Kitchen Aprons

Amazon Classic Chefs Apron

Amazon Diva Kitchen Apron

Welcome to our site where you will find information on aprons including those available from Amazon and other top stores.

Retro Kitchen Aprons - The New Fashion?

Retro Kitchen Aprons - A Very Brief History

Before your grandmother started wearing kitchen aprons, wearing an apron was more a necessity than a fashion statement. The kitchen apron was originally a very important essential wardrobe item. Up in the morning, get dressed and put your apron on! It was a way of life.

Women of the middle class did all their own work and in order to keep their clothes clean, they wore their kitchen aprons all day long. Lower class women may have owned only two dresses and keeping one as clean as possible was very important as well as having one as a backup. Women who had servants did not ever wear aprons. They didn’t have a need, but the servants wore aprons.

The first aprons were made of feed sacks and were not very stylish. They were decorated with simple rick rack and buttons if those items were available and either tied at the back or buttoned down the back. The aprons showed just a few inches of hemline in the 1920s and 1930’s. Wasting was not a practice during these hard times so kitchen aprons were made from any fabrics available.

But the fifties showed that the kitchen apron was a real fashion statement. The half apron became a popular style and tied tightly at the waist. Magazines showed the hostess wearing a cute little apron at the dinner parties as did the TV shows of the times. The magazines showed more women wearing aprons than not wearing them. Vintage clothing shops and Ebay display dozens of these aprons of the past.

In the 1960s the full length apron came back and captured the heart of the slogan industry. Smart, cute little sayings were written on the kitchen apron and you were even invited to “Kiss the Cook”. Even dad cashed in on these as the Sunday backyard bar-b-ques continued to grow in popularity. The kitchen apron went to the yard, but still never to the stores or down the street.

Technicians, nurses, old time doctors, nuns, school children and carpenters have had their turn with aprons. Some will continue, but some will not, the cook at home or in the professional kitchen will still find that the kitchen apron serves a useful purpose.

You may have made aprons in the past. Patterns are still available, but your first project at home was a simple cutout and a chance to use your mom’s sewing machine. Vintage patterns are available. Do they still teach sewing in home economics? Learning to make a kitchen apron is a simple project that can incorporate a few sewing techniques for the beginner.

Practical, nostalgic, cute and fun, the kitchen apron will never go out of style, regardless of which style you choose. White tops are saved from spaghetti sauce when you keep the kitchen apron covering your decent clothes. Laundry day is less challenging when you don’t have to get food stains from grease splatter out of your blouse. The kitchen apron is here and probably always will be!

Kitchen Aprons - A Brief History

Kitchen aprons have been worn since the early 1800’s, however it might be said that they first came to the fore in the 1940’s and 1950’s, when almost every Read more

Posts about Aprons as of April 13, 2009

Kitchen Aprons - some thoughts

Kitchen aprons are an item that seems to rarely be seen these days in peoples’ kitchens. This is very different to the situation a few decades ago, where women would never have dreamed of cooking in the kitchen without wearing some style of apron. The thing is, while many people don’t really bother with aprons any more, there are lots of great reasons why everyone should keep a kitchen apron in their cupboard.

Kitchen Aprons Help you Stay Clean

The main reason that kitchen aprons are a good idea is that they are able to protect your clothing from whatever you are cooking. Although on a weekend you will probably have time to be quite well-prepared for cooking and put on some old clothes, this is not likely to be the case on a weekday night when you get home from work and are in a rush to cook the dinner. If you’re anything like me you will probably be running around the kitchen in your suit throwing things in the oven, chopping up and stirring things all at the same time. It is quite easy for things to splash all down your front, which can be a disaster if you are wearing an expensive suit. In particular there are a whole host of things you will be exposed to in the kitchen which can stain, along with grease which can be impossible to remove and completely ruin your clothes. Wearing a kitchen apron will help to guard you against any of this happening. A kitchen apron is much easier to wash then a dry-clean only suit.

Kitchen Aprons Help your Food Stay Safe

As well as protecting your clothes from your food a kitchen apron will also help to protect your food from your clothes. When you are in the outside world you may be exposed to all kinds of chemicals and other things which may not be harmful there but may make you quite ill if they were to get into your food. The fact that a kitchen apron provides a barrier between your clothes and the food you are preparing could also help to make sure that your food does not get contaminated.

Kitchen Aprons can be Multi-Purpose

As kitchen aprons can be easily washed, they may be used for many other jobs besides cooking. For example when you are cleaning the house an apron can make it easy to slot in a little bit of cleaning whatever you are wearing, without needing to go and change into some old clothes. This means that you then don’t need to worry anymore about splashing cleaning chemicals up on yourself which could ruin your clothes.

Which Kitchen Apron Style to Choose

There is not a lot to think about when shopping for a kitchen apron other than choosing a colour and pattern which is to your liking. The only one thing which you may want to think about is whether you want to go for a full-frontal apron which covers everything or a barbecue apron. I personally would recommend a full-frontal kitchen apron as this will give you the maximum amount of protection.