A bad thing happened to the Indestructible Denim Maxi-Skirt of Feminine Traddery while we were in the New Town: I put it in the dryer.
Alas! Somehow the zipper got terribly stuck afterwards, and when B.A. tried to unstick it, it broke.
Quite apart from my affection for the Hitherto Indestructible Denim Maxi-Skirt of Feminine Traddery, the accident had serious ramifications for my minimal wardrobe. I find those "capsule wardrobe" posts on minimalism blogs quite amusing, for they contain many more clothes than I have now.
That said, I envy nuns their habits, and my ideal is to have one hard-wearing skirt and 6 T-shirts for week-days, one nice dress for Sundays (per season), one suit for the very rare occasions I have to dress professionally, and a knock-out dress for evening parties.
How far I have come from my seventeen magazine reading days when my dreamiest daydream involved a walk-in closet decked with an endless array of designer clothes.
The trad women I know best my age or younger prefer to always wear skirts and never trousers*, and I have felt like a traitor wearing grey summer slacks for the past month, but I more-or-less had to because of the gaping wound in the Hitherto Indestructible Denim Maxi-Skirt of FT.
After pawing through racks in charity shops and looking online for another one, preferably the exact same make and size, I decided that the most economical and simple thing to do would be to take out the broken zipper and put in a new one. So I took out the old zipper and bought a new one (£2.05) and have been putting it into the IDMSFT with the running backstitch.
The fact that I am sewing is evidence of how badly I want to be frugal.
While putting in this zipper, though, I see that the denim is actually wearing thin here and there and so even with the new zip the IDMSFT really isn't I. Therefore I probably won't go the whole hog and attempt to dye it back to its original indigo.
Garden Note: I read last night that sitting all day is terribly bad for your health, so today I spent 2.5 hours in the garden--two hours before work and half an hour after--and maybe half an hour grocery-shopping. To my surprise, I had one of my most productive workdays ever.
Update: This trouser-hate is very NICHE, by the way. In Scotland, as in other places in Europe, women wear trousers to the Traditional Latin Mass unless there is a sign around saying not to. Many women don't wear mantillas. Some women go bareheaded, which is especially common in Germany and France.
Congratulations on fixing your skirt! Knowing how to sew, even if one does it rarely, is an incredibly useful skill for a girl to have. However, be warned that if word gets out, you might find yourself (as my cousin did) suddenly popular amongst young seminarians who need their cassocks and surplices repaired. Apparently sewing is not taught in seminary.
ReplyDeleteOne of my most faithful readers makes habits for Dominicans!
ReplyDeleteI shall never be popular among young seminarians, for I live in a country without a seminary (FACT) and I am wrongly believed to be quite scary.
Auntie - Have you looked at Jewish websites such as Tznius.com? They have some lovely long skirts!
ReplyDeleteMargaret Anton, that is basically how I got started in my now full-time job as a seamstress for Dominican Friars. They needed repairs and buttons sewn back on!
Hello Emma! I was looking at the envelope you sent last year! You must have included a card (and a Mass card?) for B.A. but all we have now is the envelope. :-D
DeleteYes, there was a Mass card in the envelope! (Is it an especially large envelope? That would have been an perpetual enrollment card for the Monastery - and I could easily get you a replacement!)
DeleteAnd Oh, the joys of losing things during packing and moving...
Well, you know what. I looked again, and it isn't even the envelope. It's the return address, ripped off, so I could write you a thank you note. And I never did write you the thank you note---or any Christmas cards that year, either, the year everyone on my list DEFINITELY deserved one!
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