Girls dresses

I was asked to make two dresses after last weeks experiment in making the baby girl dresses.  The lady asked if I could make her one with the little orange birds on but I only had a small piece left and she needed size 18-24 months.  I asked if would be ok if the back was different if she really wanted that design as I have looked and the store online where I got it no longer has any. She said yes as this was the pattern she liked, she also wanted another dress making form the little design I sent her last week with the wildlife creatures on it.  I have been busy today making these up.

Front

back ( yes it needs an iron!)

I had to incorporate a little of the bird fabric into the back as the panels that come over with the button holes show at the front. I also added a stripe across the back, there was just enough.  I really did use every last bit of that fabric!

Front

Back

I have done buttons on these dresses at the shoulders as they are for a slightly older child but it would probably be ok to do the same on the smaller sizes.  The lady who these dresses are for also asked if I could do some matching hair slides...

I have enjoyed making these today so I hope they are well received. My husband has been outside all day making something with some free decking boards that a colleague of his was going to throw out, it has turned out really well so I will share that tomorrow. Has anyone else been busy creating today?

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.