Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

Don't you love swearing and no one around you knows it :lol: I do it a lot around here.
I like the regional swear words, my sister lived in Manchester and they are very colourful :lol:

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

Over the last 20 years I have done a 180-degree turnaround in the clothes I wear. Gone are the $400 dresses and suits for professional wear at work. I do dress for work but nowhere near $400 clothes any more. Different life and different times - and different income!

These days, ask me what style I prefer and the word is casual.

One thing I used to love from Britain and that is the continental cut of women's slacks. Now that I am older, though, I wonder if that cut would fit as well.

I do like to sew my own clothes and haven't done so for about 10-15 years now. I have just not been settled enough to put the work into it. I am a perfecitonist and if I can't do something really well, why bother. In order to do something really well, I have to feel settled, at peace, and creative and I have not felt that way for a while now. Being in touch with my half-sister (who LOVES to sew) in England is helping to rejuvenate the interest but there's no action. My daily thought is just how much of a downhill slide I am on each day I remain here. I know I need to get out of that mindset but that's what's really there.

Gosh, how did a comment about clothes bring that out!! :eek:

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

Ha ha!! I use the UK typical swear words, too. Not bad ones but when I swear, that's what I use. I feel they have more effect because they are usually so unexpected lol!

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

Same here. I used to spend afortune on clothes in the business world but now I'm a gardener it's very casual. To tell you the truth I am really fed up with dressing this way and would like to "up my game" a bit. I also used to make a line of linen clothing with some screen-printing but gave that up when I felt that I was working in a sweat shop :lol:.
Like you, I haven't felt very creative lately and attribute it to my state of mind but making things has always been a big part of my life so I know it will return and I shall be taking some of the beautiful fabrics I have collected to the UK with me... very expensive to replace. I only wear natural fibres with the exception of outerwear and really love linen, hemp, cotton, silk etc. I like to make clothing that has classic lines but that has an "edge". Hope to get back to that soon. Heaven knows there isn't much I like in my closet (make that "wardrobe" ).
Quality is really important to me so wherever possible I like to have things of quality. I got that from my Grandmother who was a great believer in quality. She used to take me to Russell & Bromley for my shoes when I was a child. Not sure if they still have the same good reputation.

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

O! :lol: people definitely know when I'm swearing...whether when talking to my bro in England (who has a mouth and 1/2) or the people I know here. Though I do taper my 'swearing' according to the company I'm in at the time. Thankfully I have some good friends here in my old stomping grounds who 'speak' like me! :eek: We also laugh a lot...:lol:
Bless my mom...she could talk at times like a real posh Brit...then at other times, when she was pissed...look out! :eek: :lol: I miss listening to my mother and the many English colorful ways she could express herself.:D

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

Linda, you and I have the same values about clothes - good quality and natural fibres where possible. Me, too. I absolutely adore silks and fine cottons. If it's worth putting time and effort into making it, it's worth buying the very best fabrics. I wish I could say my closet was like that these days but it isn't. I hope to change that. I want to go back to living a life of quality over quantity.

I also go for the classic styles but with a continental flair (I hope). Simple lines but lines of quality. I made all my own suits for work and casual clothing (including undies) for the first 10 years I was in this country.

My grandmother was a professional tailoress and she taught me how to sew at a young age. I will never forget the day I got my very first sewing machine :)

PS: The gift that my half-sister sent me recently that had me in total tears, was a gift of quality. I must take a photo of the gorgeous lingerie bag she made. It's really lovely! Her gift made me think so much about a life of quality. It was a huge reminder to me!

Not totally related but I have been giving a great deal of thought to "quality" recently -

WILDFLOWER
Wildflower, you are so beautiful,
Petals wafting in the breeze.
Enriched by the warmth of the sun,
You are unfettered by human hand
And guided by the flow of nature.
Even after the rain, your petals sparkle
And the softness of the snow
Lends beauty to your leaves.
If I but moved so gently with nature,
With the ebb and flow of the tide of life
And conquer the storms as you have done,
My faith would be as strong.
Copyright © Tina Ryan - All Rights Reserved

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

That is exactly my situation. My Grandmother was a professional tailoress and later a milliner in Luton. She taught me to sew when I was very young - 3? and made my ballet clothes. She used to tell me stories about how, when she was first married, she made all of my Grandfathers shirts and if you sew suits, then you know that shirts are a lot of work to make. She bought me my first sewing machine when I was 11 and then my mother stopped sewing and had me make my own clothes.

I think this is very relevant. Beauty and quality are inextricably intertwined, at least for me. This is why I love flowers so much. A beautiful poem Tina.

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

Thanks, Linda. I could not live without nature and animals. My soul would die. This is one of the reasons I miss home so much, I think. There are SO many lessons to be learned from nature and animals if we only take the time to see them.

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

Since moving to the island here, this has been amplified for me and is why it is an important factor in where I choose to live in the UK.

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

I understand completely :)

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

Me too.

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

I know about that downhill slide. Love sewiing and made many, many things both for myself and for my children. I knitted, I crocheted, I embroidered. Today I feel so guilty about not doing any more of those things. Can't seem to get going, my environment doesn't motivate me in the slightest. I am wondered if there will be a sort of Epiphany on arrival in UK. Will all the interest and the will to follow through return? I agree with so very much of what you say along with Bandrui. Hesitate to keep telling you both how much I can relate to what you both say and how I agree in case you think I am after financial compensation!

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

When I lived in the UK I did all of those things - sewed clothing, crocheted, cross-stitched, knitted - loved it all. I have no enthusiasm here. It sort of seems "pointless". It's a dreadful feeling and a horrible way to live life. You couldn't have said it better when you said your environment doesn't motivate you in the least.

I try to remember that these are the treasures of life - the items that are made with love, the crafts over which we labored and that are handed down through the generations. I really value these because, when we left Britain, my mother sold everything we had, down to the fine bed linens by grandmother had so lovingly crocheted - all the antiques that are worth a small fortune in the USA - everything, gone. Today, when I think about it, it breaks my heart.

And thank you for your kind comments :)

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

I've never been a craft-type person, but I used to do a lot of writing, stories etc, and used to be enthusiastic about getting out and doing stuff, seeing people. All that enthusiasm has died here and I find it hard to motivate myself to do anything at all - yet every trip back home I seem to come alive again, its as if my brain is hibernating in Australia, and only emerges when it hears those words "Ladies and Gentlemen Welcome to Heathrow" :)

Re: OVER 50's & 60's MOVING BACK TO THE UK-Silly Chit-Chat & Daily Catch-Up Thread
 

Don't hesitate - it is always nice to hear that someone else can relate. ;)