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MicheleQ
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| Posted: March 11 2013 at 1:10pm | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
| I expect my clothes to last a while if I'm paying for the higher quality. But typically I don't wear the $65 blouse to make dinner or teach at home. So part of my weighing the clothing quality and price is for what purpose are the clothes. And how do I take care of it? |
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Which is why our grandmothers wore aprons. They had fewer clothes and had to make what they did have last longer.
I think we (as a society) have really gotten use to the idea of changing styles every season but I really prefer the idea of sticking to my one style and adding accessories here and there.
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Michele Quigley
wife to my prince charming and mom of 10 in Lancaster County, PA USA
http://michelequigley.com
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JennGM
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| Posted: March 11 2013 at 1:15pm | IP Logged
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what's changing styles?
I just find I go through shirts more often. An apron doesn't work for underarms. 
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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MicheleQ
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| Posted: March 11 2013 at 1:19pm | IP Logged
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I mean the way the styles change so often. Not that YOU do but a lot of people do. I don't care about that except when the current style happens to be one I like. Longer tops seem to be in style now. I like that because they hide my mommy belly. 
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Michele Quigley
wife to my prince charming and mom of 10 in Lancaster County, PA USA
http://michelequigley.com
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SeaStar
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| Posted: March 11 2013 at 2:06pm | IP Logged
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I remember taking home ec in junior high. We learned to sew 
But then after that... high school did not offer any sewing classes. In college, I might have taken a fashion elective, but I don't know if that would have taught me how to make fitted clothing.
And, oh- I do wish I had that skill! I can sew, but I'm not good at the fitted part. Even following a pattern can leave me with an item that might not fit. My local fabric and quilting stores offer classes, and there is always Youtube, but again, it's a time thing- like dinner 
But there my brain is tricking me, like Michele mentioned. Three hours at the mall and nothing to show for it could be three hours of a "sew with knits" class and then I would have a skill.
Definitely something to think about.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 11 2013 at 2:27pm | IP Logged
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Also if you find items you like to sew.. and stick with those creating a few variation like with sleeve length or changing colors and patterns and trim.. you'll find also that you can work out the changes the first time and then save time after that because it's all worked out.. plus once you've made an item a time or two, you get faster because you know what you're doing instead of working out each step.
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3ringcircus
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| Posted: March 11 2013 at 3:12pm | IP Logged
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SeaStar wrote:
JodieLyn wrote:
| Nice post Michele. Yes it's hard to pay what seems a very high price for an item you don't know will last.. |
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That is the heart of the problem for me. If I pay a lot, will it last??
I would be willing to pay a lot for one pair of very well made black pants that fit me, could be machine washed and that I could wear for years. That classic style is what I'm after. But I am just not sure who makes that pair of pants anymore- where can I look?
Am I going to pay a lot for everyday t-shirts or a pair of turquoise skinny jeans? No.
Then what about things like sweaters- styles change, so I don't want a sweater that will necessarily last 20 years, but at the same time, I don't want one that will shrink and be too short after two washings 
I agree that sewing is the way to go if you have the talent and the time.
I just wish it could be easier to go shopping for clothes and then actually come home with clothes |
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I'm hoping my new Dockers last as long as my older ones have. The color and material are still in great shape, and I bought them 5 yrs. ago. Granted, I didn't wear them every year because of maternity times, but they have held up better than any of my other pants or jeans.
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Christine
Mom to my circus of boys: G-1/06, D-1/04, S-4/10
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: March 12 2013 at 7:16am | IP Logged
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What a wonderful conversation! I struggle so much with these same ideas...
...which is why, when I read The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burgess, just this month, I reread the opening paragraph at least three times because I found it so fascinating a window into this topic.
Quote:
hen Miss Fox-Seton descended from the twopenny bus as it drew up, she gathered her trim tailor-made skirt about her with neatness and decorum, being well used to getting in and out of twopenny buses and to making her way across muddy London streets. A woman whose tailor-made suit must last two or three years soon learns how to protect it from splashes, and how to aid it to retain the freshness of its folds. During her trudging about this morning in the wet, Emily Fox-Seton had been very careful, and, in fact, was returning to Mortimer Street as unspotted as she had left it. She had been thinking a good deal about her dress—this particular faithful one which she had already worn through a twelvemonth. Skirts had made one of their appalling changes, and as she walked down Regent Street and Bond Street she had stopped at the windows of more than one shop bearing the sign "Ladies' Tailor and Habit-Maker," and had looked at the tautly attired, preternaturally slim models, her large, honest hazel eyes wearing an anxious expression. She was trying to discover where seams were to be placed and how gathers were to be hung; or if there were to be gathers at all; or if one had to be bereft of every seam in a style so unrelenting as to forbid the possibility of the honest and semi-penniless struggling with the problem of remodelling last season's skirt at all. "As it is only quite an ordinary brown," she had murmured to herself, "I might be able to buy a yard or so to match it, and I might be able to join the gore near the pleats at the back so that it would not be seen."
She quite beamed as she reached the happy conclusion. She was such a simple, normal-minded creature that it took but little to brighten the aspect of life for her and to cause her to break into her good-natured, childlike smile. A little kindness from any one, a little pleasure or a little comfort, made her glow with nice-tempered enjoyment. As she got out of the bus, and picked up her rough brown skirt, prepared to tramp bravely through the mud of Mortimer Street to her lodgings, she was positively radiant |
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What a window into this world 
So many things struck me in it, many of which have been touched on here, but one thing was the use of the word "rough" to describe her skirt, and it is reinforced something I've thought about for some time as I marvel over the clothing in shows like All Creatures Great and Small or when I've read about Beatrix Potter and her choices. The fabric often used in those clothes was rough, like tweed and wool. Such choices are really out of fashn today.
Of course, this doesn't explain why I van't find those nicely made heavier knit tees anymore, the ones I got second hand and lasted for years beyond. But, even so, I can't really expect my comfy knit skit to hold up to abuse and frequent washings like Beatrix Potter's carefully chosen tweed.
And frankly, while I wouldn't mind wearing it out and about, the idea of wearing tweed every day sounds uncomfortable And many of my longest lasting clothes are not among my most comfortable, either.
The passage DID make me feel better about my favorite khaki skirt that was well made (French seams, durable twill, flattering cut) falling apart after three years of constant use. And I HAVE saved that beloved skirt on the hope that someday I will actually make a pattern from it to make more Skirts are much easier to sew than blouses or pants, ime, and a good place to start if you want to add to your wardrobe. I still wear a wool skirt my mother made me 16 years ago!
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Thoughts on clothing quality...
