Grandma Edith Stutler's Apron

By Sandy (Burgett) Conrad

As long as I can remember, grandma, Edith Stutler, always had an apron on. The only time you saw her without an apron on was when she went to town, like Weston or Sutton. I was so used to seeing grandma with an apron that she didn't look right without one. She did not let anything go to waste, she even used feedsacks to make aprons. I still have a couple of grandma's aprons, one she wore and one she made for me when I was a little girl. Who knew that something so simple like an apron would become such a treasure.


Above is one of grandma Edith (Skinner) Stutler's aprons, which she made from two chickenfeed sacks. (When the seams were removed from the sacks the fabric measured 20 inches by 34 inches.) To the right she wearing the apron in her kitchen on a winter morning. She has just come in from milking the cow and has not taken off her "milking cap" yet.


Below is Edith standing in her side yard on a summer day, wearing an apron with a different cut, but also made from feed sacks. Edith's vegetable garden is behind her, Bill & Marie (Parmer) Barnett's house in the distance.

Sandra (Burgett) Conrad, is the daughter of Juanita (Stutler) Burgett (1925-1994), daughter of Edith Della (Skinner) Stutler (1896-1907).

See also the following entries
About Edith Stutler
Apr '06 Oras and Edith Stutler's Family on Oil Creek
Apr '06 Cow Milk & Where Calves Come From
Jul '06 Up the Lady's Leg
Nov '06 Sweet Potatoes

About feedsack fabric
Feb '06 Feedsack Fabric



You might enjoy the following meditation on a grandma's apron by Gloria Jean Husk.
She printed in the Hacker's Creek Pioneer Descendants' member's e-mail

Grandma's Apron
Do you remember your Grandma’s apron?
The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.

After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes.

Thank You Grandma for all that you taught me!