Homefree

Out of the Ordinary

Month: July 2009

  • Clothing as a vehicle of meaning

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    This apron, which was old (somebody's grandma's) when I got it at a garage sale, has served me well for many years both in the kitchen and in the garden.

    I got to wondering how it would translate into an article of clothing like a vest or tabard.

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    A cotton canvas material – a shower curtain, actually – (thank you, Tracey) – had the drape and the substance to suit the purpose.

    The original apron was used as a template and tweaked here and there;  the edges left free; 
    one-up-one-down pockets added.

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    The issue of getting it on  and then having to adjust the straps 'behind your back', so to speak, was solved by stitching the straps in the optimum position.

    I am finding – once again – that an item of clothing, when it has undergone a re-purposing, retains part of its original use, more so, perhaps, in the original form (as in if I had worn the apron as a vest or jumper) but also when mimicked in other fabric.

    This intrigues me.  I suspect it has to do with energy (what doesn't!). 

    An 'apron memory' is in this piece of clothing. 
    A sense of the garden, of the kitchen,  of household pleasantries.