I always disliked folding laundry, until I had my first baby. His onesies were so cute, and I loved him so much, that affection seeped from my heart to my hands every time I folded them. I suddenly loved folding laundry. Seven years and two more kids later, I have so many good memories bound up in all my kids' clothing that I still love it, although it's a little bittersweet to remember times past when the big ones fit into the little clothes.
We are considering switching schools. The new school would have a uniform. This is a major factor in the "cons" column as we consider this school. I wore uniforms for years and hated them. I'm no fashionista, I just like comfortable, practical clothes in flattering colors. Uniforms were the opposite of all of those. I felt depersonalized, disembodied, and disrespected. This of course aggravated my natural teenage sulkiness and probably led to worse academic and social outcomes for me.
As I consider dressing my kids in uncomfortable, impractical, unflattering, depersonalizing uniforms, I get a chill down my spine. We have no happy family memories in those clothes. They aren't meaningful. It feels like they are either reaching into our family life to deny us meaningful clothing, if the kids wear them through the evening, or denying the kids a healing sense of continuity between their home and school selves, if they change when they get home. Still, it is just one factor in the "cons" column. I would feel petty making it a dealbreaker. I hope my kids won't mind uniforms as much as I did and do.
that's a perspective on uniforms I had not considered. I attended private school for my elementary and middle school years and also hated the uniforms. it did make it east to get dressed in the morning, though! They certainly are not meaningful, unless maybe they convey membership to an organization/school one is very proud to attend.
This post is lovely and provokes contemplation for someone who is not yet running her own home and family (or life) but would like to someday. I am realizing I only have a few pieces of meaningful clothing, most acquired recently - a 100% red cotton flannel, very stylish and sturdy, that belonged to my sister and a few calico scrunchies made by a friend from church, plus a heart necklace from my grandma that I wear with almost every outfit. I am glad to have these, and hope to keep them for a long time. Anyways, what would you recommend for finding such meaningful clothing for oneself? Where are the best places to look for it?
Thrift shops, vintage clothing stores, or small shops that actually hand make their clothes from natural fibers. It’s going to depend on your personal style though. Etsy has a lot of small shop clothes makers.
I would LOVE to see a list of your favorite Etsy clothing stores! There are just so many. I’ve ordered two custom made skirts on Etsy which are nice , but leaving me wishing my sewing skills were better because the skirts are truly simple, and they were super expensive!
Do you also have any favorite online thrift stores? I’ve used ThredUp for years but mostly they carry fast fashion and cheap fabrics. Poshmark is ok but it’s always a risk because you can’t return anything.
Honestly, I mostly use Poshmark. It’s a reliable platform and makes shipping easy. The lack of returns is annoying, but I guess it forces me to be extremely discerning about what I’m buying.
I have bought from Son de Flor, Not Perfect Linen, Literary Garments, and OffOn Linen personally. I’ve heard good things about Mantaikotai, LenOK Linen and many others. Oh, and I have a wool sweater dress from PATISPROJECT that I love.
Beautiful post. I am not an excellent seamstress, but I do knit for my boys. As the clothing buyer for our home, I stick with soft cottons, linens and wools for them, without logos, slogans or big pictures, button ups and jeans...then grandmas throw in some garish things from Walmart that rarely last the season, let alone to another human.
My boys prize their home made sweaters, and I feel proud of that, but understand that its because they are special to me, and they regularly see my adoring my homemade or nicer pieces. They have sweaters they've inherited that were knitted for my elder brother, and some matching ones Daddy wore with one of his brothers, and they are admired and well uses. My 3 year old loves to tell people that hia sweater was Daddy's.
It feels a bit sad that we've come to compromise quality and uniqueness for quantity and cheapness
This is making me wish I were a knitter or seamstress. Someday, maybe. I do find more and more that I prefer the look and feel of natural materials - linen, cotton, wool - for clothing and other fabrics for clothing and home use.
Even when I do crafting, as in some hand-made Christmas ornaments, I've taken to using wool felt over the acrylic felt found at most craft stores. It has a nicer look and feel and doesn't pill like the other stuff.
A thought-provoking article! Also, I can't help but think of the lovely children's picture book A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert as I'm reading this. A girl in post-war Europe needs a new coat, and she and her mother go person to person (the sheep farmer, the woman who cards the wool, the tailor, etc.) to barter for the materials/labor to get her a new coat. It's really a lovely book and I think it's based on a true story. Helps our children to see the origins of wool, appreciate the time/work involved in creating things, and encourages community.
I try my best to buy my daughter cotton only clothing in soft pastels, gem tones, and neutrals… nothing too garish. I have also made her dresses here and there. It’s very rewarding, but I struggle to find fabrics I like at the standard craft store.
Same rule as for me. We’ve very little synthetic fibers, but I do love a crewneck sweater and it’s so hard to find them without polyester at an affordable price.
I’ve recently delved into the world of wool, and wool layering. We are going to try to keep warm the way the Nordics do.
And with that it has me changing my style a bit as well. I definitely think most people don’t even think about what they are putting on their kids, and just buy what is available and affordable to them at Walmart and the like. Not sure why Walmart thinks we want to dress our kids like highlighters and cartoon characters…
Having lived in Texas for the first 4.5 years of my first kid's life, there is definitely something about bright colors looking good in strong sunlight! Even the local wildflower colors are bright. Sunbelt fashion is on board and celebrates the good life by wearing bright colors. And my first kid looked great in the classic "spring" bright color palette. So we were all about the highlighters, haha.
We live elsewhere now, and truth be told, pastels and gem tones look more at home in this natural environment. And my other two kids look best in different color palettes anyway. But bright colored clothes will always bring a smile to my face as I remember those first joyful years.
This is such an interesting thing! It makes a lot of sense! It’s really weird when stores in Kansas are selling clothes with anchors and sailboats on them. Or crabs and seahorses. Very out of place, but I hadn’t ever even thought about how colors palates might be fitting for different places. So cool.
Beautiful post. I could not agree more. When my first daughter was born my mom gave me a little hand-knit red sweater that had been mine, made by a dear friend. Both my girls wore it and someday their children will. It struck such a deep chord for me the first time I saw my daughter in it. Now I have many cherished items like that, my favorite aunt who passed away was an amazing knitter. Knowing her loving and skilled hands made these things brings not just warmth to our bodies but to our souls. It led me down a path to seeking more quality, natural materials, and intentional clothing items. As I did so I recalled the prayer shawls knitted by church ladies and given to those in hard times or illness (I received one after a life threatening emergency surgery). These shawls we unquestioningly accept as imbedded with meaning, actual prayers said for healing. So it just clicked! So many things we can do from love, prayer, intention, and make them mean so much more. Thanks for your words!
I always disliked folding laundry, until I had my first baby. His onesies were so cute, and I loved him so much, that affection seeped from my heart to my hands every time I folded them. I suddenly loved folding laundry. Seven years and two more kids later, I have so many good memories bound up in all my kids' clothing that I still love it, although it's a little bittersweet to remember times past when the big ones fit into the little clothes.
We are considering switching schools. The new school would have a uniform. This is a major factor in the "cons" column as we consider this school. I wore uniforms for years and hated them. I'm no fashionista, I just like comfortable, practical clothes in flattering colors. Uniforms were the opposite of all of those. I felt depersonalized, disembodied, and disrespected. This of course aggravated my natural teenage sulkiness and probably led to worse academic and social outcomes for me.
As I consider dressing my kids in uncomfortable, impractical, unflattering, depersonalizing uniforms, I get a chill down my spine. We have no happy family memories in those clothes. They aren't meaningful. It feels like they are either reaching into our family life to deny us meaningful clothing, if the kids wear them through the evening, or denying the kids a healing sense of continuity between their home and school selves, if they change when they get home. Still, it is just one factor in the "cons" column. I would feel petty making it a dealbreaker. I hope my kids won't mind uniforms as much as I did and do.
that's a perspective on uniforms I had not considered. I attended private school for my elementary and middle school years and also hated the uniforms. it did make it east to get dressed in the morning, though! They certainly are not meaningful, unless maybe they convey membership to an organization/school one is very proud to attend.
This post is lovely and provokes contemplation for someone who is not yet running her own home and family (or life) but would like to someday. I am realizing I only have a few pieces of meaningful clothing, most acquired recently - a 100% red cotton flannel, very stylish and sturdy, that belonged to my sister and a few calico scrunchies made by a friend from church, plus a heart necklace from my grandma that I wear with almost every outfit. I am glad to have these, and hope to keep them for a long time. Anyways, what would you recommend for finding such meaningful clothing for oneself? Where are the best places to look for it?
Thrift shops, vintage clothing stores, or small shops that actually hand make their clothes from natural fibers. It’s going to depend on your personal style though. Etsy has a lot of small shop clothes makers.
I would LOVE to see a list of your favorite Etsy clothing stores! There are just so many. I’ve ordered two custom made skirts on Etsy which are nice , but leaving me wishing my sewing skills were better because the skirts are truly simple, and they were super expensive!
Do you also have any favorite online thrift stores? I’ve used ThredUp for years but mostly they carry fast fashion and cheap fabrics. Poshmark is ok but it’s always a risk because you can’t return anything.
Honestly, I mostly use Poshmark. It’s a reliable platform and makes shipping easy. The lack of returns is annoying, but I guess it forces me to be extremely discerning about what I’m buying.
I have bought from Son de Flor, Not Perfect Linen, Literary Garments, and OffOn Linen personally. I’ve heard good things about Mantaikotai, LenOK Linen and many others. Oh, and I have a wool sweater dress from PATISPROJECT that I love.
Beautiful post. I am not an excellent seamstress, but I do knit for my boys. As the clothing buyer for our home, I stick with soft cottons, linens and wools for them, without logos, slogans or big pictures, button ups and jeans...then grandmas throw in some garish things from Walmart that rarely last the season, let alone to another human.
My boys prize their home made sweaters, and I feel proud of that, but understand that its because they are special to me, and they regularly see my adoring my homemade or nicer pieces. They have sweaters they've inherited that were knitted for my elder brother, and some matching ones Daddy wore with one of his brothers, and they are admired and well uses. My 3 year old loves to tell people that hia sweater was Daddy's.
It feels a bit sad that we've come to compromise quality and uniqueness for quantity and cheapness
This is making me wish I were a knitter or seamstress. Someday, maybe. I do find more and more that I prefer the look and feel of natural materials - linen, cotton, wool - for clothing and other fabrics for clothing and home use.
Even when I do crafting, as in some hand-made Christmas ornaments, I've taken to using wool felt over the acrylic felt found at most craft stores. It has a nicer look and feel and doesn't pill like the other stuff.
A thought-provoking article! Also, I can't help but think of the lovely children's picture book A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert as I'm reading this. A girl in post-war Europe needs a new coat, and she and her mother go person to person (the sheep farmer, the woman who cards the wool, the tailor, etc.) to barter for the materials/labor to get her a new coat. It's really a lovely book and I think it's based on a true story. Helps our children to see the origins of wool, appreciate the time/work involved in creating things, and encourages community.
I will look up that book! Thanks for sharing!
You're welcome. :-)
I try my best to buy my daughter cotton only clothing in soft pastels, gem tones, and neutrals… nothing too garish. I have also made her dresses here and there. It’s very rewarding, but I struggle to find fabrics I like at the standard craft store.
Same rule as for me. We’ve very little synthetic fibers, but I do love a crewneck sweater and it’s so hard to find them without polyester at an affordable price.
I’ve recently delved into the world of wool, and wool layering. We are going to try to keep warm the way the Nordics do.
And with that it has me changing my style a bit as well. I definitely think most people don’t even think about what they are putting on their kids, and just buy what is available and affordable to them at Walmart and the like. Not sure why Walmart thinks we want to dress our kids like highlighters and cartoon characters…
Having lived in Texas for the first 4.5 years of my first kid's life, there is definitely something about bright colors looking good in strong sunlight! Even the local wildflower colors are bright. Sunbelt fashion is on board and celebrates the good life by wearing bright colors. And my first kid looked great in the classic "spring" bright color palette. So we were all about the highlighters, haha.
We live elsewhere now, and truth be told, pastels and gem tones look more at home in this natural environment. And my other two kids look best in different color palettes anyway. But bright colored clothes will always bring a smile to my face as I remember those first joyful years.
This is such an interesting thing! It makes a lot of sense! It’s really weird when stores in Kansas are selling clothes with anchors and sailboats on them. Or crabs and seahorses. Very out of place, but I hadn’t ever even thought about how colors palates might be fitting for different places. So cool.
“Dress our kids like highlighters” 🤣
Beautiful post. I could not agree more. When my first daughter was born my mom gave me a little hand-knit red sweater that had been mine, made by a dear friend. Both my girls wore it and someday their children will. It struck such a deep chord for me the first time I saw my daughter in it. Now I have many cherished items like that, my favorite aunt who passed away was an amazing knitter. Knowing her loving and skilled hands made these things brings not just warmth to our bodies but to our souls. It led me down a path to seeking more quality, natural materials, and intentional clothing items. As I did so I recalled the prayer shawls knitted by church ladies and given to those in hard times or illness (I received one after a life threatening emergency surgery). These shawls we unquestioningly accept as imbedded with meaning, actual prayers said for healing. So it just clicked! So many things we can do from love, prayer, intention, and make them mean so much more. Thanks for your words!
Thank you for sharing! It sounds like you’ve been blessed with the magic experience of meaningful clothing in your life :)