Three of a kind

Three pairs of bathers - just waiting for some sunshine. I am trying to pack within 3 colours - of red white and black in order to limit how much I pack. On holidays I never wear half of what I take, so I am trying to be really streamlined this time. Not even filling the empty space with 'just in case' items. I know three pairs of bathers may seem a little excessive, given the last sentence, but they don't take up much space and are all different - and in some cases could be worn as clothes. The red ones ended up ok but there are some things I would do differently next time. I will add a basic thin halter strap to them. The black tankini is really good and practical, and I imagine I will wear it as a top too. Again I added straps, but not halter - nice wide sitting thin straps. I can tuck them in if I want to. Finally, my favourites are the t shaped ones on the left. They do all the things that I want them to do- particularly cover baby damage and look pretty good. Again, next time I would put a back closure on the top strap but other than that they are really good. No fashion parade here - maybe post holiday, with a tan!
Finally they are all sitting on my wrap. I found this fabric when I was looking for something else and found that I had bougt 2 very similar fabrics. I decided it would be a wrap. It is 2 m by 70 cm - the same as my pashminas. I got the pompoms at Theos and am really happy with the result. I can wear it as a scarf, a short dress, a skirt, tie it around my bum or to sit on. It cost a total of $12 but works perfectly with my colour scheme.

Game On!!

I am usually non-confrontational. With the exception of my husband, who will run from a verbal shoush, I do not fight with people. I get angry, hold it in or maybe vent a bit here. Usually the person has no idea that they have even hurt me.

I have had an email that pushed me to respond. It was a nasty, personal email and it was also sent to my friend. She was a little cheer squad egging me onto reply. A little support always helps. The Emailer has text me a half hearted apology, but its kind of like saying "You're fat - no offence" and expecting it to be all over. This has been brewing for a while and its getting nasty. I know by me playing ball it actually makes it more exciting for her, and she actually gets what she wants, but I don't think she realises who she is playing with. I can take the abuse only for so long. Little by little it has been building up over the course of the year and now the cap has burst and I am ready to explode. I say "Game On Biatch!!"

Togs

Back on my last crafting weekend I saw in a magazine a pair of bathers. With lots of gathers I thought they would be brilliant - because you couldn't tell what was fat and what was folds! I filed it away in my must to file.

Now we are off to the sunshine, I actually need some new bathers, so I picked up some lycra from Darn Cheap (of course!) with the intent of making these- they are one of miriclesuits best sellers - Camilla RRP $269.

I have made bathers before and was going to have a go at adjusting a pattern but mum, who works in a sewing shop, said Kwik Sew had new patterns and got some for me. I couldn't believe there was exactly the pattern I wanted:

The fit on the orange suit is not the best for the model, but that is about the only difference. I am mid way through making these. They are actually fairly easy. I have however made a couple of errors due to timing, but these would have been fixed if I had read the instructions! The fit seems to be big at the top and little at the bottom, which I would fix for next time. Oh, and you know I have three little boys who play rough, so I am adding some straps. I can't be flashing my boobies to all and sundry.
This is the other pattern she got. I thought the tankini was good, but I am actually making both of these styles. For me I have cut this one out as a small top and medium bottom - also adding straps to both. Both are in black but I reckon the one with the cut-outs could be really good because it looks like a two piece at the back, but at the front hides my 'damaged' tummy.

All three are at elastic stage so there is no fashion show as yet- maybe when I shed my winter hair you may get a little peak of the outcome....but only maybe!

Ladies who lunch

I had a lovely day today, catching up with some girlfriends from school. We had planned to

have high tea at Crown or the Windsor, but couldn't get in. So it was a case of Ladies bring a plate to our hosts house and we were surprised to find she had raided her mums silver and china to set up a really special table. Scones, chicken sandwiches, chocolate eclairs, asparagus rolls, lemon and chocolate tarts, sausage rolls and delicious sponge were the days Divine delicacies.

We sat and chatted for a couple of hours with bottomless tea and coffee at no charge! Much better than the Windsor I say.

Drawn Out

The day was filled with football - excitment, anticipation, footy food. We had our own highly contested competition...

But like the grand final betweent the mighty pies and equally deserving and desperate StKilda - there was no clear winner.

However it is much easier for us to decide. I can't imagine having to do it all again next week!

Bike escape

We just had to get out of the house today, and headed down to the peninsula with the bikes in the boot to meet up with friends who have a house there. It was lovely to have some fresh faces to add into the play. They were all really good, and we rode on a new track from Rye to Blairgowrie for a play and a coffee.

While it was not sunny, we were outside all afternoon and all the boys were tired tonight. (As is their mum who was running all the way - not to mention a helpful Grandad who isn't used to my boisterous boys!)

Tight

Tragically "tight" doesn't refer to any part of my body, just my mental state. I know it shouldn't really come as a surprise to me, but it did when I realised I am really tight with money. Really, really tight. Frugal sounds nicer but I don't think that really applies. I don't actually think I have any rationale behind my thriftyness, maybe I don't like to feel ripped off.

I shouldn't be surprised - I hate supermarket shopping. Maybe it is that I actually HAVE to buy stuff. Walking around filling the trolley is fine, but putting it out for scanning starts the blood pressure rising. Oh and the pain of actually paying for it - only to have to front up and do it all again the next week! Petrol is the same. At least getting the groceries thrown at me discount style makes me feel like I am doing my bit for the budget. I digress.

Robyn and I had a lovely night tonight wandering the luxuries at Chadstone. It was nice wandering in an out of the lovely shops, chatting and catching up but not buying anything. Actually we didn't even see anything that moved us into the change rooms to play dress ups. I know I don't buy alot, but I do like to look. However what became clear is my own value system of what something is "worth" is really off.

I have a number of issues with clothes & I will try to summarise. Most of the issues come because I can sew (note "can", rather than "do"). I can quickly see how things are made and assess the quality/availability of the fabric. I cannot justify $100 or more for a simple pillowcase style dress made out of 2m of poplin - total cost about $6 and would take less than an hour of uninterupted time to make.

The quality of a majority of the fabric around at the moment is appaling. Not to mention that all of the clothes are probably churned out of the same offshore factory and you are simply paying for label and mass marketing at the higher end - and a little more fabric. Those teeny bopper shops (Dotti, Forever New, Valley Girl etc not only hark back to the dreaded 80's, but are soooo skimpy it is almost x-rated)

What I want to do is look nice, proportioned, fashionable but not too much for as little money as possible. I am more than happy to shop around to find the best price and go anywhere. When I see a fabric I like (an obviously is cheap) I will buy a few meters and just hang on to it until I need it. It may be minutes but it may also be years.

Anyway- this is the top that highlighted my inability to be parted from my money. It is a simple cotton interlock top. Nothing fancy infact only enough weight in it to last a season, which is probably good given the nautical nature and the frill will date it exactly to summer 2010/11. It is from seed RRP $59.95.

My immediate response, which I actually said outloud in the shop (yes, somebody please stop me!) was "you can get 2 of these striped singlets in Kmart for $6 and cut one up for the frill!" Now for me $12 is ok to spend on a seasonal item like this. Throw a blazer or red cardy over it and you are so now its not funny. Wear it at least 6 times so that the cost per wear (CPW) is $2 or less and you're done. Next summer - op shop or more probably a rag. At $60 the CPW is $10 and you would need to wear it long past its used by date to get your moeny back which to me defeats the purpose of a "seasonal" item.

This is really what is going on in my head when I shop. All. The. Time. Yet, I still enjoy it. It is like a constant project which I need to research. After the shopping I relaxed(!) in front of my lovely Gok - who like trinny & sussanah is all about dressing for your shape, but also building a somewhat seasonal capsule wardrobe of 25 pieces, so that you shop less and wear more. A good philosophy, but I need to think on that some more....