When trying to remember how I began this journey of making vintage- inspired aprons, I can trace a metamorphosis. Because my parents were antique dealers after my dad’s Air Force career, I learned an appreciation of items made in past eras, things both functional and aesthetic. So much so that if given a choice, I will opt for things that have been deemed to have already lived a useful life.
Having grown up an officer’s daughter, there was a fine line between buying something used to express an aesthetic and buying something used because you can’t afford to buy otherwise. In my family buying a fine antique table was something to be proud of but buying used clothes was to show need. Antique can depict distinction and good taste, used expresses a more undesirable trait. But when I left home and went to college, I found I liked looking at and buying used clothing and I suppose it was for the same reason my parents were drawn to antiques - to express a love of the beauty and uniqueness of the past.
That attraction for those things that have been cast off has stayed with me my adult life and in the past years that appreciation had evolved into a love of the things I remember from my youth – an appreciation of things, which I believe is common to many who have fond memories of what surrounded and shaped them during their childhood. Now “retro” has become fashionable.
Okay. Aprons. I have to admit I don’t know exactly how I got onto this kick but there is a world of wonderful fabric out there and combined with my stumbling upon two apron patterns that were created from vintage aprons, I was launched on this journey. It didn’t take much to get hooked and soon I had more aprons than I could use. I gave them away but still found I wanted to keep creating them. The lure of finding a great fabric and seeing the end result was too much to resist, so aprons accumulated.
To my rescue came the Brunswick Winter Market. I took the chance, was accepted into the fold, and now rent a space on Saturday mornings along with a growing number of vendors of both food and craft. Each Saturday I sell at least one apron and that is enough to keep me going and, to my mind, justifies my venturing out each week in search of new fabric.
