Talk about a ripoff. May 16, 2008
Posted by ourfriendben in wit and wisdom.Tags: farmers' market, skirt disasters, secondhand stores
trackback
Silence Dogood here (again). Our friend Ben and I just returned from our weekly trip to the local farmers’ market, with our usual wonderful haul: handmade artisanal breads (including corn-cilantro, yum) from a local baker; just-picked strawberries and just-pulled scallions; local mushrooms; Mennonite cheeses and Amish butter; and many other goodies, including an armful of flowers for the house as a belated Mother’s Day bouquet in honor of our mothers, both now such stuff as dreams are made on. (Sob.)
Anyway, as always, we had a wonderful time cruising the aisles of the farmers’ market, enjoying the colors and aromas and lingering over our choices. We even scored a real coup when I asked at a poultry-and-egg stand if they had any spare egg cartons we could buy, since we’re almost out and the chickens are inundating us with eggs. Refusing to even consider payment, they gave us a huge bagful. We were thrilled! Then we came home, and it was at that point that I discovered the ripoff.
Now, I don’t know if you’re like me, but I have going-out clothes and doing-chores clothes, and when I don’t have to wear the going-out clothes, I pretty much live in the doing-chores clothes. In my case, my home-and-around clothes are basically a loose, comfortable denim skirt and an ever-changing assortment of tees. But please note that singular on the skirt. One loose, comfortable, pull-on denim skirt, a treasure from a local secondhand store.
Can you tell what’s coming next? I was putting the groceries away when I looked down and saw an awful, jagged rip in the side of the skirt. It must have become caught on a corner of one of the rustic wooden stands at the farmers’ market. Ack and gack! It’s an uneven gash, beyond even a skilled seamstress’s ability to repair. (And trust me, I’m doing well to sew on a button or repair a hem or seam.) My beloved skirt is history, and there’s not even one decent replacement in my closet. Guess I’ll be heading back to the secondhand stores tomorrow. But not just any skirt qualifies as the perfect gardening-hiking-chicken feeding-computer writing-cooking-running-around-in skirt. (Jeans?!! Surely you jest.) So wish me luck! I’m really going to need it. Maybe, oh fingers crossed, I’ll find two skirts this time…
‘Til next time,
Silence
Ahhh, sorry about your skirt! Are you sure you can’t mend it and maybe disguise the repair with a decorative patch?
http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/Mending-Holes-and-Rips.id-876.html
(No insult intended by the “Dummies” link!)
I can relate…I, too, prefer skirts (they’re just more comfortable, especially in warm weather) to pants and am always on the lookout for the “perfect” skirt. Especially denim. Good luck!
Thanks, Lin! And I know there are always patches, but given the strange location of the tear on the side of the skirt, unless I transformed the entire skirt into a patchwork tribute to the Sixties or something, a patch would just scream “She tore her skirt!” I think a “new” (to me, anyway) skirt is the only hope. But let me tell you how cheering it is to hear that soemone else would rather wear skirts than pants!!! Oh happy day!
I understand about the “perfect” clothing. I have resorted to making my own favorites. Since they consist mostly of loose linen shifts and baggy pants, it’s not such a hard job. Hope you find those skirts!
Thanks, Becca! Wish I could manage to make my own clothes, too. Then I’d be able to get the fabrics and fit I really liked!
I hate it when that happens. So sorry about your skirt. Maybe you could find a nice Minonite lady to sew you one? I know the ladies who live close to here are magicians with a needle.
Hey, Deb, what a great idea! I’ll look into it.
I’m sentimental and grown to really like that skirt in your story. So can it be repurposed to be a a nice apron? Jean skirts make the best aprons for gardening. I should take a pic of mine for you tomorrow so you can see. You won’t even have to sew to make it.
Cut it out in the shape of the apron you want–knot the ends and go. It will unravel in time and just cut it off till it quits unraveling and it will….then you are good to go. If you need a pocket–pin one on. Now I sew—so if you want it more tailored–send it to me and I’ll finish it up nice like so it has a new reason to live.
Awwww… How kind of you, Anna! And what a great idea! I’d love it if you’d send a pic of yours! I resisted the idea of aprons for years, but after endless splattered tee-shirts, I broke down and got one with a really classic artwork of a golden retriever (like my Molly) with its snout in a glass of red wine, which makes wearing it fun as well as practical. And I have a beautiful one made by Tasha Tudor’s family in a fabric she loves to wear herself. I hadn’t thought of a gardening apron, but a denim one makes tons of sense. Thank you!
I just recently bought a Tasha Tudor book and am enamored of the artwork and her entire life concept.
Question: how do you include your comments back in this same box as the original commenter? I want to be able to do that on my site as well!
Hi Becca! I have lots of wonderful Tasha Tudor lifestyle books, and even her videos, and they’re just amazing. (Tasha Tudor’s Garden and The Private World of Tasha Tudor are great starting places.) Like the Nearings, she made her life conform to her dreams. We can only hope to do the same! Now, I don’t know how to comment in the same box on Blogger, but now that you’re on WordPress, I can tell you how to do it. (And bless your heart, Nancy Ondra, for telling your Luddite friend Ben how to pull this off!) Go to the individual comment and click on “Edit.” Write your response under the original comment. Highlight your response and click the “i” box above for italic. Click the “Save” box in the right-hand column. That’s it!
I have two sets of clothes too. But my “going out” assortment is the same as my chores at home, instead mine would be labelled “getting paid to work/church” and “other”.
I have a favorite pull on jean skirt too. Thrift stores are the best, aren’t they?
I think a patch job just might work, not that I’ve seen your skirt or anything, but couldn’t you just place a few on there to make it look like that’s the intended style? Maybe a nice scarf cut into several pieces or something? Of course a few extras are always nice to have on hand….
Good suggestion, Cinj! But I fear patches wouldn’t hold up to the abuse the poor skirt takes as I go about my chores. Just dropped by Goodwill yesterday; no luck. I’ll have to head off to Salvation Army this week and see if they have more to choose from, and if not, there are several secondhand clothing stores not far away! I always enjoy checking out the thrift stores; you just never know what you’ll find!