Small Medium at Large

(Photo credit: betsyjean79)

The simple summer dress search saga continues.
Now, it has expanded into a search for decent fabric to have a dress remade. The local sewing store chain has no good quality tee-shirt knit fabrics that don't have Disney characters on them.  Really, such crap.

So, I found a few dresses this week. One, online that I bought for $60 plus $9 S&H was sold as a size medium.  I got it and tried it on and the armholes began 9 inches from my shoulders.  The fabric was thin and heavily sized to hide that. So, despite this having been misrepresented size-wise and being of poor quality fabric I have to pay the return shipping.

LL Bean, even prior to their new free shipping, never charged return shipping if the fault was theirs.  Calling Customer Service generally got return shipping waived. Not what happened here, I was told that if I reordered they don't charge shipping to the customer.  The adage: "Don't throw good monney after bad." applies.

I ended up with four new dresses this week. One from the Gap and 3 from Horny Toad. I am happy with them but the company from which I ordered online, Vermont Country Store, has lost a customer.

Lamenting the Sleeve

Dresses (Photo credit: maaikeflis)

Oh the noble sleeve, where hast thou gone? All the dresses of the right cut and fabric are devoid of sleeves. Why, oh why?

Seriously, have you tried to find a cotton knit dress with freaking sleeves lately? Not that creepy black or mushroom spandex and whatever "Travel" fabric that screams, "I am an American tourist without taste! Please deride my choices in your native tongue which I may understand." I figure that it's cheaper to make a sleeveless dress.  I am not looking for something out of a Renaissance Faire, just a simple not too short T-Shirt type dress with a small sleeve. I shopped all day and came home with one almost-as-long-as-I-like dress that had a price point I could stomach for the poor fabric quality and workmanship.

Why Would A Woman Want Sleeves? 

1. I am cold most of the time. My house, all stores and cars are air conditioned. To maintain a comfortable ambient temperature cool air must be blown into the room which causes a draft. The draft makes me cold.

2. I am in my fifties and, well I am in my fifties.

Bring back sleeves, cotton and simple things!