When Tallahassee native Ashley Leckey Schoenith was looking for a way to spend more time with her beloved grandmother, Cele, she decided to launch a creative business that capitalized on the family matriarch’s many talents: sewing, cooking and entertaining. The two came up with a line of elegant aprons that harken back to an earlier, simpler time, when families sat down together regularly for home-cooked meals. “I grew up cooking and baking, and my mom and grandmother loved the family recipes and cooking from scratch,” Schoenith says. When IceMilk Aprons (the name refers to the beverage Cele was known to serve) began in 2006, Schoenith says her grandmother, now deceased, handled the sewing, while she focused on design and marketing. Today Schoenith runs the burgeoning business, currently featuring eight adult styles and three children’s styles, from her Brookhaven home. For an added touch of nostalgia, the aprons come packaged in preserve jars and are sold online and to nearly 60 boutiques across the nation. “It’s been great to be a part of the trend that celebrates tradition and focuses on the passing things down through generations as a meaningful gift.”
$85
found locally: ivy & twine in marietta, ivyandtwine.blogspot.com