Bridesmaids Dresses

[Francesca]

Or given the supposed measurements for her RTW size rather than measuring at all.

That seems faaaarrrr more likely. So many people don't seem to have tape measures in the house.

A guy I went to uni with joked that in order to get the measurement for his graduation hat, he'd had to get four rulers and "try and hold them round my head and work out roughly how big my head was". I said "why not just use a piece of string/cable/literally ANYTHING stringy in nature, put that round your head then measure it with your straight ruler?"

This person graduated university and now had a PhD.

[UttaRetch]

  I take it all back.

[b15erk]

When I was making the Belle dresses, I wondered why it was taking so long for my GD to send me measurements.  I eventually found out that a) she didn't own a tape measure, and b) she didn't know which side to use ' the big side or the little side'.

Bring back sewing in schools....

Jessie

[maliw]

I've just caught up with this, those dresses are gorgeous Charlotte. I don't envy you, quite a few years ago I made dresses
for DD's bridesmaids. One of the bridesmaids arrived the night before the wedding - she lived 200 miles away and she had lost weight after the final fitting, so there I was altering the bodice the morning of the wedding, as if I didn't have enough to do. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished dresses, I love the fabric.

[Francesca]

Bring back sewing in schools...

It still exists as far as I know. At least, my 15 year old cousin does it and so does her brother. I don't think it's completely gone.

Of course, no clothesmaking which probably explains tape measure knowledge.

[Ploshkin]

A friend's daughter, who started in high school last September, gets 2 terms doing 'textiles' in the first 2 years.  Going on what others have done she says that the first thing she will have to do is make a hat.

[DementedFairy]

It still exists as far as I know. At least, my 15 year old cousin does it and so does her brother. I don't think it's completely gone.

Of course, no clothesmaking which probably explains tape measure knowledge.

'Textiles' exists as an option, in SOME schools, but it doesn't have to include sewing as far as I'm aware.  Just as 'food technology' can be all about designing packaging and calculating nutrients, rather than cooking.  Partly because many schools simply don't have the space or staff to deal with it, not just because they are seen as useless skillsets.  Crazy.  Remember most schools these days struggle to have enough paper and books, let alone anything more unusual [like enough staff]!
As for the tape measure thing, as I have said [as a maths teacher] it's amazing how many kids can't measure something with a ruler, let alone a tape measure!  the concept of length seems very hard to grasp, let alone *gasp* girth or circumference.  They don't 'get' that they are counting the spaces between marks, not the marks themselves.  Or, as I said, they start measuring from the one, not the zero.
I despair.

[UttaRetch]

Cooking and sewing are deemed to be useless skillsets in the face of ready cooked meals and fast fashion.  As you say, money and equipment, not to mention suitably qualified staff, has killed any hope of a proper return of these traditional subjects.

[Francesca]

Cooking and sewing are deemed to be useless skillsets in the face of ready cooked meals and fast fashion.  As you say, money and equipment, not to mention suitably qualified staff, has killed any hope of a proper return of these traditional subjects.

I mean really, parents should be teaching these things. Schools shouldn't have to teach absolutely everything - it's not possible. And for most people sewing a skirt is never going to be something that is a needed skill. There are many more things far more useful than that which don't get taught in schools! I feel bad for putting so much pressure on teachers to "parent" their students.

Anyway, very OT 

[DementedFairy]

Yes- but this has been going on for years now, and most of the parents haven't a clue either.  I have had to teach kids how to sew on a button, as they would expect to throw the garment away...aaargh!
And primary schools are reporting that kids do not recognise what  a potato or carrot looks like in its natural state!

[UttaRetch]

Fran, I am more than 30 years older than you and my school taught what was then domestic science in which we did learn to cook.  Further the school also had a 'flat' - kitchen, living room and bathroom - for teaching us girls housekeeping.  We also did needle work and I recall making the obligatory apron and then a baby doll nightdress.

Society has changed and even your parents' generation do not necessarily have the skills to pass on to their children.  Those that are interested, will skill themselves.  The rest will continue to shop from the pre-cooked aisles and low end fashion outlets. 

[Tamnymore]

My kids, who are about Fran's age group both did two years of textiles at secondary school and I still have two lovely cushion covers to prove it! Neither chose textiles as their technology GCSE option. However, how many of us oldies actually did much cookery or sewing at school? I did a smattering of sewing and knitted a pot holder  in primary school. I have not had occasion to use a knitted pot holder since then.

Then I had 2 years of sewing in secondary school failing to complete a sludge coloured blouse whereupon it was full steam ahead with Latin.  Some of us would not have had the option to do sewing and it wasn't made very attractive. UR's babydoll nightie sounds more attractive that my sludgey blouse. It waa made impossible to do what was regarded as a more academic route alongside home economics. I was largely self taught in sewing like a lot of folks here, I'm sure.

I have tried conjugating a Latin verb over a sock that needs darning but the spell never seems to work somehow..... 

[DementedFairy]

amo amas amat amamus amatis amant!

But the one we giggled over was
mitto mittis mitTIT mittimus miTTITIS MITTUNT!  [well, it sounded rude back then, we were very sheltered lol]
And yes, we did exaggerate the 'rude' bits lol

[Francesca]

My concern is that there are so many things that schools *could* teach that would probably be far more valuable, but constantly putting more pressure on schools and teachers is not addressing the problem. If kids should be taught to sew, shouldn't they also be taught to drive a car, change a nappy, do a tax return, efficiently navigate a bus timetable... god, so many things that are probably far more useful than learning to sew when one has no inclination to make their own clothing or homewares. I don't really see a problem with lack of learning these skills when it can easily be taught by parents, if they know it, or sought out online.

[DementedFairy]

Sewing, not so much [although buttons and hems...happen to us all] but cooking is something everyone should do.  The trouble in scholl isn't that there isn't room for these things to be taught, but that the kids are taught WAY too many subjects to superficial levels of general incompetence.  And don't get me going about how academic standards have plummeted blah blah [they have, oh my god, they have]
In the chase for the government sanctioned 'pass' grades, kids are force fed as many as a dozen pointless exam subjects, which they have no interest in.  When I went to grammar school, way way back in 1971, we did eight subjects, and most kids in a standard comp did 5-6 max.  With eight O levels I was deemed over qualified by most employers! 
Sigh
It's a right mess