Apron strings: utilitarian garment makes a comeback as an accessory and collectible.

Byline: Molly Glentzer

Jun. 30--A lot of pretty books land on my desk. But none has made me miss my Grandma Wilson quite like ElynnAnne Geisel's The Apron Book: Making, Wearing and Sharing a Bit of Comfort and Cloth ($16.95, Andrews McMeel).

Mercy Wilson, my mother's mother, was the type Geisel's book celebrates -- a no-nonsense woman who raised 10 kids, most of them during the Depression in Oklahoma. She loved to tell stories about how she and Grandpa homesteaded from western Canada in a wagon. Our family especially liked to hear the part about how they had to gig frogs for dinner along the way.

Maybe she comes to mind because I remember helping her hang clothes on a clothesline -- which is how some of the aprons in Geisel's book are displayed. The book includes how-tos for sewing aprons, a pull-out pattern and colorful apron lore.

Geisel distinguishes three basic apron types: workday (sturdy and the most protective, with bib fronts), everyday (i.e., not precious) and fancy (definitely precious -- more party accessory than utility).

Grandma always made her own aprons, of course -- decidedly workday, since she wore them to cook (gosh, I miss her cinnamon rolls), clean house, sew and garden.

Somewhat ironically, it was my father's sweet, soft-spoken mother we called Granny. She was more refined, a merchant's daughter who kept her living room in Dallas' Highland Park neighborhood set up for bridge parties. She was famous for her venison roast and baked goods. She wore aprons, too -- if memory serves, they were often ruffled -- but I never saw a sewing machine in her house.