A Little Tightness in the Chest

Neglectful blog owner that I am, I haven’t posted since August. I was supposed to be doing daily prompts in August but fell by the wayside. Since then… nothing. (but see Crooked House, where I am desperately trying to regain a daily habit)

To be fair to myself we have been away on a couple of month-long trips and that makes blogging difficult. Since we last came home we have been in Lockdown for a month so… what’s my excuse now? Lack of something to say, I suppose. Nothing to report. No sense of will to unearth those unanswered prompts.

I need to shake myself out of these doldrums. Do something. Anything.

Here’s where I am beginning: with shopping.

Shopping? Well, that’s unusual.

Clothes shopping. Well, that’s even more unusual. I’m not much of a one for spending money unnecessarily on clothes, However…

Lockdown is dull. It’s even more dull when continuing to wear the same old worn-out joggers and polo shirts that have been in use since… I hardly dare admit to a date. (My policy was initially an economic one, having quit work before retirement age to go run away to live in Scotland. It gradually morphed into an awareness of how environmentally unfriendly the fashion industry is and how much waste it generates – not to mention that many of the clothes that we bought in the UK emanated from sweatshops in the Far East. Not a good thing.)

I decided to spruce myself up a bit. I have begun to wear my “go to town” clothes around the house. It’s working to lift my spirits and I do like to hear those words “you look lovely today.”

For some time now I have been pondering the Sari Skirts at Darn Good Yarn. They appeal to me for a number of reasons:

  • Silk. I wear only natural fibres, silk is one of my favourites.
  • Silk is lightweight and compact and blissfully cool in the heat. Clearly perfect for our travels.
  • The long wraparound style is one that I favoured when I was young. It’s blissfully comfortable and I always felt good in such skirts.
  • The DGY skirts are made from repurposed saris. As far as I can tell some of the materials are actually from used saris and some is from manufacturer’s Seconds. All would end up in landfill if not repurposed in this way.
  • The manufacture of the skirts provides employment and a fair wage for women workers in cooperatives in India.
  • The skirts can be readily dressed up or just as easily dressed down. I imagine that they can be made perfect for just about every occasion.

Sari skirts and I are a perfect fit, when all considerations are weighed up

Economics came into play. At $69 each plus shipping, rather out of my league. The 5 for $100 deal looks great but the skirts are sold on a non-returnable basis. Yes, it’s not much per skirt – but more with shipping added and what if they didn’t fit or were horrible….

Then came the advert (on FB – I succumbed to a FB advert. Please shoot me!) Buy 2 Get 3 FREE. A more costly option but returnable.

I hummed.

I hawed.

I wavered.

I prevaricated.

I kept looking at the photos.

I joined the Facebook group.

I kept looking at the photos…

Mr L urged me to go ahead and order and eventually, I did.

These skirts are all unique. You don’t get to see before you buy. It’s wobble-inducing. You can’t even choose whether you get ankle length or “mini” on this deal. I would be happy to receive a mixture though, as I think the shorter length will make a pleasant change from shorts in the very hot weather. What the purchaser can do is to indicate the colours that they prefer. I ordered “deep jeweled shades” and suggested Amethyst, Sapphire, Emerald and Ruby OR some “glowing, rich Autumnal shades“. And I pressed Submit.

Then began the long wait for delivery from the US – and time in which to consider how I might style my skirt outfits to make these skirts my own.

So that’s when I went shopping again.

Once again, Facebook scored with their advertising. I purchased some SNAG tights, No, really, PLEASE shoot me.

Once again, I spent ages denying myself the expenditure but, oh, they had fabulous colours available. Even one to pair perfectly with my Travel Wrap.

The prevarication got in the way. I had not realised that the gorgeous colours were Limited Editions and by the time that I had talked myself into spending the money, all but one of the colours that I wanted had sold out – including the orange. Bah. I did manage to order a pair of basic Black, one in Bottle Green and one in Suffragette Purple (oh, my!) Well, that’s the Emerald and Amethyst skirts taken care of…

SNAG sizing is interesting. I consulted the size chart and determined that at my height and girth, F might be appropriate. However, F only went up to 170 cm, which is my height exactly. I opted for G, which is the largest size, I based my thinking on the fact that I am the full height but that my height is in my limbs. I have long feet, with stupidly elongated great toes and a long and sorry history of poking holes in tights, socks and even shoes! At £8.99 a pair, I wanted my Snags to last, It seemed sensible to go up a size. I pressed Submit.

Then I spent days and days worrying that my tights would be big and baggy. They fit up to something ridiculous like 6 foot 5 … and I looked at the models and *ahem* – don’t want to be rude but some of those ladies aren’t simply Rubenesque – they are gloriously abundant and, honestly, that’s not me any longer. I know that I have a problem is actually seeing the new and smaller me and that may be what led me to plump (see what I did there?) for size G.

The tights arrived

I tried on the black pair, thinking I might sell the other two on line if the fit was way too big.

What fabulous tights! Worth every extra penny. Very soft, extremely stretchy. They have a properly shaped, seamed and lined gusset – something that I haven’t seen in many long years. It’s so good to have some tights that don’t sit around my hips cutting into my flabby bits and causing rollover.

If I had a wee criticism it would have to be that the toe is not tailored, which would have been nice.

Are they too big? Well, I would say that F would probably have done me very well. I can pull G right up to my bosom if I have a mind to – though that’s not saying much at my age, when my breasts are making a desperate dash for the floor.

The elasticity is fabulous however and the tights clung to my legs beautifully and made them appear shapely.

I wore the black ones for Date Night dinner on Saturday. After dinner we watched some TV and I found that my legs were being fondled. That’s a win, I think. Customer Satisfaction from the guy with the wallet.

With that measure of success, I opened the coloured tights and popped them into my drawer.

The purple are of course fabulous. Nothing in purple can ever be wrong. The Bottle Green ones gave me a weird moment. I was transported back in time to school in Honley. Really – sights, sounds, smells and those Bottle Green stockings and how very much I hated them! I actually felt my chest tighten with stress. Not sure I shall ever be able to wear those tights. We shall have to wait and see.

A word at this point about the packaging, in paper. It’s good not to have things plastic-wrapped and I like that I can repurpose the wrapping.

And I continued to await my skirts, with no little trepidation.

I also continued to consider styling.

Boots. I need boots! What I really need is my beautiful black “granny boots”, in leather so soft it would make gloves, with the scarlet silk lining. Alas, long gone. Also. very much alas, I wouldn’t be able to get them on as my big toe won’t bend sufficiently to get my foot into a heeled shoe. Then there’s the fact that my toe hurts too much to be able to walk in heeled boots. So, a girl may dream but actually needs some compensation.

Further shopping has occurred today and these should be here soon.

Do I order the red Snags right now, or later?

The skirts arrived today but this post is already far to long and so we must wait for tomorrow.

3 Comments

  1. […] me. He takes me out for the most amazing dinners. He indulges me and feeds my camera habit… buys me skirts and baubles and then proceeds to enjoy seeing me in them. This last is very important. Most of all, […]

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