After so many costumes sewn for nobility and so many high-class characters played, one of my latest characters is a victorian housemaid on her way to becoming a lady's maid. That means plain costumes - and frilly aprons. The important thing with this kind of aprons is that they usually come with a bib, not just the skirt-part, and that they usually aren't pinafores anymore but are tied.
The first apron I made is a very plain one, for cooking or gardening or other dirty work, made from unbleached cotton . The skirt part is plain with two pockets to be tied at the back and has three buttonholes at the front for the bib which can be buttoned on. The straps cross at the back and are buttoned to the apron strings. And as I saw this in many pictures and documentaries I made a pair of protective sleeves from the same fabric, they seem to have been very popular in those days to save your clothes from stains.
The second apron is decorative, made entirely from light, machine-embroidered cotton fabric. The bib is attached to the apron, again the straps cross at the back and are buttoned to the strings. For decoration the straps are completely lined with ruffles.
