Dress Shopping: A Story and My Seasonal Rant

Yesterday, after going up stairs to get ready, I returned to the living room to the sound of hysterical crying.  What could be so awful?

Mae Bae was standing in the center of the room twirling.  Occasionally she would pause, look down, but her hands on her puffy hot pink skirt, and swish gently from side to side.

Sadie was curled up on Nani's lap, crying hysterically and pointing at her sister.

You see, Nani had put Mae in a new dress, because Mae was going to get three shots yesterday, and the dress was a special treat.  Nani had bought Sadie a pretty white skirt, when she found Mae's pink fluffy Dora dress, but Sadie was pretty sure a pretty white skirt was in no way comparable to a Dora dress and the water works started.

And try finding a Dora dress in 6X... it seems to me to be nearly impossible.

Lately they've both had a serious case of wanting to be the same and if you offer them a treat in the store the other will instantly pick the same thing, regardless of what their decision was five seconds earlier (and they both do it!  And they switch back and forth depending on who picks first....).

For a while it was easy to buy them the same outfits and then if they wanted to wear them at the same time, they could.  It's not tough to find a 2T and a 5 in the same size.  But since Sadie has moved on up into a 6X, shopping is suddenly becoming a little more difficult.

I knew that this day was coming.  I'd glanced over at the "girls" sections when we were clothes shopping at the stores we usually go to (read: affordable stores) and would wince.  Mini shorts with fishnet tights?  That was Target a few seasons ago.

Nani took the girls shopping for a birthday dress earlier this week (and of course I tagged along to do crowd control, which mainly involves keeping Mae from launching herself from the cart).  It's easy to find cute dresses for Mae in the 3T/4T range.  But when we walked into a popular, mainstream children's store, I found myself shaking my head.  The clothes for Sadie were mini versions of what I could have found in the junior section at Macy's, which is to say, not something I'd put my not-quite-three year old, in.

No... I don't think Sadie needs a sequined mini skirt that looks like it would be perfect if she felt like spending a night out clubbing.

Then there were the long, skinny maxi dresses, which personally I love wearing... but that aren't ideal for a running, climbing, playing 3 year old with their narrow, step restricting skirts.

A few years ago I bought a vintage children's dress pattern and I loved the common sense picture on the back.  It showed skirt lengths with corresponding appropriate ages.  Apparently when this particular pattern was made, there was an understanding that the amount of leg shown by the 0-18 month crowd was actually different than the amount that should be shown by a 6 year old or a 10 year old or a 16 year old.

I think we've lost that common sense and it's not all that unusual for designers to think that what would look cute on the new baby would also look cute on her much older sister.  The worst offenders (in my mind at least) are the cutesy skirts I see that are super fluffy, ruffly or pouffy that barely cover ones bum.  The skirts are cute...  if only they had enough fabric to actually cover everything that should certainly at least be covered when one's standing perfectly still (and would hopefully be covered all the time too!).  They seem to make these skirts for every age these days, and I'm just waiting for the "bum ruffles" that our on so many of our 0-3 month onsies to make it into mainstream fashion for the 2-40 crowd.

There are stores that still offer dresses that are perfect for little girls.  However, they're perfect for little girls who's moms want to pay $30+ on each dress, and often times, upwards of $100+, which is to say, not perfect for me.   That leaves Costco, which is where most of her store bought clothes have come from lately (thankfully I can usually find something that works there!).

Lately I save the more expensive catalogs and use them as sewing inspiration.

Sadie's rapidly growing legs are the greatest sewing inspiration of all, however.  She's going to need new dresses before too long (if you haven't been around here long, the child refused to wear shorts or pants... we have serious waterworks when I try to sneak them into the clothing rotation, so I've stopped buying them altogether).  And it looks more and more like those new dresses are going to depend on my sewing machine if I want to keep her from looking like she's headed out for a wild night with her friends each time we leave the house.

I should have known we were headed in to another fun season of fashion when I started seeing pictures of stars with bare midriffs...  Oh how I wish fashion trends had a little less trend and a little more class... It would make shopping much, much easier!

Maybe they're trying to save money on fabric?

Finding One's Waist!

The location of my waist didn’t really matter when I was sixteen (and had the figure of a ten year old boy).  Or even twenty (with the same figure).  And if you’d asked me where my waist was I likely would have placed my hands just above my hips.  After all, we were in the midst of the era of low-rise pants (are we still?  I don’t pay enough attention to know these days) and I had a closet full of jeans that barely (or didn’t) cover my hip bones.  It wouldn’t have been so bad if the pants had been accompanied with longer than normal shirts, but at the start of the 2000s you didn’t see much of that and so there was often a midriff gap that was not easy to pull off if you were above a size 0. 

Which brings me to a brief digression:  I was watching the news a few nights ago and one of the reporters actually said that in fashion size 6 models are now considered “plus size models.”  I’m not kidding.  Just when you think that insanity has reached rock bottom, they plunge on by.

But back to my point: I had no idea where my waist was.  Pre-babies this wasn’t such a big deal.  Post babies it was something that I needed to figure out and figure out quickly if I was going to find anything that was vaguely flattering.  The problem was that I didn’t even know that there was a problem.  My waist had always been way down past my belly button, where my pants settled, and wasn’t that just where a waist was?

As I fumbled through post-partum dressing I began to figure things out: little by little, month by month and year by year.  Low rise anything, even with a long, tunic that covered everything, was going to make me look like I either had a beer belly or was still pregnant.  An empire waisted dress would mean that people were coming up to my husband at work, a month after I gave birth to Mae, and asking him in a whisper if we were expecting again already.

It was two of the skirts that I bought on clearance for something like $4 at Penny’s that pointed me in the right direction.  They came up to the point that I would later realize was actually my waist, some inches higher than I’d previously realized, and then flowed out easily.  They accented my actual waist, the narrowest point on my torso, and as a result were more flattering.  It didn’t matter if the muscles in my stomach, after two nine plus pound babies, were not what they once had been, because they were camouflaged by my skirt, rather than problematically drawing attention to a waist that was either too high or too low and therefore disproportional. 

The various trends of the moment, usually don’t fit to flatter this little secret.  But I have found one secret that helps some dresses that would otherwise not make the cut.  A wide black belt that I recently found at Target after my other belt finally kicked the bucket and was no longer useable.  It felt expensive buying it with a gift card I’d gotten for Christmas, and I found myself saying $16 for a belt?!?!?! but I new I needed to replace the one I had, and this one was stretchy and pretty and I had a feeling it would work.  It looks a bit like this. 

It's been a great addition to my closet and has revived a few outfits I didn't like wearing with my old, narrow belt.  Because it’s stretchy it slides perfectly to actual “waist” level and stays in place.  It gives some of my stretchy-knit is-she-or-isn’t-she-pregnant (like now when I’ not) dresses enough definition to wear without getting comments about where I’m going to put #3 when I take the girls on walks in the red wagon (it’s happened since we’ve been here). 

And that is what I wish I’d known a bit earlier when I was searching for a flattering fit.  The fashion world doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to make clothes that are absolutely wearable for women who’ve gone through puberty, so these tricks are good to know! 

Do you have any fashion secrets you’d like to share?  If you do I’m all ears!

My New (Made By Me) Skirt

Not only is this Day 70 of my Year of Dresses but I made today's skirt last night. It's pretty simple, but I can already tell it's going to be a favorite. I love the length!

Another Dress

I hear the girls out in the other room demanding that Mommy come rescue Daddy so that he can get ready for work, but I couldn't resist joining in the fun and joining in the Wedding Dress Round-Up post at Betty Beguiles! So, I quickly dug up a few of my favorite online pictures. Here they are:

You may notice there are two dresses, which is a long story... and a story for another day! I hear baby bunnies and they will not wait!

A Year of Dresses?!?!

I've begun my year of dresses after failing dismally at trying a "Week of Pants" during the last week of December. You see, my latest Month of Dresses began in October, and so, in anticipation of the beginning of my Year of Dresses I thought I'd wear pants for one week. Maybe the problem was that I only have one pair of pants in my size at this point (and one pair that's a size down that probably fits, although I never got around to trying them on! I'm not counting my sweats as "pants" in this scenario.). Anyways, apparently my commitment to my Week of Pants was lacking (I never even mentioned it on my blog... I must have suspected that I would fail!). Thus begins my Year of Dresses!

I was planning on starting another blog to document my year of dresses. It wasn't going to be anything fancy or in depth. It was really just going to be a year in pictures of my creative attempts at wearing dresses for (at least) 365 consecutive days. Of course in the move, not many pictures were taken (I think I got one in the last six days!), so I may have to make it a year and a week if I'm actually going to do a year in pictures (Paul suggests that snapping one picture every day would be way to much work!). I have reserved a blog name... so it looks like the Year in Pictures might actually happen. I have little doubt I can stick to a Year of Dresses, we'll have to see how the Picture side of it plays out though.

Sadie has surprised me the most about the whole wearing dresses only thing. She only has a couple of dresses that really fit her at the moment and a closet full of things she's outgrown. Going into summer she was a size a 2 or a 3 (depending on the brand). Now she's a 4 sometimes, but mostly a 5. We'd gone out and gotten her a small number of warm 4's and 5's for winter since she'd outgrown almost everything in her closet, but this past week she's refused to have anything to do with them. If I try to put her in pants (without a dress on first) she cries. Hysterically.

As I was standing in the kitchen yesterday morning she walked by and stopped to pet my skirt while saying "pretty dress." That same morning her first words of the morning were "big dress" as she pointed to the closet she and her sister share (Maggie has a ridiculous number of hand me down dresses from Sadie and Sadie keeps trying to squeeze into 12 monthers). Tonight as we read a bedtime story about wishes, I read a part that asked what her wish was, and she was quick to tell me "Big Dress!" before dissolving into a panic as she noted that she was wearing pants and a shirt (very cute sock monkey pajamas!). She than jumped out of bed and ran to the closet in a frenzy and pulled down her new snowman dress pajamas. When I pointed out that I wear pajama pants to bed and suggested that she wear the other pajamas tomorrow we nearly had tears. She is now tucked into bed in her snowman dress.

Apparently Sadie may insist on joining me in my Year of Dresses (not that I'm holding her to it!). Anyone else given it any thought?

A Year of Dresses?!?!

Since figuring out how to stay toasty in dresses when it's pretty cold outside I've managed to make it through my month of dresses. In fact, with the exception of that one snowy day when I didn't get out of my pajamas, it's been quite a bit more than a month now (it's not all that hard when you only own one pair of pants that aren't pajama pants, and they are starting to show major signs of wear).

I've also been giving some thought to new years resolutions (you'll see how this ties in to my month of dresses in a moment). I dug up last year's to see how I did. Not very well. I started out strong with my rosary goal. I made it up until Lent saying two a day, and bumped it up to 3+ a day during lent. And then July came and Maggie became a part of our lives and I pushed on through. I think that might have been the point where I became over confident. After all, if I could survive that first month of having a toddler and an infant and keep up my two rosaries a day then the rest of the year would be a breeze. However, these past few months (August until now) I've gotten a big fat F. I'll get back on track for a week or two and then go off the rails again. I even went down to one a day (for my goal), but lately, if Paul is working at night and the girls fall asleep in the car on the way home, I will fall asleep praying by myself.

The other goals I won't even really get into, but let's just say I fell even shorter in those cases (for example writing every day? Does blogging count? If it does I might have met one of my goals!). Anyways, I digress, back to the point of this post.

One thought has been popping into my mind for a few days now, and I think that it will be my experiment/resolution, for 2011. When I first started this blog, a year and a half ago (wow, time flies!), I did my first month of dresses. Beginning on January 1st, 2011 I am going to begin My Year of Dresses (I'm going back and forth between calling it My Year of Dresses and My Year without Pants... I think I'm actually leaning towards the later...).

I may wear sweats if I take up jogging (okay, since this is highly unlikely, it probably won't happen) or when I ride my exercise bike in the living room and watch Real Catholic TV, but that's pretty much it.

In addition yesterday felt a little bit like Christmas morning for me! I was looking for baby clothes because Maggie has grown out of her 9 month outfits and is suddenly looking small in her twelve month outfits too (I found an 18 month outfit that was snug on her!), and found my box full of pre-pregnancy clothes. While not all of them will fit, there are quite a few dresses that I wore post-baby last time, so I'm pretty excited! It was kind of like going on a huge shopping trip, since I hadn't seen them in so long!

Does anyone want to join me in this goal? I'm pretty excited about it (I must be a peculiar type of nerd when the idea of wearing dresses for a year sounds like fun!)! Anyone and everyone is welcome to join in the fun!

Wearing Dresses When It's Cold...

I've been wearing dresses and skirts a lot lately. I would say that I've worn them every day for more than a month, except that there was that one snowed in day when I didn't get out of my sweat pants and Paul says that since I went outside and played in the snow "it counts." So much for my perfect record! However, I have taken myself out of the pants vs skirt/dress debate. I believe that both pants and dresses/ skirts have equal opportunities to be modest or immodest. That is not what this post is about (oh the ugly debate!)!

I am, however, more of a dress type of a person these days. Nicole sums up a lot of the reasons that come to mind in this post. It also doesn't hurt that I feel more comfortable in dresses and that post-babies #1 and #2 they've just been more flattering. Now, on to the actual point of this post.

Is it possible to wear a dress out in the kind of weather that we've been having lately, without freezing my legs off? Today the low in our town was something like 18 degrees (Fahrenheit). The temperature hovered around freezing for most of the day.

So this is one of the questions I been thinking about lately. I already knew the answer (yes, it is possible!) but perhaps the more important question was whether it was possible without a penny in my 'buying new warm clothes" budget?

And then there's this: I'm not a huge fan of tights. I'll wear them if I have to, but I don't really like them. Last year I bought four pairs, and when I began to think of dressing warmly I went straight to the drawer that they're supposed to be in and found that they are someplace else (I have no idea where that is, however).

I have actually been happier this year without the tights. Here's what I came up with. And I have been toasty warm:
The key to wearing dresses when it's cold out is to layer. I'll start on the bottom for my "how to stay warm in a dress" explanation. Keep your feet warm. Get a pair of thick socks. In this picture I have a thick pair of knee high cable knit socks that are almost too warm when I'm indoors. They're perfect for long walks when it's freezing (these rather tall boots, however, are not!).

Under the skirt I have even more layers. There is of course usually a post-pregnancy girdle (this post talks about the importance of good undergarments in general. I had to search to find it again!). And then I found a pair of silky pants that were my grandmothers that are very warm! On top of those I have a second long slip and then the skirt itself. The slips are one of my favorite parts of my wardrobe. I have a huge stack of them. Some are quite beautiful! They were my grandmothers and they were almost tossed out because it was thought that no one would want them. But I rescued them from the garbage bag and this winter I am especially glad that I did!

My top half is kept warm with a camisole, under a shirt and then a long sweater/dress that I found at Old Navy last year. I threw on a scarf, a headband and a pair of $1 gloves and when we went on a very cold three mile walk (in sneakers!) everything except my face was warm! And when it's really cold I would go with a thicker scarf to stay even warmer.

Here's a picture of some of the layers:

In the picture on top we'd just gotten back from a three mile walk and Sadie has already stripped off three layers of clothes to run around in her PJs. The cold means she's been wearing a lot of PJs under her clothes lately to add an extra layer. We're all layering to keep warm.

And it is most definitely possible to stay warm in dresses (and be comfortable too! This is a very comfortable outfit! I could wear the skirt every day if I didn't have to wash it so frequently because four messy little hands!).

The Cami-Secret: Part 2!

I've been wearing my Cami-Secret in white (because so far it matches better than the tan or black that also come in the package). And I've been pleasantly surprised. It stays in place! And my husband actually noticed that I was wearing it and said that he thought that it added something to the dress that I was wearing and was "cute." Here's a picture I snapped this morning before we went grocery shopping and one I took this afternoon (we're about to go to a barbeque! A very rainy barbeque!).

I would say that at $3.33 a piece they're definitely worth it! The real test will be wearing one tomorrow at Mass while wrangling Sadie...

And if you haven't already, don't forget to enter the giveaway by tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon!

The Cami-Secret: Bringing Necklines Up!

Today I tried to relax... Tomorrow I'll be talking to the tenet's rights lawyer, but for today, I'm trying not to stress out too much about everything that's been going on the past couple of weeks. And I also decided to go on a little shopping spree. You see, during my couponing adventures I've accumulated quite a little stash of CVS "extra care bucks." So this was to be a Extra Buck shopping spree. I went through my coupons and discovered that I had a maximum of fifty dollars in free coupons to spend.

There were a couple of things I had my eye on. I've been walking past the cute glass turkey platter that they were selling for $12. It had been marked down by 25% (because we're soooooooo close to Thanksgiving...) so that was on my list. And there was a cute pumpkin scented candle that Paul thought smelled great (and since we're trying to cover up smells...) that was also on the 25% off shelf.

A can opener was also on the list because mine broke last week.

Then we cruised past the "made for TV aisle." There was something I was hoping against hope to see there. Because, while I wasn't about to pay shipping and handling to order this particular item over the phone, I thought that I might just use my extra bucks to get them for free. And there they were just waiting to be snatched up. The Cami-Secret.

It's like a little swatch of fabric that attaches to the straps of bras to give low cut shirts a higher neckline. Not everyone thinks it's a good idea. Then again, covering cleavage hasn't exactly been a major fashion trend in the twenty-first century.

For the past couple of years I've used camisoles to give low cut dresses and shirts a higher neckline. It's hard to find nursing tops with appropriate necklines and it seems like every dress with a low enough hemline has a plunging neck. With a toddler who constantly pulls at my camisoles I have a hard time keeping them in place (and camisoles are more expensive, even the three packs I get at Costco!). The Cami-Secret claims to clip at any level on bra straps and stay in place.

We will see. If it passes the toddler test I will be thrilled. If it "mostly passes" the toddler test (and stays put most of the time) I will still be pretty excited.

Modest Dresses at Close-Out Prices

Wooohooo!

I very, very rarely buy clothing these days (for myself at least, Sadie is now a 4T and grows out of clothes as quickly as we can buy them...). And even more rarely do I buy new clothing. However, tonight when I got home there was a comment in the comment box suggesting Christa Taylor, a store that's online store is going out of business, as a site I might like. And I do (thank you Rebecca!). In fact, I was even tempted into buying a dress (the only post-baby dress I've bought since Maggie was born!). Here's the one I picked out!

For under $30 (including shipping!) it's a pretty good deal! And it'll be nice to have something cute and comfortable and new to wear to the craft fair/ festival I'll be selling jewelry and rosaries at this weekend!

Outfit of the Week

This weeks Outfit of the Week is extra special because it is currently on clearance at Mikarose!

This dress, which is listed as the "Alice" looks light and airy and fun and perfect for summer (which is probably why it's on clearance now that it's October!). It also comes in pink and (this is a big plus to me!) is machine washable!

Outfit of the Week

I've stumbled across this store before, while searching for classic, stylish modest dresses, but I made the mistake of not bookmarking the site and I just couldn't find it for the longest time. Today, however, I finally stumbled across it again and instantly recognized my favorite dress (the red dress below!).

Who says that all dresses either have to be low cut or show way too much leg? These dresses prove (to anyone who had doubts in the first place!) that it's possible to be stylish and modest at the same time!

The Audrey

The Jackie

The Brecken

Now if only the stores at the mall would realize that dresses don't have to be "barely there" to sell! "Barely there" usually isn't flattering too very many women, even when they aren't worried about dressing modestly! When will designers and store buyers realize that leaving something to the imagination is a good thing?

Outfit(s) of the Week: Too Many to Pick Just One!

While I've lately lamented how hard it is to find modest clothing in mainstream stores, I was pleasantly surprised with what I found when I was looking at the dresses on Etsy last night (while both girls were asleep at the same time! Yay!). While they aren't exactly in my price range at this point in time (another reason to expand my sewing skills) they are beautiful! And I just had to share some of my favorites with you!

from Lwangslife

from No Wonder

from Lirola

from JRoseAtelier

An Open Letter to Fashion Designers Everywhere: Let's Be Realistic...

Dear Fashion Designers and Sellers of Clothing Everywhere:

I'm tired of being disappointed by you. No more will I wait with bated breath for the September issue of Vogue... it just never lives up to my apparently unrealistic expectations (more on that later).

I don't think I'm asking for too much. I mean is it too much to expect just a tiny bit of common sense? We all know you're going to go crazy with runway designs, but why does the stuff that makes it into stores have to be equally far fetched?

Here are a few of my complaints (they're really just the tip of the iceberg...):

My #1 Complaint:

-Why does one part of my body always have to be falling out of your clothing? If a dress is long, it's practically a given that it's going to be so cut that a Janet Jackson Super Bowl "accident" is a very real possibility. If a dress has a lovely neckline it's going to be so short that the wearers bum will barely be covered. It would be nice to buy something and not have to think about how I'm going to layer a camisole under it and a sweater over it so that it meets the bare minimal standards of coverage.

On Pregnancy Fashion:

-Pregnant women (outside of a rare few in Hollywood) don't want to wear miniskirts. When a pregnant woman walks into a pregnancy store she's doesn't want to feel like she's looking at the teeny-bopper rack at Forever 21. She doesn't want to even think about buying something that barely covers her bum. And it's absolutely ridiculous to think that you can walk into a Motherhood Maternity store and ask if they have any skirts that come to the top of the knees and be told "no... we don't have anything like that..." (that actually happened to me this past November...).

-Just forget about putting suggestions like "You should be able to buy your pre-pregnancy size" in your catalog, on your website, or on a cute little sign in your maternity store when telling pregnant women what size they should be trying on or buying. I've gone from Small to XL in both of my pregnancies. And the idea that the only part of a woman's body that grows during pregnancy is a cute little bump ("here, use this pillow and you can see what will fit when you're in your third trimester!") is absurd. Let's be realistic here. Again, most of the people buying your clothes don't live in Hollywood.

I could go on... but instead I think I'll start paging through some of the sewing books sitting in my crafting area. Because, unsurprisingly the nursing top selection isn't much better than the normal day to day fashions (or the maternity fashions) and I'm getting a little desperate... I have some ideas though (and some snaps that were on clearance). Hopefully there will be a cute sewing post before too long!

Maternity Outfit of the Week

While I was on the Shabby Apple website I stopped by to look at their maternity section and loved what I found. It inspired me to do a Maternity Outfit of the Week (at least for this week!).

Here it is --->

At the beginning of this pregnancy I needed to find a dress for my grandmother's funeral. Even though I was only a couple of months along I was already having trouble fitting into my regular clothes (it's amazing how much faster you show during a second pregnancy!) and thought I'd find a dress that would last through the entire pregnancy, that was comfortable enough to wear regularly but nice enough for Mass (or other formal occasions).

Some of you may remember the complaint that I had after that somewhat frustrating shopping trip. ALL of the dresses in the maternity store (and maternity sections of the department stores we stopped by) were thigh skimming. They hardly covered ANYTHING.

Now I know in Hollywood pregnant starlets might like to prance around in next to nothing while carrying around a baby the size of a small (or not so small) beach ball, but in reality I don't know many pregnant women who enjoy walking around in next to nothing. I know that I certainly don't!

I did finally find a dress (the dress that I'm wearing in the banner picture) in the Old Navy clearance section. It was actually supposed to be a cover up for the pool or beach...

So it's a relief to find a store that sells classy maternity outfits that don't look like they're about to a) fall off or b) reveal the wearers underwear. Not that I'm in the market for maternity clothes these days... in fact I've already unpacked my non-maternity dresses and stare at them wistfully each time I put clothes away in the closet... and with the help of a good post-c-section girdle/corset it shouldn't be too long before they're back in the rotation (I hope!)!

Outfit of the Week

I love Shabby Apple. I haven't actually been able to afford a dress there, but they're great for fashion inspiration! And I love this dress! It's just perfect for summer!

It's also motivating me to get my sewing machine up and running (whenever I see beautiful dresses I get motivated to learn more about sewing!). The one that I had been using at Nani's house was actually my grandmother's and I only tried using mine once (there wasn't a lot of room for it in the travel trailer so it got put away... knitting always ends up stealing my sewing time!). I set it up the other day and it was making an awful clicking sound like the needle was caught on something. I'm not sure how anything could have gone wrong with it since it's been sitting on a shelf in the garage for the past few years, but we'll have to wait and see.

Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll have time to get it up and running... right now I'm very distracted by my latest rosary (two decades down, three to go). I found some beautiful freshwater pearls on super sale and I love how it's coming along! It'll be my first rosary with real pearls! And I have a wedding present that i need to get started on (and finish) pronto! So much to do before Maggie arrives!

Outfit of the Week

Sadie is asleep and there's a load of laundry in the washing machine and in the dryer, so there's not much more that I can do to get ready for the move until morning... which left me with a little time to look at vintage dresses on etsy. I stumbled across this one and it's absolutely beautiful!

It is this week's Outfit of the Week!

This shop has so many beautiful dresses!

Head Covering of the Week..

I have a love of gold veils... I don't actually own one, and I think it will probably be quite a while before I do, but as I was wistfully looking at mantilla shops this morning before starting my day I came across a new shop and fell in love with about two dozen of their veils. There are even a few that Sadie would be enamored with (I think she'd go for the bright blue and the pink, although at the moment anyone can tell by looking at her coloring books that green is her absolute favorite color in the entire world!).

I was a bit nervous at first because I didn't see prices, until I found this link to their actual store and it turns out that the prices, when compared with a lot of the mantilla and chapel veil shops I've seen, are actually very reasonable (lots of stuff under $20).

I think that there will be more Head Coverings of the Week from this site!

Living on a Little: "Shopping" for Clothes

Clothes shopping can be expensive. In the last few years my sense of style changed drastically and I became more aware of what I was wearing. But that change didn't mean that I suddenly had money to spend on a new wardrobe. So I began searching for modest outfits that fit my own personal style. It wasn't easy at first. But I thought I'd take six of my favorites and give a few examples of what worked for me.

I did make one rule starting out: I didn't add in the cost of clothing that were over eight years old... mostly because I can't remember how much they cost... and if they were over eight years old they weren't part of my "wardrobe budget" in the recent past. Don't forget to try to find ways to repurpose old outfits!

This is my favorite skirt in the entire world and it gets a lot of wear. If you've read my blog for long, you probably recognize it. It was $1 at a yard sale last year. It still had the tags on it. The sweater was a gift from my best friend Kehli who saw me eyeing it (but refusing to splurge) after I got engaged. And the shirt I dug up from some old boxes of college clothes (it was from Forever 21 in 2002). There's also a scarf in my hair (barely visible) that was one of my grandmothers'.

Total Outfit Cost: $1

This dress was discovered during the garage sale excavation that went on this month and belonged to my mom. I snatched it up right away before it could go into the sale pile! And for a little while it still fits... oh well, that just means it will fit again post-baby!

Cost: Free

I was pretty surprised when I found this outfit a few weeks ago and it worked out. The reason? The dress is from junior high. However the top is super denim ribbed with a ton of elastic and it really stretches. That, combined with the loose skirt, means that it fit at 100 lbs and it fits now. The sweater was worn on my first day of school my junior year in high school... Okay, I have to be grateful that mom saved so much stuff!

Cost: Free!

I eyed this skirt for months at Penny's and checked the sales rack for it over and over again. Finally it was "out" of season. This happened to coincide with the point in time when I realized that my old clothes would never fit the same way again and my maternity clothing no longer fit... I may have danced around the store when I found it for $4. And this is yet another sweater from my early college days.

Cost: $4
This would be the splurge in this set of outfits. My grandmother passed away this November and I needed a dress for her funeral. Newly pregnant (and still trying to hide it... although everyone did end up finding out before the funeral) I went looking for a dark colored dress that didn't show my already growing bump. After a half dozen stores that only had mini black dresses I found this one at Old Navy on the clearance rack. It was supposed to be a beach cover up. I was so thrilled that I didn't care (and didn't even glance at the price tag... after all, how much could a clearance rack cover up be.....). Around $20. Apparently different people have different ideas of what "clearance" means.

Cost: $20

This is another garage sale find. It isn't a maternity dress, but it did fit for a good while. It has an ink stain low on the skirt on one side, but it's hardly noticeable. And I still think it was a steal at $1.

Cost: $1

Bringing the outfit total to... $26. And if I hadn't included the funeral splurge I could have said it was five outfits for $6. Proving that with a little work (know anyone who needs help sorting through old clothes?) you can find a reasonably priced wardrobe!

Head Covering of the Week

I've had lots of people ask me about the white headcovering that is in my profile picture and that Sadie sometimes wears. Paul got it at a little local Catholic bookstore shortly after we were married, after I became interested in covering my head (in other words, about three years ago!) and I haven't seen another one like it since. I spotted this one the other day though and it is very close! And compared with some of the "dream veils" that I posted about last year, it is very affordable.