Margaret Holzheimer Denman

My apron started with a large men’s white cotton shirt from the op shop. After sitting in the magic potion, it was bundled with various leaves, into the pot and voila I had my palate –silvery grey!

It was stitched with threads, dyed previously and in class. Using a variety of colours and hues I stitched words and random stitches.

Pockets – the sleeves from the shirt were bundled for large, roomy pockets – a sleeve from a linen shirt that I had made, one from a cotton top knitted by my mother and a silk sleeve from an old Chinese shirt. Camellia, rose leaves and purple carrot came into the eco-dyeing mix.

• On the bottom a section of a vintage embroidered linen tablecloth.

My trinket line holds memories:

A black and white button from mum’s button box – a dragon button from Bhutan –part of an earring from Northern Vietnam – a coin from China – a wishbone charm to remember family dinners at my grandparents – an abacus for a love of maths and memories of having wooden ones as a child – a dragonfly, stars – pansy beads remembering pansies in family gardens and the cards exchanged annually with a friend from my childhood – a tiny book – a glass bead made in a lampworking class – a silver Bedouin bead from Egypt –  a prayer wheel – shells picked up over my lifetime of collecting – amber for my Prussian and Pomeranian ancestry…..

I stitched a letter M, threaded with a silver needle for the stitchers in my maternal line: my mother, Mavis; grandmother, Hermione –Minnie; her mother, Wilhelmina my great grandmother who brought her mending tools when visiting …….

I am not always a finisher; enjoying the process and the problem solving – for me this was a wonderful journey of creativity with an apron that I can enjoy and when it beckons; continue its story.

Margaret Holzheimer Denman