ObserVation: Hand-me-downs overs

omething weird happened last month. Ok I use the word far too often but still it was not something I was expecting and I hesitated somewhat before reacting and Mrs. A interpreted this incorrectly until I responded and corrected her...
[Ed: Get to the point!]
Ok, Ok, I will..
Got to get into the swing of things as it’s been a long time since I posted anything. And why now you may well ask. Well it’s because nothing has really happened. I still dress when I can. I haven’t bought any clothes or heels for over seven years can you believe. This is due to not having my ‘work post box’ anymore and I’m certainly not having anything delivered at home. Another reason is because the wardrobe is packed full and I even have difficulty closing it without catching a dress in the doors.
If you want to have a peep there is a link here and in the top right panel of the blog. In the meantime I have due to needing the space, with great difficulty I might add, moved the rest of my heels that were stored in the left hand side of the wardrobe to the right hand side. A bit of a squeeze would be an understatement. I have no idea of the overall density behind the doors but it must be pretty high!

[Ed: That’s enough about the wardrobe, get back to the topic in the title!]
Ok, but only if you go and brew some tea!
[Ed: ?]

We are now regularly doing bouts of decluttering using variations of what is called the 12-12-12 challenge. That is to locate 12 items to throw away, 12 to donate, and 12 to be returned to their proper home. Simple and effective apart from the last part if you can’t remember to whom the item belongs! All this under the heading of ‘Döstädning’. Don’t panic, we are doing ok, it's just one has to start sometime and it is better to do it while one is still physically capable.

[Ed: And mentally?]
? That enough of that. Where's my tea?

Well this session was Mrs. A throwing out some of her clothes to make way for new ones. The incentive was partly because she had no real idea of what she had and partly because she had no room for the new clothes that have been steadily arriving from numerous clothes companies and being semi permanently stashed in cupboards in our unofficial ‘office’.
Now this decluttering of clothes is an action that has to be handled delicately. Although the selection criteria is either ‘out of style’ or ‘out of size’ or 'its now got more holes than when first bought', Mrs. A always wants me present to give her moral support and the ultimate ‘pollice verso’ to each item that is to either ‘survive’ and to be worn again, or to ‘die’ and be bagged for disposal into our local clothes container.

This time the clothes under scrutiny were mainly tops, t-shirts and blouses.
We first started with shifting all her office located clothes onto the bed.
On surveying the amount of the bed that was still visible, I suspected that this session was going to be a long one..
The routine started off with Mrs. A trying on an item, followed by a discussion to its stay-ability and eventually I would add it to the stay pile to be relocated to somewhere within the vast regions of our bedroom wardrobe, or to stuff it nicely folded into the recycle bag. This went on for some time until Mrs. A got to a top that looked slightly baggy. Without trying it on she handed it to me which I took as rejected.
As I was heading towards the recycle bag she said “Wait, try it on and see if it fits.”
I stopped in my tracks letting what I thought I just heard sink in. I turned towards her with what must have been a look of slight confusion on my face as it was the last thing I expected.
She must have interpreted my expression as if I was not interested and said “If you don’t want to then ..”
I injected rather louder than I intended “No, no it’s ok, I’ll try it on!”
At this point I should mention that none of Mrs. A’s clothes usually fit me as she is 147cm in height and a shoe size of UK3 against my UK9 and so we are not compatible clothes wise. This has understandably frustrated me over the years until I started to buy my own wardrobe in 2014.

So I removed my T-shirt and put it on expecting it to get half way down my torso and no further. But no, it pulled down with ease, the arms were of a reasonable length and there was no feeling of being unable to breathe. With the look on her face I think she was also a little surprised that it fitted.
After being asked to do a slow 360 degree turn she said “It looks ok.”
I nodded and so it ended up neatly folded on a separate pile destined for my section of the wardrobe! Sometime later it happened again!
This time it was a patterned T-shirt. It sort of fitted but not as well as the first item. After a moment’s hesitation it was added to my pile!

Later that day we went for a walk around our local lake and deposited the bagged up rejected clothes into the recycle container at the car park. I must admit I was not sure of what to make of this variation of the classical 'hand-me-downs'.

A couple of days later we had another session with similar clothes. I didn’t expect to get any ‘rejects’ this time, although I was eying each item and mentally adding either a ‘could fit’ or ‘won’t fit’ to the item. I was now primed that there was the possibility that I could get something for my pile.
With items that were heading towards the ‘to be bagged’ pile and had the ‘could fit’ tag, I would give Mrs. A a ‘could possibly fit me’ visual hint. And if she was ok with it, I would try it on.
Well I was lucky. I ended up with two more tops! I must admit by the last item she gave me a sort of quizzical look and I wasn’t quite sure if I had gone too far with my ‘could possibly fit me’ look.

So I ended up with four tops, each one quite different. Here they are folded and stored on one of my shelves. I must admit I’m not sure when I will wear them! Certainly around the house but not I expect in public.
I thought it would be appropriate to wait until I had time to add a few curves and of course heels, before taking some pictures.
Any comments would be welcome.

#1 I like the colour and the stripes, would go with almost anything. The label says ‘Bexleys Woman’ although I don’t think it's a ‘feminine only’ look, colours are quite neutral.
#2: The colour is rather ordinary but on the decorative pattern there are a few small rhinestones scattered about. In the close up you can see them better. Don’t really understand what the pattern is, looks a bit like leopard spots to me but it’s pretty and semi-sparkly.
#3: The blue colour is little on the pale side. The pattern and the butterflies are pretty. Bit thin, should be ok for summer.
#4: Now this is lovely! One can spend ages trying to work out what the patterns are! Looks like a jungle scene. Really like the colours. Added my mint (creased) skirt and heels. Not a ideal match but the colours are in the pattern somewhere. The fabric is silky like, more for summer than the forthcoming winter. I find this last one more feminine than the other three. Maybe that was why I got ‘that look’ when I said I think it would fit. And I think by the look of it it does!