herbalscents

People dress nicely for their jobs, or have a specific uniform that they are to wear. But as a homemaker, my job is at home, and I dont have a dress code. So, it is easy to want to stay comfortable rather than look nice. After all, its not much fun to get baby puke all over your nice clothes, or be scrubbing toilets in them.

But, my family is worth it. I want them to see me looking nice. Not in grungy work clothes all the time. I want my husband to know he is worth it. And I want to model biblical femininity to my children. However, I still dont want to smell like baby puke all the time. So I went to wal mart, bought an apron pattern and made myself an apron. Brilliant idea didnt work.

I’m me. Which means I have to take into account that I’m clumsy, and sometimes do things without thinking. While cooking, if I’m wearing an apron, I tend to wipe my hands on myself instead of using a towel. Unfortuently, I was consistently missing the apron, and walking around with wet, or slightly greasy hand prints on my rear — not exactly modeling femininity or looking nice for my husband. I also was managing to get stuff on my skirt, just past my apron. So, I obviously needed a bigger apron.

A big, old fashion apron was something that I had wanted for a while. But, I had no idea how to go about it. I googled, trying to find a pattern, and found instructions from a website called Shepherd’s Hill, but they involved using the bodice of a dress. Not having a dress pattern to use, I couldnt use those directions. I eventually came across a site that no longer exists called intimelyfashion.com. They had a lot of neat stuff on how to style your hair, and how to make an apron like Molly’s in Wives and Daughters. I was thrilled, an bookmarked the site. They account went away before I could make the apron. But, thankfully, the wayback machine had archived them. So, here is the pattern.
(If anyone has any suggestions on how to alter it so it fits my shoulders a little better, I’d love to hear from you.  I already moved the straps closer to the center in the back, which helped some…)

Along with the practical benefits of having an apron — I stay cleaner, which then makes laundry easier — fewer stains to try to remove. My apron makes a statement about me. It shouts “I am a housewife”. It has spoken to my heart. I am more in the mood to do work when I wear it. It reminds me, I am a worker at home.