what else can the apron panels do?

There are plenty of remnants from the summer gleaning cloth...I spoke about the apron parts here...and we did some gleaning of the cloth here...
I've been working on what my next gleaning steps might be...
To experiment with the component parts of the cloth - the apron panels and the waistband/tie strips, I'm working in 1/2 scale...it means less cloth used when experimenting, it's quicker, and it's easier to get an overall sense of scale and proportion without constantly stepping back...

And it's so darn cute too!  I started with a 1/2 scale apron made from the unprinted cloth remnants...

An apron panel makes up the front and back of this top, with waistband strip used for the shoulder panel and a little gusset under the arm to create a square armhole.  There are two small cuts into the apron panels to set in the gusset.

It is modeled by "Claudette" (named by 'super'visor PD), the 1/2 scale mannequin I made while teaching a 2nd year studio about scale earlier this year :o)

Then I'm thinking about how the apron interacts with the top...it shapes the top...it is shaped through interaction with the wearers body...is shaped through use by the wearer...the experience of use shapes the wearers being.
This is related to something about Heidegger's thinging which I was thinking about back here!

Heidegger's thinging

Back around September last year, I came across an article in design philosophy papers by Anne-Marie Willis which opened up the perspective for my research.  The article, “Ontological designing” (2006) helps in expanding my perspective on the agency of consumed objects through the comparison of a tetra pack juice box with Heidegger’s thinging jug.  In the essay “The Thing” Heidegger’s jug gathers, holds and outpours a drink that gifts a shared experience (Heidegger & Hofstadter 2001).  Conversely, the ‘juice box gathers fruit juices and packaging materials from different parts of the world... it quenches thirst and nourishes, but...it is not part of giving or sharing.. it designs individual consumption on the move...and drinking as an individualised, rather than communal activity’ (Willis 2006, para. 42).

This started  a chain of thinking and making around the ideas of what design gathers or in fact gleans.  More catch up on this subject to come! 

p.s. Peter Downton made the point, and I agree, that Heidegger's jug is more solid and of the earth - probably an earthenware jug, but this was the only jug I happened to have on hand at the time!