Dress Mannequin

Today when my husband came home he had a box with him,  the children were wanting to know what was in it, maybe something exciting? For me yes but not really for them, I had ordered a dress mannequin of Amazon and here she is...

I would have liked to take a picture in the daylight but it has been so overcast today that I have just used the image from the Amazon page. Hopefully she will be wearing some new designs or refashions soon and you can see the real thing then.

I used to have a proper dress form that was adjustable before I moved, unfortunately the stand broke and after that it was sat in the cupboard for a while, we did try it on a tree stand but it was quite heavy for it and kept falling over.  I have often though I should have kept it and we probably would have come up with a solution by now.

A dress form such as the one above which is like the one I had is £115 now, I should have kept it.

 Anyway I have this one which is a size 8-10, the measurements of the mannequin are about an inch bigger than me all over which is not too bad as I will just make things very fitted on it and you still have to try them on yourself eventually for final fit. The smaller size would have been too small, I think you would struggle to get one of these that fits exactly as we are all so different but it is good to be able to hang clothing ,see the back, check hems and try different things out on it.  The mannequin was £22 so a fair bit cheaper than a dress form. This was an item I put on my wish list, now often I will put things on my Amazon list and just later take them off. It is good for this reason as an item sits there for a while and then after a few weeks or a month I might think nah, I'll take that off. Other things I might later decide that yes I would like them, it is usually books or music (quite often used at a low price from an affiliated seller)  My husband knew that I wanted this and that I would still want it later so he said just order it. I did just that, sometimes I think if there is something you will get use from such as an item for a hobby or also an activity or course that will make good use of your time, then there is nothing wrong with investing a little bit in something for yourself.

Charity shops getting expensive?

I don't know if anyone else feels that charity shops are getting more and more expensive but I have noticed the prices have become quite steep the last few months.  I would always want to support the work of charity shops and as well as benefiting the charity you are keeping clothes out of landfill when you use them. You also have the satisfaction of knowing you are not fuelling the cheap throw way fashion industry.  I am not preaching what anyone should buy I just know some people prefer to extend the life of their clothes.
I think the problem with the Charity shops increasing their prices is that it pushes people towards buying cheap imported clothing which may have dubious origins of manufacturing.  If people are going into a charity shop and they know they can get an item new from Primark for the same price of course most will do just that!

I think it is a real shame as they are affecting their business and probably turning people away who might have become lifelong customers, there is also the opportunity to find something a little bit different that may no longer be on sale elsewhere.  My mother in law works in such a shop and often tells me they check value of items against eBay now to make sure they get the best prices.  While I understand they need to make a profit as they have over heads same as any other store, they are not the same, they sell used items and I feel the prices should continue to reflect that fact.

The mail has an article about this here and although it is discussing an upmarket area I feel this is something that is perhaps happening everywhere. A look around the forums seems to show a trend for this topic.

I have mentioned before that some of my bargains have been bought from the charity shop sale, is this what is happening we have to wait for the charity shops to have a sale before their prices are reasonable.

When we are away on holiday in England I often browse a number of charity shops and I think the most  reasonable ones are the lesser known ones. I found a lovely wildlife rescue shop in Western Super-mare on a little side street and bought all sorts last year, my husband picked up some CD's, I got clothes, books and belts and I have to say the staff were really helpful. If that shop was in my town I would be a regular.  

Fashion Drawing Book for Wish list and Journal Keeping

I did mention the other day how I do not get bored as there is always something to do, well one of the things I would like to try and learn is to put my designs on paper and be able to draw the fashion figures. Whenever I make something I always have an idea of where I'm going with it but I rarely put it down on paper.  Part of this may be that I often change my mind but there is also the issue of feeling that when I draw it it doesn't look right but in my head I can see it.  I know this is a skill that needs to be learned like any other and although some people are more talented at art than others I always feel that putting time in at something will get results.  I have seen this book on Amazon and added it to my wish list...

It has really good reviews, I will try the library first of course to see if I can order it but a few people have said they bought it after checking it out as it is so good.  It may be one for Santa if not, and I will just see what else the library has on offer first.  I have had a little go at getting my ideas down on paper (after the fact with one dress) just to try it out.  I copied a figure of a body from a website then drew my dress over the top, it may be basic but I have to start somewhere.  I decided I would start and do this in future and keep a a little scrapbook even if I don't make all the ideas it will serve as practice and I can add images I like and so on.    Here is a page ...

Like I said in this case it has been created after the dress is complete but I though it would serve to remind me of  projects or provide inspiration if I use it regularly. I also don't keep things forever so if I had done this in the past I could have looked back on past projects that I maybe no longer own.  I do photograph often now but I never used to.

I also sketched out some ideas on a sheet to give to someone who had seen my baby dresses, I added a few fabric samples and she has got back to me requesting dresses so that proved useful.

So I have made a bit of a start on developing one of the skills I want to learn.