hand sewing | Apron Memories

THE APRON BOOK : Podcast #8 – Lynn Holle Moore

On November 2, 2017 By EllynAnne In Podcast

THE APRON BOOK : Podcast #8
Lynn Holle Moore inherited Grandmother Lynums aprons, as well as her hardy Norwegian spirit and instincts. Her grandmother’s aprons strengthen Lynn’s sense of heritage and roots, traits she shares in her writing and storytelling.

Everyone knows what an apron is and everyone has a story to share!

Contribute your written apron story and pictures at apronmemories.com/stories
Share your apron story recordings and videos at facebook.com/apronmemories
#theapronbook on Instagram & Twitter

Listen:

» Right-click and download here (9.85MB / 4mins 04secs)

About The Apron Book:

Warm and inviting, but (like an apron) quite practical, The Apron Book is a celebration of a great American icon. Apron enthusiast Ellynanne Geisel, who curated the traveling exhibit, Apron Chronicles, returns us to hearth and home in this updated edition of the award-winning book. In this paperback edition, EllynAnne reflects on the grassroots movement of apron love in a new introduction, and a new foreword by the former editor of Apronology magazine expounds on EllynAnne’s mantra that aprons don’t hold us back; they take us back because the connection to the past is a strong one.

The Apron Book showcases full-color photos of new and vintage aprons from Geisel’s vast collection, patterns for four basic apron styles and myriad variations, recipes, tips on collecting and preserving vintage aprons, and heart-tugging stories from the traveling apron exhibit. The book also explores the history and 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, or for a special occasion.

Available To Order:

Order at Amazon.com

Order at Barnes & Noble

Order at Indiebound

Order at Booksamillion.com

Order at Andrews McMeel

THE APRON BOOK : Podcast #4 – Erin Owens & Cristie Coffman

On October 14, 2017 By EllynAnne In Podcast

THE APRON BOOK : Podcast #4
A friendship forged decades ago over a love of cooking and entertaining, Erin Owens and Cristie Coffman maintain a special closeness despite Erin’s move to another state. Reuniting in Lubbock, they reminisce of family, friendship and aprons.

Everyone knows what an apron is and everyone has a story to share!

Listen:

» Right-click and download here (14MB / 8mins 33secs)

About The Apron Book:

Warm and inviting, but (like an apron) quite practical, The Apron Book is a celebration of a great American icon. Apron enthusiast Ellynanne Geisel, who curated the traveling exhibit, Apron Chronicles, returns us to hearth and home in this updated edition of the award-winning book. In this paperback edition, EllynAnne reflects on the grassroots movement of apron love in a new introduction, and a new foreword by the former editor of Apronology magazine expounds on EllynAnne’s mantra that aprons don’t hold us back; they take us back because the connection to the past is a strong one.

The Apron Book showcases full-color photos of new and vintage aprons from Geisel’s vast collection, patterns for four basic apron styles and myriad variations, recipes, tips on collecting and preserving vintage aprons, and heart-tugging stories from the traveling apron exhibit. The book also explores the history and 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, or for a special occasion.

Available To Order:

Order at Amazon.com

Order at Barnes & Noble

Order at Indiebound

Order at Booksamillion.com

Order at Andrews McMeel

Handmade by Me! Giveaway

On April 30, 2011 By EllynAnne In Blog

For the past year, I have been working on a project which explores the American homemaker and her domestic arts. At the core of the project is the needle and thread and a woman’s employment of both to express herself through hand stitchery.

To create something stitch by stitch has never required any special talent nor machinery. In fact, all that’s really necessary is a fair amount of patience and a thimble.

Sewing by hand is relaxing, as well as an immensely satisfying pursuit because you have something material to show for your effort. A woman who sews experiences the glow of pleasure and pride of accomplishment when she can say, “Oh, this? I made it myself.” However, for many of us, the largest issue to expressing ourselves through hand sewing is knowing what to do with that needle and thread. Enter Susan Wasinger, the author of Sewn by Hand.

In this, her third book for Lark Crafts, Susan created two dozen projects that test the definition of “unique.” That’s how good her stuff is. And easy, or at least very, very do-able for most of us.

When you flip through Sewn by Hand, like I’ve been doing since it arrived yesterday, it’s really hard to settle on a first project. Should it be the Pretty Potholder with Vintage Smocking? Buttoned-Up Tote with Handmade Buttons? Button-Down Apron made from Recycled Shirts? Or the Personalized Bibs?

To aid the selection process and get one lucky winner threading her needle, Lark Crafts is providing a copy of Sewn by Hand and all the goods necessary to make Susan’s Sewing Kit for On the Move Stitchers!

To enter this Handmade by Me! Giveaway, leave a comment here. Deadline for comments is late Friday evening, May 6th. One winner selected by Random Human and posted Sunday, May 8th.

Sewn by Hand is the result of the author’s challenge to herself to see what she could create with nothing but a needle and thread. To create 24 projects, Susan drew on her history of “tender teachings” at the hands of her grandmother, mother and their mothers before them.

History in stitchery is also what I’m anticipating at this week’s Apron Extravaganza. Gallatin is right outside Nashville – if you’re in the neighborhood, do try to attend!

“Not everyone can hold an audience spellbound with music, and not many can paint pictures creditably, but anyone can earn praise for needlework efforts.” Book of Needle Arts, 1943

xxea

Tie One On…an apron, of course!

A Button Box Quandry

On January 27, 2010 By EllynAnne In Blog

Oh, the sadness when a covered button loses its dyed-to-match leather top. For weeks I’ve considered the option of cutting a small piece of fabric from the inside hem or cuff, but figured if one button popped loose, the others will eventually do the same.

The only option left was replacing the four buttons with new. And for that solution, I turned to my button box. Actually a large tin, it once held moon cakes – pastries particular to the Chinese new year celebration, which we’d received as a gift from “Ben,” our very sweet Dali guide when we visited China several years ago. I have great affection for this tin because it reminds me of that trip, which was our 30th anniversary gift to ourselves.My button box holds a joyful jumble removed from shirts destined for the rag bag to a collection of vintage beauties. I know people who separate their buttons by color and display them in old canning jars, but I like mine loose…the better to swirl my fingers through the layers, revealing a hidden gem I don’t remember ever seeing before! My button fixation goes backto when I was a girl and learning to sew. Threading a needle, tying off the end in a knot and sewing mismatched buttons to a piece of scrap fabric was a rainy day activity or to occupy myself on a summer day too hot to do anything but sit under a shade tree.

I’ve always enjoyed the quietude of hand sewing, even when not exactly by myself. I find hand stitchery the perfect road trip complement to PC’s listening to sports radio as he drives. And so it was this past Saturday, settled in the passenger seat, button box atop my lap, I selected replacements to the jacket’s top two buttons.

And here it is four days later, and I’m stuck choosing the third button. I know the final button will be the butterscotch-y yellow, but which of the three to sew as the third. Help!

xxea

Tie One On…an apron, of course!

P.S. Just a few days left to enter the Apron Lover’s Giveaway!