Frump to Fab - A Whole New World.

maman

I know what you mean about florals being frumpy sft. You do have to be very careful. I really liked this dress. It's in the Alice Temperley range in John Lewis. There are some good reductions on there already but I really don't think I can be bothered to go and queue for something which is a want rather than a need and I'd have nowhere to wear it anyway!!  
I think High Street shops will continue to take a hit because if you can't touch or try things on or even browse then there's not much point in going. 

chanie

Maman I love opaques too and enjoy wearing them in the winter.  The tights issue is one of the few points I agree with Megan Sussex about.  The tights she wore when first married were the wrong shade for her and it just highlights how difficult it is for women of colour to get tights and foundation in the correct shades.  I don’t know anyone who wears flesh coloured tights anymore.

Im now thinking about my lockdown ease beauty treatments.  I think I have done pretty well maintenance wise these last few months, but not for much longer.  I need my roots doing, eyebrows threading and waxing.  I going to treat myself and DD7 to a pedicure when we can as I’ve found a good deal on groupon.

I really like the idea of a nice floral dress, but i think it would be easy to look frumpy and it’s not a look I could pull off.  I bet it would look lovely on you maman as you’d style it really well. 

helensbiggestfan

I hated sewing at school. I just couldn’t get on with it.  Sister Agatha had it in for me, she was a raging snob and I was just an oik from a council estate.  😉

You had to show her your work before you could go on to the next stage.  She never passed one piece of mine. 😂🤣.  I never did finish a garment in the whole 4 years I spent there.  

And yet at home, from the age of 13, I made all my clothes and most of my sisters too. There were mistakes of course but I became proficient through trial and error. I taught myself in the end.  I taught myself to design, make my own patterns, same with knitting and crochet. Same with cooking. We didn’t have cookery or domestic science lessons at school. 

I think we were expected to “marry well” and leave all that to the staff. 

I don’t know why but the domestic arts are just something that came quite easily to me.  Obviously not Lady of the Manor material.😂🤣

maman

I learned very little about domestic stuff at school either LL. I did nothing at all after 3 years because my options were all fairly academic. Before that we did 3 (over 3 years!) silly handsewn items which seemed to involve more unpicking than sewing! One was a baby's romper with a bib top. For 13 year old girls!! 😂

I learned all my sewing skills from my mother. She was self taught. She always said that as 1 of 5 girls, it was a case of 'first out, best dressed' and they soon learned to adapt, alter and make things. My mum's friend taught me to knit as my mother was left handed. 

I didn't learn to cook from my mother as the kitchen was very much her domain. At school I seemed to spend more time scrubbing down tables than cooking. I picked up cooking by just following recipes and a few decent cookbooks. I reckoned that if I could do science experiments for my A Level Chemistry then I could cope with cooking. Rocket Science might come later. 😉

chanie

maman/LL that’s really interesting what you say about domestics at school.  I assumed that the older (than me) generations learned stuff like that at school.  I guess it was parents that taught the skills to their children and not the school.

maman

chanie said:

maman/LL that’s really interesting what you say about domestics at school.  I assumed that the older (than me) generations learned stuff like that at school.  I guess it was parents that taught the skills to their children and not the school.

I think it depends what sort of school you went to chanie. Schools were selective everywhere then and if you didn't go to a grammar school (or private) then you had a much more basic education which reflected society. Boys did craft things like woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing which would equip them for work and girls did cookery and needlework to equip them for being housewives. Thank goodness it's changed but maybe gone too far. 🤔

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies, 
I went to a local primary school, then a quite notorious secondary school both in the borough of Lambeth. That secondary school did become an outstanding school by the time my younger son was choosing a secondary school, but when we visited it and he did the entry tests, he decided he did not like the school. He did get offered a place there, but he turned it down and accepted his 1st choice secondary school. 

I started to learn sewing skills in primary school and as a consequence when I was a teenager, I did make some of my own clothes with varying success. I could only make clothing from bought patterns. I was not only taught a huge amount of cooking and baking skills in Domestic Science lessons, but also how to lay a table and how to arrange flowers. I was also taught to knit, crochet and embroider. I have never lost any of these skills, but I do not use most of them. 

I used so many of these skills throughout my marriage, and when my children were younger, as I was a traditional stay at home Mother and Army wife. My children used to enjoy lots of my home baking, as did my then husband. 

I only use my sewing skills to do repairs on clothing that would be costly to have done at a local dry cleaners. When I was married I was really proficient at taking up my husband's formal trousers and suit trousers as he had quite a short inside leg. 

Even though traditionally there were skills like metal work and technical drawing aimed at boys, I was taught both of these skills and I also did woodwork. I had a natural aptitude for all 3 of these skills, so the male teachers made an exception for me. I was also taught pottery and how to use a pottery wheel and I also had piano lessons as did my 3 sisters who went to the same secondary school once my Dad was able to afford a second hand piano. 

It was a really sad day for all the generations to come, when schools were no longer able to teach their pupils these kind of life enhancing skills.  

savingfortomorrow

I like nude tights i even got a five pack today reduced to a euro. Bargain. I usually wear an anemic colour that makes me look less blue. At the best of times my legs look like pork sausages- I find the black opaque ones can be hard to get a nice pair also. The limited colour range is not ideal given the demographics and potential customers. I hope things will improve. 

All the summer clothing was on sale- all items that are wedding, celebration and summer style were on sale. I was able to grab a pair of jeans- i bought a 14 and 12 and surprisingly the 12 fitted. I am now 69.7 kg so it is slowly coming down. 
The only clothing stores open at the minute are attached to supermarkets so it is not ideal. I purchased 2 pairs of jeans- returned 2 and got one that fitted and have to return another, It is really time consuming. 

I have been searching on ebay for a few tops. I really am trying to re-use rather than follow the fast fashion that comes with loads of new on-line shopping. 
I can cook. I fail to acknowlege any baking skills as i would eat it. I never had to sew but i can but a button on, hem a seam and do some basics.  We all need to have basic life skills, hopefully this time will have made us reprioritize these lessons. 

Completely off topic- Does anyone use an extention for spell checking. Is there one that you would recommend as I make typos with speed. Typing on my phone allows predictive typing and reduces spelling errors, if i had something similar on the chrome it would be great.

helensbiggestfan

I too think it’s a shame that the curriculum is so narrow these days.  Music provision and drama are practically non existent. There’s also often very little sport, fewer opportunities to study art, design, ceramics, etc as well as a distinct lack of opportunity to learn practical and life enhancing
skills.

It’s not so bad for children whose parents can fill the gaps with private provision and after school activities but some children are at a distinct disadvantage if they don’t have the same opportunities.  

As I’ve said before I was a bright girl from a very modest background.  It was a scholarship which gave me the opportunity to widen my horizons a little and get a glimpse of another world even if I did have to leave school early without any qualifications or the opportunity to go onto tertiary education. 

Did anyone watch Educating Rita the other night.  I can so relate to Rita, so many parallels with my own life.....leaving school early, working at jobs I didn’t enjoy, feeling bored and frustrated.  Just like Rita’s husband tried to block her, my first husband couldn’t understand why I wanted to educate and better myself and wouldn’t just “settle down and have babies”.  

Like Rita I was hungry for more and was determined to better myself. I became a mature student and started my degree when I turned 40.   

I was a late bloomer but I got there in the end.😁

helensbiggestfan

Good morning lovely Ladies.  

I have been up since 5.30 and have done a couple of hours wardrobe  decluttering already. I have been ruthless.  🤣.  Books next but breakfast And a little break first. Washing machine on. Then going to repot some plants.  Then find a shady nook to while away the afternoon. 

#feelingproductive    😂🤣