5 Maine-Made Aprons That Are Fit to Be Tied

By Sarah Stebbins
From our November 2024 issue

1. Weft and Warp

Culinary Institute of America grad Rachel LeGloahec was a sous chef at Las Vegas’s swanky L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, co-owned a Sin City restaurant, and won Food Network’s Chopped before returning to her native Maine in 2018. Now a Brunswick-based private chef, she also crafts knife rolls, bags, and aprons, including her favorite cotton bib style with a generous hip pocket. $65.

2. Bowerbird Studio

Sturdy, boldly patterned Japanese linen inspired New Harbor stitcher Betsy Leighton to create a collection of cross-back aprons that are almost too pretty for the kitchen. Some customers opt to wear the reversible garments as dresses, layered over a T-shirt and leggings, instead. $135.

3. Kennedy & Co. 

Windsor’s Amie Kennedy counts gardeners, metalworkers, a beam hewer, and the staff at Freedom’s The Lost Kitchen among the fans of her rugged, water-and-stain-resistant, waxed-canvas aprons. A shoemaking course at Portland’s Maine College of Art & Design led the U.S. Army vet to launch her line of vintagey leather and canvas goods spanning bags, belts, journal covers, and wallets. $175.

4. Yo Momma’s Apron Strings

The daughter of antiques dealers, Bowdoin’s Jinger Howell has a soft spot for retro styles. Twenty years ago, she made her first apron using a 1920s pattern. One throwback design led to another. “And before long, it dawned on me that I was having fun,” she says. Today, she sells nostalgic drop-waist, cross-back, kids’, and smock-like aprons (pictured) in brightly printed cotton. $48.

5. Amphitrite Linens

Newcastle seamstress Katrina Kelley’s late brother, a chef, is the muse behind her kitchen-goods collection, which includes linen cross-back (pictured), café, and bistro aprons worn by caterers and the servers at Camden’s Buttermilk Kitchen. “Working with chefs and restaurants fills my heart with the joy my brother felt,” Kelley says. $110.

Get all of our latest stories delivered straight to your mailbox every month. Subscribe to Down East magazine.