For Evangelicals in the late 80’s and early 90’s, Halloween was a holiday of the Devil. After a few Halloweens when I was really small, we didn’t celebrate it in my family growing up.
Over time, we developed a tradition of getting together at the home of family friends out in the country where people didn’t bother to trick or treat. We watched old musicals while stuffing our faces with candy. We watched Fiddler on the Roof, and The Music Man. I can still sing many of the songs. (“There’s troublllleee! Trouble! Right here in River City!”)
It took a long time to out grow that idea, that Halloween wasn’t for Christians. And in the meantime, I lost many opportunities to dress up.
If you follow me on Insta, you know that I participated in something called #memademay this year. This is an optional motivational tool and fun adventure for sewists who make their own clothes to wear what they’ve made and feature it on social media.
I don’t think most of my friends sew, so while I hope they didn’t get sick of seeing my face in May, there was also the bigger thing of maybe no one caring that I make my own clothes. And the sticky issue of who, exactly, our social media accounts are for.
Us?
Our friends?
Attention for us, from our friends?
*cringe*
Where do you shop for clothes? How often do you shop? Is it medicinal, or is because you have an identifiable need? Do you shop ethically?
I’m a medicinal shopper. I’ve historically been pretty good at making it seem at least part of the time like it’s an identifiable need, but usually, it’s just because I’m stressed out and looking for a way to control my environment.
As a lady in my Late Thirties, I’ve become a bit of a snob with my shopping. I don’t remember how I discovered Anthropologie, but their quirky, European-inspired, artsy offerings appealed to me immediately. I had realized the cheaply made, fleeting styles of third party sellers on Amazon were often disappointing.
I started with Anthropologie’s hand towels. On sale, they are often around $10-14. Which is pretty expensive for a kitchen towel, but these aren’t your average kitchen towel.
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Matthew 6:28
When my senior prom was coming up, my mom took me, my favorite cousin, and my best friend Mac to a mall in Pennsylvania (where there isn’t any sales tax on clothing).
I don’t remember how many dresses I tried on, but I know that I would come out of the dressing room and if anyone on my team shook their heads “no” to the dress, I put it back on its hanger.
I still remember the looks on their faces as they unanimously voted yes to a navy blue number.
In a couple of weeks, I’m going to a semi-formal event.
I don’t have an entourage to take me to the mall or help me pick the right thing out of my own closet. And I really, really miss them.
I’ve made a few shirts with sleeves, and the one I actually wear may someday make it into a future post. However, the type of top I’ve been most successful with is the tank top. I’ve made 5 so far, using three different patterns. It’s given me the opportunity to work with fabrics I hadn’t tried before, like double gauze and rayon.
I wanted to round up the tops I’ve made so far so I’ll have them all in one place. Also, for people like me who like to see photos of what others have done with patterns and what they look like on actual human beings – hopefully this will help.
The patterns I used were: Lotta Jansdotter’s Kiomi top from Everyday Style, and Rae’s Ruby and Gemma tops.
