Apronology I

Okay - I am posting blind, but it does seem I can post. And I can read any other blog except those at blogspot (which includes mine). Drat!!!! I am missing seeing what my friends are up to.

However, since I can post, I will forge onwards!

This is an apron pattern from my m-i-l's stash:

I was wondering why she would have bought it (she knew how to make an apron without needing a pattern), when I read the back and realised it originally contained transfers for the applique rose and holly. So I looked inside and yes, there they were. Still unused.

But what is this???? Another set of transfers, for three different aprons - one of teapot and cup motifs, one of garden motifs and one of sewing motifs, like this:

So I really believe she put it there, even before she knew me, for me to find it.

My m-i-l is slowly slipping away from us (she is 92, and we know and accept it will not be long), but she has really enjoyed up until now seeing my sewing. Before her marriage, in the late 1920s, she was a sample-maker in the garment trade in Melbourne (our state capital). The sample-makers were not the fastest machinists, but they were the best. In later years she made commissioned after-five wear at home, and really enjoyed a range of crafts and sewing.

When we cleaned up her unit, for a number of reasons, DH and I only collected a small sample of her work. This pattern was included as I have always been interested in aprons, more for what they stood for (the 1950s woman shown is impossibly thin, my impression as a teenager of the 1960s is that as feminism advanced, aprons became less a popular symbol of domestic glamour, and less a platform to demonstrate sewing techniques).

I have been collecting fabric, items and ideas for a "Homage to my Sewing Machine" work for a while. And was very impressed by Laurel's Tribute to her Mother, which took a similar theme. So now I will be able to include motifs that I can directly associate with Flo.

I think she meant that to happen.