My life in an apron

I have sewn three of Delilah so far (from Olive Juice & Co)

I'm an old-fashioned girl at heart, and besides knitted tea-cosies, one of the things I love in life is to find myself in the kitchen wearing a very fabulous and in its own way, rebellious, apron. In fact I collect them. I have friends far and wide looking out on my behalf in op shops for retro aprons, worn by women of my mother's generation and older, that necessary item of atire which was quickly removed when company arrived. Dull or colourful, there is something about aprons I am attracted to, maybe it's the idea of homeliness, the image of a caring, comforting mama, or the long-suffering yet uniquely creative woman indoors carrying out her duties super efficiently - whatever ... I just crave that scenario rather than having ambitions to dazzle outside the home or be that career-minded modern woman type. I'm just a simple wee thing.

My friend and fellow pug-mama Debra is the same when it comes to apron-love, and for the longest time, we kept our eyes on the nouvelle retro designer apron boutique at Olive Juice and Co for her latest designs, only to be disappointed when they were sold out within hours of release. Then one day we struck gold, and managed to score an apron kit for ourselves: the Delilah (above). We had one for each of us shipped to Debra's work - joy oh joy.

I used the pattern and made one up from different but equally fabulous fabric and sent it to my mother for her birthday, and she phoned, grateful but I suspect slightly unsure of what to do with it - as her aprons have never been this glamorous; I'm not sure if she ever got around to allowing herself to wear it. I also made another one in the same fabric for myself, because, well you can't have too many aprons.

I even was a member of the Olive Juice and Co kit club, and was lucky enough to get the Lizzy, the Stella and Grace.

But then sewing went by the by for a bit and I got out of the habit of handling and looking at textiles which were works of art on their own, and even better combined in all their clashing and mismatched splendour. However, now that I've I dropped facebook, I have found I have a lot more free time on my hands for such pursuits. I've begun to get back into the routine of getting up on a Sunday morning and pulling out the sewing machine. I finished another apron from my own fabric stash, and started another the last time I sewed, even funkier than the first. I'm not the world's neatest stitcher, but it is so lovely to be doing it again. It's hardly high fashion, but it is still glorious art.