She tied the apron string tightly around her waist before entering the kitchen.

Even as an adult, he found it hard to sever the apron-string that kept him dependent on his parents.

Despite being thirty and living on her own, she still found herself tugged by her apron-strings when her mother called.

She finally learned to sever the apron strings and live independently.

In the old deed he discovered that his grandfather had left him an apron-string hold, a quaint arrangement granting him the estate only for the duration of his wife's life.

When their son turned eighteen, they decided to loosen the apron strings and let him manage his own finances.