I’ve gone and stumbled down a slippery slope. I’ve spent approximately 354,876 minutes surfing the web trying to cure my fascination…for apronsI And not just any kind of aprons (please don’t bring out your “Thrilla Of The Grilla” apron, or I just may burn it, so help me God!). I’m talking about lovely vintage ones, handcrafted with retro prints and detailed with embroidery or lace or rickrack or pretty something-or-others.

I appreciate the workmanship that goes into a well-made apron because my first attempt at one was in sixth grade. It was disastrous. It was our first go at using sewing machines (the kind that you worked with a manual foot pedal) and patterns. I was supposed to make one for my 12-year-old self, and with my tongue sticking out the side of my mouth the entire time and my brows knit together, I sewed and sewed. I was successful…if the project was supposed to be to make an apron for a three-year-old with a 30-inch waist. I’ve never made an apron since, and always somehow feel the need to wear one in the kitchen, maybe because I know how much work it takes to make one (well, it was a lot of work back then)!

I  saw the movie Changeling last Friday night and realized that I wasn’t riveted by the drama onscreen when scenes like this came on. Instead, I was checking out Angelina Jolie’s kitchen duds.

Ok, so that one leaves a bit to be desired, but still, and maybe because the movie’s 1920’s costumes and sets reminded me of my love of all things of yore, it set me off on this three-day long apronfest that’s had me glued to the computer (or my phone). That’s the thing about the net: It makes you realize you’re not alone in your crafty obsessions, no matter how strange and specific they may be. If you like it, chances are, someone out there LOVES it!

These darling ones are from rickrackattack.com.

And these are from the Angry Chicken website, owned and maintained by my creative muse Amy Karol (whose Bend-The-Rules Sewing book is my bedside reading). The site even has entire Flickr photo pools dedicated to beauties like these.

And these are modern versions with a vintage feel—lovely apronology from Anthropologie! (Oooh, that was a bit of rhyme overkill, but, whatevs.)

There are also tons of vintage apron patterns on the web.

These aprons make me sigh and think about maybe making a go at sewing one again. I’m such a dork because I’m getting all nervous just thinking about it, remembering that ill-fated project from sixth grade.  But I’ll do it, someday.