The Ups and Downs of Shopping

Let's start with the ups, with the biggest being that it's only a 3 minute walk to the local Salvation Army Family Store, and yes I have timed it!!! What I've found great about these stores, and different from the charity shops in England, is that aswell as clothing, linen and homeware they also have furniture. There's another op shop (kiwi speak for opportunity shop=charity shop!) in the town and a second hand shop so I have a fair amount of choice. And as for the nearby city well let's just say that I have lots of trawling to do! I have actually bought something every day this week and will post tomorrow about it.

Right onto the downs. I headed into the city yesterday morning, without children, to have a bit of time shopping. Now I'm not one of those girls who really enjoys clothes shopping but I really do need to do some. We arrived with a suitcase of clothes and I haven't purchased any since arriving so I set off with high hopes of getting some summer clothes. I never seem to have the right clothes for the right season (or the right body size for that matter!). But I was too be disappointed on two fronts: first, that the summer sales are over and that autumn clothes pack the shops (never mind that it's been so hot here the last week); and second, I wasn't actually the size I thought I was! I could explain this away with the fact that NZ sizes their clothes differently to the UK but that wouldn't explain why those few clothes I bought in the suitcase no longer fit very well!

Enter the material store. I haven't made any clothes for myself since I was in my teens so I thought I would give it a shot. I bought a Fast & Easy Butterick pattern (B4136), whether it will be or not I'll wait and see.

I would have liked to have used some recycled material but seeing as I want to make it now I bought some new. Arthur Toye have a great sale with a huge range of cotton fabrics for $4/metre.

I even bought the zip because I wanted to know I had everything instead of getting halfway through it and relegating it to a WIP pile! My only concern is when I read the sizing on the pattern my measurements say that I am 2 sizes above what I thought. Needless to say, I wasn't prepared to make it in that size so have opted for the one below! If it doesn't fit when it's made I'll just have to wait to wear it.

PS I went to Weightwatchers last night!