My Ugly Christmas Dress and Merry Christmas!
Hello dear friend,
I love vintage clothes so about ten days ago, I stopped in Goodwill to look for some treasures. I had not stopped by for several years and was surprised to see the dressing rooms had been eliminated. Several ladies took turns standing in the aisle in front of the lone mirror trying to gauge if the clothes might fit.
This time of year, I took a quick look for any wool – wool jackets, dresses, and sweaters.
They can be hard to come by. I lucked out and found one of each.
Pro tip
Here’s a pro tip I learned from my days studying clothing construction and design. The pockets of nicely tailored jackets are shipped to the store with the pocket seams still sewn shut. You need to take out your handy seam ripper or tiny sharp scissors and, carefully, rip open the pocket’s seam. I found a beautiful, wool, maroon, Talbots jacket with black bound pockets and piping trim on the lapel edges with the pockets still sewn shut! First thing I did when I got it home was rip open the pockets and stick it in the washer. So, now I have a great, thigh long, wool jacket with deep, luscious pockets.
Another pro tip from someone who dyed hundreds(maybe thousands) of pounds of wool for 25 years — yes, you can wash wool. Just use cool water and the gentle cycle.
Funky find
Back at Goodwill, one funky find was an ugly Christmas dress…you know, like an ugly Christmas sweater only a dress. A red skirt with yellow pompoms with gold metallic glitter on the poms and a slate gray top with Santa on the bodice. Just totally hilarious and gauche. I finally decided that it wasn’t “practical” and hung it back on the refuse rack.
Dreaming of an ugly Santa dress
The next day, I kept thinking about the ugly Christmas dress and regretted not getting it. The next day, I woke up, literally, dreaming about the ugly Christmas dress!! Criminy. At that point I decided I needed to drive all the way back into town and see if it was still available. When I got to the store, I had no trouble finding it. The dress practically leapt off the rack into my hands. My sister teased me saying, “Of course it was still there. Nobody else wanted it.” LOL.
Got it home and it fit like a dream, which I guess it was.
Elf hat
Pairs perfectly with an elf-like hat knitted by my sister-in-law’s dad many years ago that he gave me one Christmas.
Here, I am standing next to my Christmas “tree”, that is actually a large houseplant covered with lights and deer ornaments. Yes, I love to collect deer ornaments. All kinds. Outside, brutal cold temperatures and blowing snow cap off the festive Christmas feeling.
May you create and share many happy memories with your loved ones this holiday season.
Wishing you many blessings, joy, happiness, love, beauty, health, and prosperity in the coming year! I am so grateful for each of you that you are in my life.
Happy trails.
Love,
Charlene
P.S. And, oh yeah, here is a lovely Christmas painting of downtown Nashville here in Brown County, Indiana.
P.P.S. The studio and gallery is open for visitors if you are coming this way. Call (812-988-4497) or email me (Char@CharleneMarsh.com) to let me know what will work for you.
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