Nice people thread part 5 - nicely does it

SingleSue

lemonjelly wrote: »

Leftfield question for the nice peeps.
This afternoon, a female friend visited, & in general chatter mentioned that they are finding it difficult to find somewhere that sells skirts. I am aware said friend has been looking to update their skirts for a little while, with little/no success. Que todays grumble session.

Is this a fashion trend? Are other ladies finding similar difficulties? Can anyone recommend suitable options?

Friend tends to favour Evans, Asda, Matalan, Bon Marche style places I believe. Not looking for flash going out stuff, just normal, affordable skirts for everyday wear, like at work etc. Full length too - they're not a fan of short or even 3/4 length AFAIK.

We're quite lucky here, we have a ladies shop that does skirts of all descriptions, unfortunately they are not a chain.

My last two skirts have come from there, one reduced down from £80 to a fiver and the other reduced from £100 to £8.

LydiaJ

michaels wrote: »

At DDs school the girls can chose skirts or trousers (unfair I think as the boys can't chose skirts). With DDs still quite young and not yet stupid and me being quite traditional I am happy for them to wear skirts but when they reach the 'hitch up skirt so hem is at belt level' age I suspect I will suddenly see the benefit of trousers.

Skirts are great for little girls at the "growing out of everything every five minutes" stage. Trousers can so easily look ridiculously too short or too long, but skirts have a much more generous margin of growing room.

I've no idea whether buying skirts has got harder recently. I bought one that I'm happy with last autumn, which was something of a relief - I usually find it very difficult to find clothes that fit properly, and since I also want them to be to my taste, that makes the whole "shopping for clothes" experience more frustrating than enjoyable.

I am going out tomorrow night to somebody's 80th birthday - it'll be a big bash with lots of people of all ages. I'll be wearing a dress that I bought for a friend's 40th birthday - said friend has recently turned 53.

PasturesNew

I think I just found a niche business.... I'd need a shed and 6 months' practice to get it right. I'll put that one on the backburner....

Cost of materials: £2
Time: 1 hour max
Selling price: £30-40 up to £100.

And... nobody else is doing it as a primary product. And I don't think that's because there's no market. I'd only need to do a day a week of 'work'.... learning curve is "it's a bit arty farty, so I'd need to practice with some materials and stuff..."

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

Lj, depends what sort of skirt they are after. Straight skirts are about the easiest thing possible to sew.

Except you'd need: the knowledge, the skills, the equipment.

I know I'd c0ck it up completely!

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

Except you'd need: the knowledge, the skills, the equipment.

I know I'd c0ck it up completely!

As easy a jewellery for simple skirt with a straightorward fabric. Once you get more complicated its harder...i wouldn't try sewing anything stretchy personally, or pleated:eek:. At schopol they made a point of talking about patrerns matching on seams etc, but the cheap imported clothing retailers don't worry.

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

As easy a jewellery for simple skirt with a straightorward fabric. Once you get more complicated its harder...i wouldn't try sewing anything stretchy personally, or pleated:eek:. At schopol they made a point of talking about patrerns matching on seams etc, but the cheap imported clothing retailers don't worry.

I got thrown out of needlework at school - because I'd not done it before. Everybody else had done 3 years of it. So I was rubbish and got thrown out. Did motor vehicle engineering instead.... which actually meant "hanging out with the bad lads in the car workshop area and not really doing much as they were mostly sitting smoking outside"

vivatifosi

lemonjelly wrote: »

Is this a fashion trend? Are other ladies finding similar difficulties? Can anyone recommend suitable options?

Friend tends to favour Evans, Asda, Matalan, Bon Marche style places I believe. Not looking for flash going out stuff, just normal, affordable skirts for everyday wear, like at work etc. Full length too - they're not a fan of short or even 3/4 length AFAIK.

I think there are two issues here. First, if the friend in question shops at Evans, we have to assume that they are not the smallest of women. This rules out a lot of leading fashion retailers as they only go up to a 14 or 16, often not even an 18. If she is larger than an 18 she will struggle to find very fashionable clothes in her size. This isn't a function of size, its more the way the fashion industry works. A lot of the maxi skirts on the market at the moment are through this kind of retailer.

The second issue is that a lot of the maxi-length clothes in shops are dresses, not skirts, so unless she is on the petite side she probably won't be finding skirts long enough. I'm 5'6" and like maxi length but find it hard to find the length except in dresses. My aunt who is much shorter can buy what would be a calf-length skirt on me and it's a maxi on her.

Both Marisota and Simply Be have maxi skirts on their websites, but they aren't particularly cheap. If she's no bigger than an 18 New Look have some nice maxi skirts. I quite like this one:
http://www.newlook.com/shop/womens/skirts/kushi-cotton-blue-tietodye-tiered-skirt_254728749

Alternatively, would she consider wearing maxi dresses? The choice then is huge. Tesco, Asda, Matalan and a whole host of others would have items that fit the bill.

SingleSue

Arrggghhhh and Grrrrrr

Sorry, I had to let it out, a thread is winding me up.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

SingleSue wrote: »

Arrggghhhh and Grrrrrr

Sorry, I had to let it out, a thread is winding me up.

LOL

Which thread?

SingleSue

In the benefits section....a woman wants her husband written off permanently from working because she believes he has autism.