General tips on Dating Aprons?

Pinkcoke · Apr 5, 2012

Well I have a huge pile of vintage aprons going from 40's to 70's on a guess, it's a bit daunting to just dive in so what I'd like to know is what to look for to put them into particular eras. I've sold a couple before but only the ones with really obvious decades' prints or shapes. They include full, half, womens and children's (baby's?) aprons. There's even one with Babar on!

kind regards, Melanie.

Circa Vintage Clothing · Apr 5, 2012

Hi Melanie! I mostly date aprons on fabric, construction and detailing - they can be hard though, as they're often home made and therefore prone to using old fabrics/techniques.

Sky Ranch Vintage · Apr 5, 2012

Oh I just LOVE aprons!!

I find the best way to date them style-wise is to refer back to old patterns. That being said, you never know when they were actually made, so going back to what Nicole said about fabric is a great way as well. You can tell with some though. For instance, the whole dressy, frilly hostess apron is usually 50's, pinafore style aprons that are a little longer with ruffles at the hem date usually into the 70's and 80's while shorter versions of these with ruffles on the bodice date to the 40's...no ruffle on the hem usually though with these. Longer aprons that have no waistline or waist tie and button in the back date back into the 30's and even 20's.

This is just a generalization of course, but there are ways to give a general dating range.

Pinkcoke · Nov 28, 2014

STILL going through this pile of aprons! (but finally listing some now) and this is my all time favourite, I wondered if anyone had seen the pointed waist feature before? (can't for the life of me remember what this is called) I have it down generally as 50's but I wonder if it could be 40's, or early 60's even, given the dress shape. I love the print, colours, theme. :wub:

It's deadstock too! I like to think of her as a gypsy, or spanish maybe, I'm not sure what people this is supposed to represent however, as the man is wearing clogs!? It reminds me of picking fruit in Romania (apricots, plums, cherries). It's longer than most of the aprons I have, heading toward the knees.