I remember always seeing my grandma Martha with something in her hands. If she wasn't baking or cooking, she was tatting, embroidering or crocheting. Today I have her cedar chest full of all the lovely linens she created. They are priceless heirlooms and I treasure each one!
Grandma always wore an apron and often it was a gingham apron. She had sewn and embroidered each one. As I sat at the kitchen table watching grandma knead bread dough or slice apples for apple kuchen, those gingham aprons always seemed so cheerful and bright.
Now, more than 30 years after my grandma's death, she is still teaching me through those aprons. I used some of the same stitches to
create the gingham embroidery bookmarks. The bookmarks are a great starting place to learn this simple embroidery. Then you can use these stitches and expand the designs to create your own household linens, and perhaps some family heirlooms, too.
The first apron below was made on 1/8" lavender gingham. The stitches are all X's and half X's (diagonal lines). The repeating triangles create a zig-zag design. In between the rows of triangles, diagonal lines in the white squares create a simple design.
The black apron is also 1/4" checked gingham. The lace stitch adorns the hem, with small rows of the same stitch on the pocket and the pleats at the waistband.
The turquoise apron, one of my Grandma's favorites, was stitched in yellow pearl cotton on 1/4" gingham. Here my Grandma added rick-rack in narrow and medium widths to create a very pretty decoration. The rick-rack is attached with a simple diagonal running stitch between each "valley" in the rick-rack. On each peak of the medium rick-rack, she stitched a tiny running stitch that appears like a little dot on each point of the rick-rack.
The ankle length navy blue apron is truly unique! I believe it belonged to my Great-Grandmother. She lived with my Grandma during the last years of her life, and I'm sure had taught my Grandma to embroider. This apron is sewn on very coarse 1/8" checked cotton gigham. It is stitched with what appears to be kitchen string! People used what they had on hand. My Great-Grandparents came to the US from Germany. My Grandfather worked as a laborer and money was scarce, especially during the Depression. You learned to make do with what you had. Even under difficult circumstances, my Great-Grandma took time to decorate her apron - what an inspiration she is to me!
Apron Patterns I have found two Simplicity patterns designed for gingham aprons. Pattern #8720 for adults & #8916 for children. They include both half and full length aprons in each. If you want a straight, over the neck "modern" apron, Simplicity #9361 is a Learn to Sew pattern that is easy to make.
I hope this will inspire you to try your hand at Gingham Embroidery. I am always looking for patterns and more information on this type of embroidery. I'd love to hear from you! Please
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