Welcome to part two of the virtual Apron Strings Exhibit tour!
This post will focus on the part of the exhibit I helped curate that is from a nationally traveling exhibion from ExhibitsUSA which is on tour until 2018, so check the dates to see if it may be coming near you. But don't count on the show looking as amazing as ours did...yes, I am bragging and rightfully so. The exhibit that arrives to the museum is just the aprons (dating from 1900-1990)....no other images, mannequins, or props. Most of what you will see is the work of myself, the museum curator, and carpenters.
Seen above is the entry foyer to the show. It looks a bit sparse but that was because we were under the assumption that the exhibit had several large text and informational panels to be hung here. No. Only those two small flat model signs in the middle of the wall.
I love this apron!
And I love this apron too.. That's why they got to be in the entry!
Once in the exhibit space we arranged the aprons chronologically, starting with the ones from 1900-1930. The apron on the mannequin is the oldest one in the set. The wash tub is from my "collection'. The show also includes a few "try on' aprons that we put in the wash tub.
Aprons 1900-1930
Love this 1920 apron. All of the images you see on the walls are the result of hours of scouring and selecting them from old magazines that are part of the museum's collection. We looked for ones that covered each decade up til the late 1950's (that's the newest they had) and had men, women and children in aprons.
This is the 1940's section. I am not pleased with it's look. We had to have the images and clothesline hung before the aprons arrived and this caused a challenge since we didn't really know the sizes of what we were getting.
A handkerchief apron.
Love this rooster one.
1940's images, apron clad.
Moving into the heyday of the apron...1950's!
The aprons for the 1950's and 1960's had a bunch so I tried to group ones that looked good together, color-wise and shapes. I liked the colors of this group and it's symmetry.
Cute! Did you notice the little birds we put on the clotheslines? (my idea!)
This large scale 1950's kitchen was the main thing I wanted to have in the show and the first idea that came to me. The image came from an advertisement found in a magazine I got from an estate sale from 1954 for kitchen flooring.
1950's
Love the frilliness of this one!
Check out the pocket that is a window with curtains with a little felt butterfly swooping in!
One of the best aprons in the show. I need to get some close-up images still. It is a plastic 1950's Girl Scout Brownie apron for a girl. It says "Sweeping, washing, drying, cooking. My how spic and span she's looking!"
The last of the 1950's aprons.
Of course this was a favorite of mine with it's sewing theme. It has a measuring tape used as the hem and an attached needle sharpening strawberry on the band.
This was my favorite apron of the show. A lot of it had to do with the description, it was an inspiration for something in the next post:
"Tulle, a sheer netting, was often used when making matching aprons for a group, such as party favors for every woman attending a function or "uniforms" for every woman serving at a church supper. Aprons were also given as gifts-from guest to hostess, from a bride to the woman helping with the wedding, or from hostess to every woman at the party. This apron has an unusual ruffled waistline and silver rickrack accents."
Another thing about this show was it came with it's own informational cards to go under the aprons but some had typos or wrong info, or had several aprons on one card from drastically different decades. I had to edit the descriptions and we had to have new cards typed and mounted.
Heading into the 1960's.
1950's ads
These were not my favorites. There were 1960's but nothing really special.
More 1960's aprons. At this point aprons are more mass produced and sold as tourist souvenirs or gag gifts.
Such as this "If you don't like-a my cooking' I break-a you head!"
The last of the 1960's aprons. I really loved how these looked together.
I have this same apron and included it in my Marketing Day case. I did a little research and discovered it was a mail order craft kit from 1969 called Flock-o-Fun Perky Birds. I rewrote the description card with the new information pertaining to this.
Pretty and elegant.
Love the gores and color combo.
For the other corner of the room we had a 1960's kitchen, couldn't find one without humans in it though and it was a bummer she wasn't wearing an apron. But love all the pink!
I picked two fun aprons to go on the mannequins.
This 1960 apron is a reversible gag wedding gift kinda thing. One side, as shown here, is men's boxers. The other side is a pair of yellow lacey woman's pantaloons. I had the guy wearing the woman's side at first because I thought it was funny but the blue paisley print matched the lady mannequin's apron better.
1960's Big Boss
Love the appointment list pocket!
And the rest....Ugh. The few aprons of the 1970-1990's. I mean, seriously....a glittery christmas bib apron and a Home Depot apron. Blah. But I did try to look at them in context as being the unfortunate present day versions we are more in contact with and they are part of the history. The top row ones are not too bad. There is even a little doll apron in there. The bonnet apron, pictured second from the right, top row is pretty cool. Check out what it does!:
The next area at the exhibit is a place for the viewers to write down their 'apron memories' and pin them to the clothes line.
Also nearby is the Children's education section. I designed the paper doll aprons seen.
Next to this and near the entry of the space is a television with a continuous loop of the 1950 education short "Let's make a meal in 20 minutes" all about Sally Gasco whipping up something for the gang after a football game. I found a collection of educational shorts called "How to be a Housewife" which had this gem on it. The rest of the videos were apparently about fashion styles in Africa?
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