The Goddess Dress

I had stopped by Bowers Rodgers, still my favorite local thrift shop, to pick up a grab bag of toys for the treasure box in my classroom. Since I'm trying not to buy clothes until 2014, I have not been into a thrift store in almost 2 months. So I knew it would be tempting. Once inside, my son headed straight to the clothes and began sorting through them.

"No," I said, "We're not buying clothes, remember?"
"Oh, yeah," he responded, and proceeded to the book room. I found a suitable bag of assorted small toys, looked around a little bit, then got ready to head out. I was proud of myself because I'd not stopped to look at any clothes.

Cowl I made back in December. My favorite one, though I've made like a gajillion since...

Then, when I was almost to the door, I saw it.....

A long, crushed velvet dress, medieval style, perfect for a Renaissance Festival (which we've been attending a few of lately) or any event where one needs to look absolutely magical and fabulous. Fitted, to the floor, with flared train at the back and wide, open, gypsy sleeves with heavy embroidery along the cuffs and, to top it off and make the magical mystical goddess-ness of it complete, a hood on the back with the same beautiful embroidered panels.

I stood there, riveted. Now remember, if you've followed my blogs on this subject, how much I love clothes, and how much I love magical mystical stuff, and how much I love the type of things you see at Renaissance Festivals, and how much I'd freakin' absolutely adore wearing that dress to, well, anywhere. It was deep burgundy, the embroidery was all black and gold and blue and red.

Here's the beauty I made with vintage 70s fabric to wear to Atlanta. I absolutely love it, and got loads of compliments!

And it was only six dollars. If you want to understand the value of this, visit a website that sells clothing for Renaissance Faires...there is a reason I don't own a dress like this already, and it has to do with dollar signs. (Just to give you an idea, visit http://majesticvelvets.com/?gclid=CLLYzMermrUCFQ2znQodJkYAdQ) Yet here it was, something I've always wanted, for mere pennies almost. So I stood there, trying to convince myself that it didn't really count as clothes if I was getting it for Ren Faire. That my goal was only to TRY not to buy clothes for a year, so it would be okay to slip a little. That it would be more foolish NOT to take advantage of the sweet deal than to hold onto my guns and walk away. I rationalized for at least five minutes while standing there, feeling the fabric and admiring the embroidery.

Then I turned and walked out the door. I called a friend, who I knew would also love the dress and have a need for such a garment, and told her about it. She visited the shop later but ended up not purchasing it. And so I told a few others who I know that might venture up to check it out, and last night, at our gathering, we laughed about the irony of finding a dress like that in such a rural, conservative town, and all the logical reasons I might have given myself to break my vow and buy it anyway. One of my friends even said she was gonna go up there and buy it for me, and we laughed about that as well.

Would love to make a dress a day...but a dress a week has been more like it! Latest creation!

It was tough to walk away and leave something I knew I'd not likely come across at that great of a deal again, but it would have been tougher for me to fail at this goal so soon into it. It may not make so much sense to others, but it's an important objective to me. And so, I'll look for some patterns and hopefully find some amazing fabric and perhaps make my own dress before the coming Renaissance Faires in Atlanta and Greenville.

Or maybe I'll just wear the amazing dress I already have in the back of the closet, which I'd forgotten about until I had to dig deep to find something 'new'. In the meantime, I've got four crates of bulbs for our community garden that are calling my name, and a visit later to a friend in Greenville. And that's just the morning and afternoon.

It amazes me now that I ever had so much time to shop!

Have a blessed Sunday!!! :-)))))