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740761811
• ISBN-13: 978-0740761812
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,857 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #1 in	Books > Home & Garden > Antiques & Collectibles > Textiles & Costume
  #4 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Design & Decorative Arts > Textile & Costume
  #20 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Design & Decorative Arts > Graphic Design > Commercial > Fashion Design

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars apron lover, October 15, 2006

By	earnest reader (East Coast) - See all my reviews

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.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great History and Memorabilia, but short on actual patterns, March 12, 2009

By	J. Grufman (Minnesota) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Of Grandmas and Aprons, October 22, 2006

By	Judith Paley (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

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.