Ardeana Hamlin’s By Hand column about aprons inspired Mim Hart of Hampden to share her related memories.

Your request for apron stories took me back to the 1960s. After many years of making “cover up” aprons, I started making skimpy cocktail aprons for friends. They were so popular that I often had too many requests for them.

The aprons, made of satin, flashy floral or other dressy material, were either 12-inch squares or semicircles 10 to 12 inches deep and trimmed with eyelet or other lace. The thing that made them distinctive was the pocket on the right side. It was a pocket in the shape of an outspread hand in a contrasting color, stitched all around except at the “wrist.” Rhinestone “rings” decorated one of the fingers.

The most popular apron was of silver lame with a black glove pocket decorated with a large glass button as a “ring” and a rhinestone “bracelet.”

– Mim Hart