Dana Browne-Spinney makes aprons.

Sounds a little old-fashioned and boring, doesn't it.

But PaperDoll Aprons aren't old-fashioned, and they're anything but boring. These aprons are not your typical grandmother's kitchen aprons. These aprons are fun!

Browne-Spinney has been making the whimsical fashion adornments, using materials she finds in closets, antique shops and pretty much anywhere old fabrics may be found, for around a year.

The designer said she learned to sew four or five years ago, when she started a dog apparel design business. Then she decided she wanted to do something a little more unique. The idea came to her one day while working at Treats in Wiscasset, where she manages the storefront. “I was wearing this boring plain white apron and I looked down and thought, 'I can't wear this thing. I want to wear something that shows off my personality a little.'

“I started making them for myself, and wearing them at work.”

She began making them for other Treats employees to wear, and customers took notice. “People were showing interest and asking questions about them.”

Browne-Spinney said one of her favorite haunts for finding vintage fabrics is the Miles Thrift Store. “I found an awesome sheet there that had waterlilies on it.” She Googled it and found that it had been designed for the Claude Monet Museum. She paid three dollars for it. It was selling online for around $50.

“My main purpose is to re-purpose old items and give them a personality to fit the person who's wearing them,” she said. “And I don't make them to be worn just in the kitchen. In the 1800s and 1900s women would put an apron on as a part of their outfit.”

The customized, one-of-a-kind aprons are all designed and sewn by Browne-Spinney. She said some ideas start in a dream. “I think about them when I'm awake and dream about them at night. So it starts with a dream, or a person in mind, and I draw it, and then redefine it, and then make it.

Browne-Spinney said she often finds herself at her sewing machine at 3 a.m. “That's my witching hour, when I'm using the best part of my mind. And my husband loves hearing the sound of my sewing machine going early in the morning.”

She likes intricate designs. “I'm not interested in symmetry,” she said.”If you’re looking for something totally symmetrical, that's not me. I like everything I do to be a little bit askew.

“The aprons aren't the domestic goddess type of thing anymore. They're not just for people who are in the kitchen cooking or cleaning. They’re for many different facets of life — even cocktail parties. During the Victorian era, aprons were part of women's everyday attire. I'd like to bring that back into fashion.”

Many of the buttons Browne-Spinney uses are special, vintage one-of-a-kind ones. She was recently given her great-grandmother's sewing kit full of wooden thread spools and threads that she said are better quality than any you can find on the market these days.

She said she loves it when people come to her with an idea and/or a vintage family fabric for an apron for themselves or for a gift. “I want an apron to have the personality of the person who will wear it. I couldn't give or sell someone an apron if I didn't feel it would embody that person.”

At present Browne-Spinney's main outlet for her aprons is on her Facebook page. Some local retail shops will soon feature them.

PaperDoll Aprons range in price from $45 to $80.

The business is located in Dresden Mills. Call 207-737-8689.