Film Featured Apron: Jane of Lantern Hill

Right along with Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Road to Avonlea (the seven-season TV series), Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Elizabeth Gaskell movies, and all the other wonderful old-fashioned ones I failed to mention, one of our family favorites is another Sullivan produced film: Jane of Lantern Hill.

Not wanting to spoil the story, although the preview at the above website gives it away, it is a sweet story set in the 1930s of 12 year old Jane (Mairon Bennett) living with her ill mother always believing that her father (Sam Waterston) was dead. She learns that her dad is alive and living on the beautiful Prince Edward Island. The much beloved Colleen Dewhurst has a role on this film as well. If you haven't seen it, go watch it!

The fashions in general are so lovely if you like the 1930s era. It's full of darling hairstyles, silk gowns, and the whole works while Jane is living in Toronto. When she visits her dad, she wears a less "dolled-up" wardrobe. The apron, however, was what I was going to talk about. :) How can an apron-fanatic not notice an apron?!

It is obviously a blue cotton fabric with navy bias.

The angles in which it was filmed make it hard to distinguish if the apron has pockets on it.

It has the traditional "H" styled back with fabric ties. In the close up below, it appears that they used some rick rack on it, too. ♥

In a brief film shot outside at dusk, you can see that the back hem is rounded and not squared off like some aprons. Am I crazy for noticing all these things? Please tell me someone else does this! ;)

The style reminded me very much of a vintage pattern that I've seen on ebay dozens of times. The pockets may have been left off of Jane's (?) and the neckline cut into a delicate "v." However if I was going to make one like her's, like I've been wanting to for who-knows-how-long, I was not about to spend $20 on an original pattern; that I did know. :)

I decided that with a little nip in the neckline to my own original 1930s apron pattern, I could pull off a very similar reproduction of it. One of my sisters wanted a "Jane apron" and made the Ginnie style a couple years ago using some blue calico cotton and navy bias, and the result was very pleasing. If one didn't may attention to nit-picky details, one might think it was Jane's.

Earlier last week I came across a lovely piece of blue cotton that caught my eye. On the selvage, like most quality fabrics, the maker of the fabric and the title of it held my gaze. It was called "Art Deco." Couldn't be more fitting, and the fabric looked nearly identical to Jane's!

So without further ado, Peasant Cottage's version of this sweet, late 30s apron is right this way!