My Christmas and The High Cost of Cheap Clothing and Gifts

Christmas is over - I hope you had a good one.  We had a lovely, quiet Christmas eve, with just the six of us, and then Christmas day at my son's  house with his girlfriend and her family. 

My family

Presents were subdued - due as much to finances as to my minimalist, vintage, greenness - science kits for the kids, handmade rose hair-clips, books and quirky T-shirts. I like T-shirts as gifts because they can be worn as pjs if the wearer doesn't like them, or get worn out, and then can be re-purposed into other things.  They have to be quality T-shirts though, not the sort that cost $3 at K-mart and ball or stretch after a couple of washes. I got mine online at Redbubble.

Obviously I love vintage (and thrifted) clothing, and one of the reasons is it's green - I am not directly contributing to pesticides with cotton farming, or wearing new toxic fabrics like polyester and acrylic.  I shop at thrift shops a lot, and get most of my non-vintage clothes from them. I even get most of my sewing fabrics and notions from thrift stores. 

Thrifted Bar-b-que, a father's day present

I know many of us think that we are doing well in clearing out our wardrobes and donating to thrift shops, but we must also remember that there is no way that the thrift stores can use all the clothes they are given.  When I was working at the Salvation Army store we cleared out certain color tagged clothing each week that had not sold and they were bagged up to send overseas.  Cotton clothing was also shredded for rags.  You can read more about what happens to all our donated clothing here, in a excerpt from the book 'Overdressed: the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion'. 

Of course Christmas is not a great holiday for the environment in this day and age.  Not only are there cheap clothing options, there are cheap toys (sometimes made in Chinese gulags) and all the paper used for cards and wrapping (which uses around 100,000 trees), as well as bows and other trimmings.

My thrifted tree - $8

This year my cards, some gifts and wrapping, tree and baubles were thrifted, and next year I will try and be even more environmentally conscious and try different wrapping solutions.  I have used tea towels in the past, and newspaper, but I also like the Japanese idea of Furoshiki, which I will try and practice during the year at birthdays.

What were some of the vintage/thrifted/green ideas you used for Christmas this year?

Deb xx

Not 'sew' good - my wardrobe update

Well, the sewing isn't going too well.  I managed to cut out the wrong size skirt pattern - I measured my bust, but not hips, it seems.  So it turned out a little small, an then I cut it down, thinking to put on a simple waistband, and that didn't really work either.  I also remember now why I love the long, slim 30s silhouettes - flared skirts, even the slightly flared ones of the late 30s and early 40s, are not a good look on me. A good lesson I think!

Lane Bryant dress for stout women, 1930s

I think I will definitely buy a suit (when I can afford it), and stick with making dresses.

via

You'll see from previous posts that I have a slight obsession with blue and orange at the moment.  Yesterday when I was walking through our local department store, looking at winter shoes, I almost tripped over a rack of dress with a big '$20 and under' sign.  I had to look of course, and behold - blue and orange!

A simple, sleeveless linen/rayon shift, with a 3/4 length hemline, so a 30s feel, even though it's not fitted, and perfect for our hot days here.  And I love the pleating detail.  For the price of $17.50 (down from $159) I really could not have made it.  It was a size too large, so I had to take in the side seams - so I managed to do some useful sewing after all!

I also managed to get some vintage look blouses at the thrift shop. And a brown pin stripe suit, which is too small but I couldn't resist - I can wear the jacket undone, and maybe turn the pants into a skirt.

All that for $10, plus a few other things for the kids. The blouses will be good when the weather cools down, if it ever does, and should go well with the brown gored skirt that I bought last year (also thrifted).

I am trying to find a nice winter felt hat, and a pair of black shoes, as my favourite pumps have died. I'll start taking photos of outfits soon, and I really need to clean out the closet. Maybe I'll do a post about that, so I can work out what I have and NEED - properly.

Deb xx