Even Gooder Value. “Gooder.” It’s A Word.

 

So remember last week I showed you the very cute and highly flattering “Good Value skirt” that I made for TLo?  That is one brilliant skirt, I’ll tell you now.  The cotton gabardine washes amazingly well and the whole thing just looks great on TLo (which sadly, can’t be said for all of her school clothes).

Well, I made another one.  You may not be aware, but apparently these days grade-schools have Casual Fridays.  Honest.  I guess they all wear jeans and wander around pretending to do work for most of the day in the hopes that they can go home an hour early and have accomplished nothing whatsoever.  Or maybe I’m confusing that with Casual Fridays at places I used to work. (And doesn’t “Casual Fridays” sound like the worst generic-american-food-served-with-obnoxious-themes franchise ever?  It’s like T.G.I.Friday’s only you know, with crappier, more casual service.)

Anyhoo, poor TLo only had one pair of sad sad sad denim shorts to wear on Fridays.  Oh yeah, you know them as the Smoke On The Water Shorts (a.k.a. Ottobre 1/2009 #23).  Those ones.  I finally felt sorry for her and made her another Good Value skirt out of denim.  Um.  That same free denim that we’ve been flaunting for the past year (oh man, you just have no idea how far 24 yards of ugly denim will go).

Here it is, Good Value Skirt #2.

I drafted a coin pocket.Same back.

Same interior.

I did use the rivets I bought last winter (I’m a little slow).

I didn’t use elastic in the waistband of the first version and it’s a little loose.  So I put in buttonhole elastic in this one, which bunches up the back a little but does make it fit better.

 

Although it’s hard to tell from Tantrum Girl’s poses.  She had a fit about being scolded for not getting ready on time, which inevitably caused her to be even more Not Ready.  Stomping and screaming ensued.  Eventually, she was overcome by her own temper and had to get a tissue half-way through to comfort herself (since she wasn’t getting any sympathy from me).  All this before 7:45 am.  And I wonder why the day seemed so long?

T.G.I.Friday.

Good Value

The Evil Monkeys attend one of three schools in our entire school district which require a uniform.  Three.  We are just that kind of lucky.

Now, those of you who've been around for a while may remember that last year I wasn't particularly unenthusiastic about the whole uniform concept.  I mean, sure, making polo shirts like an under-aged sweat-shop employee has it's ups and downs.  But considering how flexible our particular policy was, overall I was pretty ok with the requirement of A School Uniform.

Except.

How cute is all this stuff?  Cute, right?  Admit it.  It's cute.  And not one thing can be worn to school.  Except the brown leggings.

So now I'm wondering how we managed to get stuck with the one principal who is downright dogmatic about the uniform policy (and there's a reason why all but three schools, and likely next year all but one school, have dropped the uniform policy... namely, that it doesn't work).

The real kicker is that I have patterns and fabric that I could use to make all of that cute stuff.  But since the girls can't wear it to school and they spend most of their day (not surprisingly) at this very same school... is it worth it to make a bunch a clothes that they'll wear for two hours at a time, if at all?  Hmmph.  Not really.

It’s annoying, people.

However, in pondering the many, many, many unusable patterns that I own and the many many many unusable patterns I’m likely to acquire in the next five years or so, I realized that there is one set of patterns that I've gotten true value for money from.

Ottobre Design, issue 4-2006.  I love this issue.

I'll bet I've made at least a ¼ of the patterns in this issue, which is quite a lot for me.

And here's the latest:

Ottobre 4-2006 #36

  

At a rock-bottom price of $4.00/yard, FashionFabricClub declared this fabric was “twill”.  Which I guess technically speaking is accurate.  But in fact it is, of all things, a cotton gabardine.  Honest.   Unfortunately, as can be seen from the photo of the back, it still presses poorly like wool gabardine and left shiny press marks on all the seams.  They came out with washing, thank goodness.

I pretty much made this straight out of the box with no changes (a rarity around here, I can tell you).  I cut a 128 and added 1" to the width at the front for some extra hip room.  I was fervently hoping that a "miniskirt" for a child 128 cm tall would work as a "normalskirt" for a cubical midget.  And look!! I was (for once) right!

Cheerleader pleats in the back?  Check!

Good fit in the front?  Check!

(Relatively) flattering fit and conforms to School Uniform Policy?  Check!

Of course, TLo immediately declared her favorite feature was…. pockets.

 

And the “Chinese button”.  TLo is all about the Chinese stuff.