Apron Memories

With another Writing Your Story class completed, I am still thinking about all of our life stories that need to be told, if not for ourselves, for those we leave behind.

Every day I seem to run into something that tells my story. Just like the other day while cleaning a closet I found these five aprons – all made and worn by my mom.

The red and gold one is my favorite, but I mainly remember her wearing the purple one on the left. These aprons bring back such great memories of mom’s cooking and our time together in the kitchen. Every time I pick one of these up I remember her smile and especially her baking, since she loved to bake for her family and the neighborhood kids who congregated at our house.

But I look again and I see the wonderful workmanship of these garments that were only made to protect the “good” clothing. The selection of the fabric,  matching rick rack, and snap enclosures scream to me about my mom’s attention to detail. She was not only a great cook and baker, she was an even better seamstress. Of course, she told me, that she wasn’t always that talented. According to her, by the time she got to her fourth child (me), she had perfected her sewing skills. “You should have seen Martha’s (the first born) clothes,” she told me.

When I was in high school we would go “shopping” for a new dress for me. I would find a lovely dress or outfit and she’d say ok. We’d leave empty handed. But a few days later, after she’s spent time at her Kenmore, she’d present me with my new piece of attire that matched the one we had seen in the store. Whether it was a sleeveless summer dress or a velvet prom gown, she could copy the item. Although she made clothing from memory, she often bought patterns. From those patterns she would make me not just one dress, but at least four or five in different materials. She sure got her mileage out of those designs.  I always had lots of clothes and even purses! I remember longing for store-bought clothes. What was I thinking?