Frugal AND Matchy! And a bit sideways... Plus Modesty Talk

Well, these pics and this post are OLD and they almost got completely forgotten about.  Why?  Because I accidentally loaded the pictures sideways and I got frustrated and thought I would deal with it later.  Guess what?  I forgot about it.  Now, I am looking through my "draft" posts and remembering I never came back to this.  Ooops!  So, here we go.... my post.... sideways and over 6 months past due....

 

Well, I am frugal, but I love beautiful things!  So, I love it when I can find something I love the beauty of and it be in a price range I am willing to spend money on.  I also love for my kids to be "matchy" when they can be.  I was able to get these sweet little sundresses at Wal-Mart for $5 each... and that was full price.  I love the pattern of the fabric and the colors and the shirred top.  These little dresses were also well made and look as good now (several months later and many wearings) as the day I bought them.  That is a win win all the way around!  I also bought the same style dress in another aqua print that was available. 

 

The great thing about these type little dresses is that they are super versatile, as well.  And you can adapt them for different modesty levels.  Now, I am not super modest for my little girls.  I love the innocence of little children and I think sometimes not making them aware of modesty actually keeps them innocent longer.  I seriously ran around at my house as a child shirtless until I was about nine years old and a neighbor boy told me I should have a shirt on.  I thought he was crazy because I was so innocent about my body.  I did start wearing shirts after that, though.  LOL! 

 

Anyway, if modesty is an issue for you I can share with you a few tips to make this dress style modest:

1. Always buy a larger size.  Even if you buy two or three sizes larger to get the length you want that is fine with a dress like this.  It might just mean you need to make a few simple stitches to the spaghetti straps to make them shorter for a better fit.
2. And about those spaghettie straps.... if you are opposed to that part of the dress, then layer the dress.  I will be doing that this winter with these dresses so the girls can wear them on cool days.  I think they will look cute with a black longsleeve shirt or turtleneck under them.  I might add leggings for warmth and style.
3. And on the topic of leggings... or the legs... that is the other point I want to hit on.  Adding leggings or pantaloons can go a long way in the modesty department.  I love to add pantaloons under my girls dresses to to compensate for the ever shortening skirt lenghth that has invaded the little girls clothing departments in almost all stores.
    



Another great thing about these dresses is that as the children grow it is possible that the dresses can "grow" with my girls.  Often, you can get a lot of wear out of dresses like this because they will fit the child in different was for three years or possibly more.  As they get the the length where they are near the knees they make a great "long shirt" to wear with pantaloons or leggings.  And again, that will vary depending upon your convictions about modesty.  I generally start to really concern myself with modesty during the PRE-puberty stage.  And that will probably vary with each of my girls, but a rough estimate is around the age of eight... maybe a little younger depending on the child.  For example, Savannah is Miss Modesty in many ways, so this has not been a huge area of worry until recently when puberty began to be evident and she is almost 12.  Probably 10 was the magic age for her, but with Sierra it will be different.  Part of that is because she has an older sibling and naturally will be more aware of bodily changes.  Also, Sierra's personality is a little more flamboyount.  She is a bit more drawn to flashy things.  She is eight and I have to set some limits already with her and have been for about a year. 

 



 

And speaking of modesty.... Caden may or may not have shorts on here, but I don't see anything overly revealing since his shirt hangs long.... and he is five in the picture.  My kids love to strip their clothes off throughout the day.  {sigh}  I guess they get it from their Momma... I was known as "The Streak" in my neighborhood as a child.   {double sigh}   BUT I was innocent and so are my kids.  I never thought anything about my body showing.  It just did not cross my mind.  I want that for them (to some degree).  I want them to know that when company comes over they need to wear clothing, but I want them to have an innocence like I had as a child about their body.  Their body's are not "dirty" and I don't want to accidentally put it in their minds that it is.  There will be a time to teach them that their bodies are changing and that it will become necessary to cover some areas up.  Also, it will be necessary as the body changes to be aware of the "fit" and "focus" of what their clothing draws attention to.  An example of this is pants/shorts that have wording across the rear end.  That is not allowed... unless you are under the age of four.  Bloomers are quit cute with silly things on them, but words across a little girls booty that draw the eyes there are not okay at our house.  Likewise, shirts that have writing across the boobs (pardon my wording) will not be allowed.  I don't want my daughter wearing a shirt that says "Hollister" across her chest drawing attention to her boobs no matter how small or large they are. 

So, there you go... frugal, fashion, modesty, silly stories... all wrapped up in one post!  One more thing that you could do with this dress style is "re-purpose" it.  Simply slid this down the waste with the arms out of the spaghetti straps and add a shirt that covers the waist and it can be worn as a SKIRT possibly.  If you use this type dress for a skirt this way you can make the decision to snip off the straps or leave them for different options.  I hope this post blesses someone and inspires you to look at clothing in different ways.  Don't just look at what it is, but rather what the options for it are adn what it CAN be.