Apronology; 10 Great Sites for Aprons

There seems to be a real fad going on with Aprons. Beats me, but I did find this super site of Free Vintage Apron patterns over here. I really like the plaids

Of course you can already peruse Handweaving Net, the super colossal set of digital archives that was seeded with the late Dr Ralph Griswold‘s personal library. You will be totally amazed at what you will find there.

And here a bunch of others… I just adore the Pattern Bee apron for little girls. I think it is just divine.  Alas you need a little girl, perhaps a friend’s will do if you don’t have one.

• Vintage 1951 Apron
• Free Apron patterns for you to make
• Apron tutorials
• and a lovely child’s half apron

I liked those so much I went “shopping” for some more. I don’t know when I’m going to find time for all of this…  I think that this group maybe better than the first, so it was hard to find a favorite, but right now I’m going with #4, 2 cocktail napkins = 1 apron.

I like that best because that was the old 1950’s trick or so I Love Lucy &  Better Housekeeping told me somewhere along the line.

1. An apron from a tablecloth design
2. Another apron tutorial, different style of course
3. A frilly and cheap yellow apron from the Craftster gang
1. based though on this Red delight
4. 2 cocktails napkins = 1 fabulous apron
5. Martha Stewart goes to the Chef for an apron

And finally for those who neither have the inclination nor the time for sewing, Bella Pamela will do it for you and do it very stylishly as well, I may add. I love this Nora apron in black cherry. What’s your fav?

French Corded Whitework In Nebraska

I got a great book on the topic as well at Border’s that my friend Kathy Christian recommended, she’s on flickr btw.  The book is called the Quilts of Provence by Katheryn Berenson, a researcher of European and American textiles  and is just marvelous.

It’s 207 pages of color packed photos that  tell you the whole history of whole cloth quilting, threads, the stitches and then lots of information about how this art form  evolved.  Finally at the back of the book there are  12 demonstrations for you to follow. And the price at Border’s was just incredible, 5.99!  Check your local Border’s out to see if they have it — I highly recommend it.

I’ve just finished a quilt I was doing for my cousin for Christmas and I am thinking  of tackling a whole cloth one next, but I have to admit it is daunting.  Have any of you done one?

Hickory Cloth — its manufacture

In a Cotton Fabrics Glossary, published 1905, [front page shown at left]there is a rather full description of hickory cloth’s usage and manufacturer. This books states that it is an all-cotton, light-weight fabric that is about fiver ounces per yard finished and resembles in appearance bed ticking but of course is lighter in feel and softer in texture. Despite that it is a “tough, plable fabric” that wears very well and is because of its economy and that it can be woven on any loom is found throughout the rural mountains districts of the South and so is possibly a “home-spun fabric”.

It can now be found as a specialty item though once was more prolifically found particularly in the 1960′s and 1970′s during the back to the earth / nature movement that took root then when young kids wore “farmers” overalls.

If you have further information, questions on hickory cloth, drop me or the Quiltropolos list a line.

Hickory Cloth – what was it made from and when?

VintageFabrics is a list on Quiltropolis that is dedicated to discovery and discussion of old fabric, hence the vintage name. Currently, there is a discussion there on the history of Hickory Cloth. I found it, like many of the threads, interesting so I did some personal research on it in Google Books Others did the same and put it up on the eboard run by Quiltropolis. You would have join the group to get them. I am only referencing my finds.

What I found was several remarks about Hickory Cloth. This one is from An American Glossary by Richard H. Thornton, J.D. – law professor at the University of Oregon from 1884-1905 where he defines Hickory Cloth as a “cloth dyed with hickory [tree] juice.”

He had two citations, the first from 1857 where it is mentioned by Brigham Younger, an early leader of the Church of Latter Day Saints, in the “journal of Discourses”. Young says ” Get some good hickory cloth or some buckskins and the the sisters makes dresses and garments that cannot be easily torn”. This reference suggests that “hickory cloth” was quite durable.

So I decided that perhaps this cloth was named for the actual dye used, and that as it was plentiful, easily found and applied to an assortment of clothes. That ended up being once I read that the dye of the hickory back was “yellow-green” (strike one) and difficult to obtain from the ornery hickory tree (strike two).

So dyeing with hickory took a hit, more because of the color than anything else: there are better colours then a putrid yellow green to dye one’s clothes, even in rustic Americana.

The bark of hickory will yield a yellow green dye, but because it is difficult to make the dye, it is not preferred for dyeing. Natural Dyes and Home Dyeing

The final strike for the tree bark was on that same link, where they mention cloths being strong and hardy were called “hickory” as a metaphor for the tree. So at this point I would have to say that the cloth’s name was descriptive of its strength and hardiness, all very important in an agriculturally based world (pre the Industrial Revolution of the 1850′s) and not its beginnings.