A simple piece of fabric with strings that tie around the waist. Domestic armor that protects against the splashes and spills of the kitchen world. Some fluff and frippery that add a festive, yet useful, touch at parties. A serviceable garment. A decoration. A repository of memories.

Aprons are all that and more.

"Aprons hold the spirit of women like nothing else," says housewife, mother and author EllynAnne Geisel. "I love them."

Geisel has of late been on an apron odyssey that has taken her places she never imagined. In recent years, aprons, which might be considered the ultimate symbol of pre-women's lib days, have enjoyed a resurgence of interest, she says. Old aprons have become collectibles; new aprons have become popular attire.

And one thing that Geisel has learned is that every apron tells a story — almost everyone has a story about an apron that was near and dear to them. Aprons are touchstones for memories of mothers and grandmothers, of home and hearth, of love and comfort — and yes, sometimes of burden and toil.

Geisel's own connection to aprons began when she was growing up. "Harriet Nelson was my idol," said Geisel by phone from her Colorado home. "She was everything I wanted to become — a wife, a mother and a homemaker. I watched 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet' every week on television."

That was exactly the job Geisel grew up to have. "But in 1999, when my last child went away to college, my days as a full-time homemaker were over." In looking for something to fill her time, Geisel turned to writing. "I had always wanted to be a writer," she said. She decided her first freelance article would be about a piece of vintage clothing — the apron.

Geisel visited a number of thrift stores and ended up with a basketful of aprons. While she was washing and ironing them, a brainstorm hit, she says. "I looked down at the hand-sewn apron I was ironing, and I realized that the owner would have washed it and ironed it just as I was doing. I wondered who she was, and what we might have in common, and I knew this was a fascinating relic of another time."

For four years, Geisel piled her aprons in a basket and toted them around, giving talks and gathering apron stories. That eventually led to a traveling exhibit that has graced a number of museums and is now managed by the Women's Museum in Dallas, a Smithsonian affiliate.