Over the years of being a mom to daughters, I have become quite concerned over the clothing choices my daughters have. In fact, many of their clothes come from second hand stores, friends, or I make them. The current trends on the market just don’t seem to fit the standards my husband and I have chosen to live by for our family. In fact too many of them see to be modeled after what I call “honeymoon bedroom attire”.
I have been sewing since I was nine years old. I have been sewing dresses for my girls for sometime.
This is the first dress I made my oldest daughter.
I made these matching dresses too.
There are many more dresses my girls have that I have made too. The first dress above, I found a similar dress in a department store for $65, however I wasn’t about to spend that on a dress. I managed to get fabric, notions, and pattern for $14, and it took me about 5 hours to make with lots of little hands helping.
I have been on a sewing kick again. I have finished a dress for my oldest, working on another, and have several items to mend and alter. I am taking some holey jeans and making them into shorts that are long and adding some boutique style accents. The girls are already loving the accents. I am also planning to make a swimsuit for myself and oldest daughter. We will be using a modest swimsuit pattern.
For myself, I tend to wear shorts at home, but skirts when we are out and about, or capris during the summer. During the winter you mostly find me in my jeans and ropers.
I know many find pants of any kind inappropriate for women. My husband is one who likes me to wear jeans…though not the skin tight ones you see so often now.
Most of my skirts are second hand or made by me, my capris are too. However, I tend to buy one new pair of jeans every couple of years. I like my skirts to be long…as in lower then most calf length skirts…near or at my ankle.
As for shirts…I don’t like sleeveless or very low cut shirts. I also don’t like things to be tight around my neck. I find shirts both second hand and new on sale or with gift cards. For lower cut shirts, I will wear a cami under it or add a contrasting insert.
For more about wearing skirts and modest dressing, visit Raising Arrows series about wearing skirts.
mother, christian, wife, woman, child of God. It is about my life as a farmer’s wife, as a cook, a baker, a nurse, a teacher, a woodworker, a housekeeper, a farmer (yep, I drive tractors, pick up hay bales, and other farm duties), a gardener. So, what you read here, is me, as a transparent sometimes hot headed, passionate, and opinionated person.
I’ve started sewing more and more for my girls too. It is so sad to see what passes as girls clothing in stores these days. I took my husband shopping a few years ago to look for clothes for our oldest daughter. He was shocked to see what was available, he now understands why dressing our girls is not as easy as dressing the boys!
I had no idea you made that dress for Lora! Wow! I have a dress cut out for Lia, but life just seems to be taking all my time right now! (actually it is school that is taking all my time, but we are so enjoying all the meaty stuff we are leaning right now, it’s hard for me to justify taking the time to sew…even though they could really use that kind of “meat” too!)
I’m hoping to hit the thrift store this weekend to find one or two more skirts for myself. Shirts would be nice too, but I don’t seem to have much luck there.
(and thanks for linking to the series!)
I always enjoyed sewing, and I was making patterns for my own stuffed animals by the time I was ten. I enjoyed making some sleepers and such things for my oldest, before she was born. Now I find it too expensive to sew. Our local Walmart no longer carries fabric, so we have to get specialty stuff for $6-8 a yard. It is cheaper to get clothes at thrift stores and garage sales.
Last summer I sewed dresses for me and our son and daughter, and I enjoyed it so much! I wish we could get fabric cheaper because there is nothing like a homemade dress!
A lot of my fabric comes from fabric coops through Yahoo groups…I get lots of fabric for $2-$4 per yard.
Yep, I hear you! My daughter is only FIVE and finding clothes that are appropriate in our eyes off the rack is almost impossible. I sew MOST of her clothes, other than t-shirts and undies. It’s really sad what’s out there. There are some modest options, but I find they are much too expensive for every-day wear for active little girls, and much too fancy as well.
I struggle with this everytime I go to buy clothes for my 10yo dd. She is very tall for her age and now has to shop in the ladies dept. The teens department is a waste of time for us-midriffs, low cut shirts, shorts that have less fabric than a kitchen towel. Thankfully, she is extremely modest in her taste, so I don’t have that battle when we shop. I’m trying to sew some, my mom sewed all of my clothes, and she always made matching kerchiefs for my hair to go with the dresses.