A Legacy of Love... and Lots of Stitches

A couple of years ago my mom taught my friend Cindy Allen and I how to make temple aprons. We don't use the pre-made kits you can buy. We make them from scratch using a pattern my Grandma Moulton used. My Grandma made over 160 of these temple aprons by hand -- having 11 children of her own. I don't know how she did it, but she said she never tired of making temple aprons. She made aprons for each of her 11 children, their spouses, and each of their children and eventual spouses. So I was the very lucky recipient of one of her personally hand made temple aprons. It is a treasure to me, and I feel so connected to her when I am in the temple. I think of the hours she worked on it and the love that went into each stitch.

My mom has made over 35 aprons herself! She is my miracle mom and I love her so much!

So back to my story... off Cindy and I went armed with the knowledge of how to do the stitches. When we were both done with the embroidery we made another trip to my mom's house to finish them off. She is such a great teacher, and was very patient with us as we tried to keep up.

My first apron is intended to be for Rylan so I finished that one off square. The ladies aprons are often hemstitched or trimmed around the edges of the leaves for a more delicate and feminine look.

Yesterday I went up to Mom's again to help her mark another apron for her to work on. When we got done, she started on hers and I kept going on my next apron (I'm well into my third apron and I am very much enjoying the time I can spend working on it). This is such a special treat for us to share together.

It takes a little time to mark an apron and you really have to concentrate so we both took turns. My mom is ambidextrous so she can do things like this with either her left or right hand. Yesterday, she preferred her left. (I tried it too, and whaddya know? It worked out just fine...but I still stuck with my right hand.)





Here are some pictures of the apron I just finished...

The finished product with the elastic and hook attached.

Showing how this one was finished straight across the top.

This shows the stitches as well as the machine hemstitching around the outside edges.

And the back with a nice clean piece of fabric sewn on with the hemstiching.

In August or September we are going to get together with a group of cousins and aunts to teach them how to make Grandma Moulton's aprons. We can't wait!