Fashionable Modesty IS Attainable
Especially during late spring and summertime, finding decent clothes can be tough. Decent meaning modest, comfortable and stylish; not frumpy or outdated.
It may take more time shopping and learning how to put outfits together, and possibly more creativity as alterations or sewing skills are picked up, but holiness-hearted people can dress well, no matter the time of year. This post provides mommas with resources when shopping for modest clothes, with a surprise at the end!
Children’s Clothes
I asked three mommas I know where they get their kids clothes, because their kids always look nice, for play, for shopping/outings, and for Church. Their kids’ ages range from 3-12 year olds, boys and girls. And the boys wear young men’s dress suits for Church. Here is their combined list of places where nice looking clothes can be purchased for kids:
- Luibelle
- eBay
- Target
- Poshmark
- Nordstrom Rack
- Zara
- J Crew Kids
- Maisonette
- Gymboree
- Hello Alyss
- Janie & Jack
- Old Navy
- Mini Ruby
- Hanna Andersson
- Amazon
- Smallable
Fashions For Momma
This next list includes places I was given by these same mommas. They always look nice, representing classy, godly women who love and live for God. I also added other purveyors of garments from whom I know we all have purchased;
- Nordstrom Rack
- Zara
- Marshall’s
- Anthropologie
- Amazon
- Dainty Jewels
- Zadie B’s
- Poshmark
- Walmart
- Fred Meyer
- Target
- Old Navy
- Macy’s
- ‘Nuggles
- Kosher Casual
- PKC Collection
We Don’t Buy All Styles
In case anyone wonders, No, we don’t feel comfortable buying, much less wearing, everything these stores offer for sale. That is why it may take more time shopping to find the things your family needs.
Take heart, sweet momma! You are emulating the virtuous woman we read about in Proverbs 31 when you take care in the way you dress your family!
“She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth…from afar…She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff…all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple…she makes fine linen and selleth it…”
Selections pulled from Proverbs 31: 13,14,19,21-22, 24
Thrifty Clothes Shopping
There have been seasons in my life when it wasn’t possible for me to shop at some of the clothing stores that sell higher quality. Their price points were above the range of my budget, or they were too far away to justify my driving the distance required to shop their Discount areas.
If you live close enough to spend time Discount-only shopping at these higher-end places, I encourage you to do so! It’s often a wise use of finances. The clothing in the discount racks are new. Never having been used, you will get the full life out of them, barring accidents. That said, as life changed for me through the years and I was able to save up to make that long drive, I was glad to go the distance ony to shop their Discount racks.
I learned that one of the best times to buy modest ladies attire is typically in the spring. This is when stores clear out the long sleeved, higher neckline, longer hem, thicker fabric garments to make room for hot-weather, skin revealing styles. In late summer you can often find deep discounts on any lingering clothes from the previous cold-weather season as well, although the selection is usually super limited by then.
When most of my little people were still in diapers or toilet training, we shopped almost exclusively at thrift stores. At first, I bought whatever was cute and seemed to fit. After a while I learned that I needed to be more selective. Let’s face it, these were primarily clothing items that had already been well worn, and some were in their last bit of life. I searched carefully to ensure there were no stains that I couldn’t remove, no tears I couldn’t patch up, no missing parts that I couldn’t easily replace. I looked over the materials the garments were made of to see that there were no signs of pilling from wear, or of some thicker cloth becoming threadbare.
There were times when I bought thrift store clothes that were really cute and of good quality, despite knowing the item didn’t fit my child well. Thinking about how nice it would be for my child to wear this cute, well-made garment inspired me to dig out my rusty sewing skills, learned as a teen. I spent a few moments looking at how the garment was constructed, tried it on my child, took in a few judicious tucks, and had them try it on again. Then, oh, how I FOUGHT with my antiquated sewing machine, which seemed always determined to tangle my threads around the shuttle beneath the needle plate! I can tell you, I prayed over that machine! And over my temper! Thank the Lord for helping me learn to adjust my methods; tangled threads became much less common!
As a result, although my family at that period of life seemed to fit well into the category of being “poor as Church mice”, my children dressed as well as their peers who had two income-earning parents in their homes. Mine probably just had fewer clothes.
God Turns Troubles Into Blessings
I cannot leave out the wonder of how God works in our lives after telling that last story. He has been so amazingly kind and good through the years!
The need to alter used clothes to fit my child made me fine-tune my sewing skills. God helped me become expert, leading me to good books and patterns with excellent instructions. People began coming to me with requests to pay me for alterations. My skills increased to the point where I was able to expertly tailor men’s suits. Again, it was people coming to me, through word of mouth recommendations, with requests for tailoring. Eventually, I opened my own alterations and tailoring shop, Sew Fitting, inside a local dry cleaning operation. That first day, immediately after coming to an agreement with the owner of the dry cleaning business, a customer of theirs asked if they had anyone who took in alterations work. I walked out the door with a project in hand to tackle at home until my shop was set up, and the influx of work never stopped. From that day, I worked full time at this venture, altering or tailoring business attire, formal and everyday wear, and wedding dresses.
This is what I called, at the start of this post, a Surprise ending. The very thing that seemed against me during the early years of parenting, that inability to find quality, nice looking, affordable clothes, turned into the catalyst God used to provide me with self-employment at a time when it was very appreciated!
If any of you are facing circumstances that seem to be adverse, I hope this encourages you. By being faithful to trust in God’s provision, seeking his will in all ways, and doing with integrity whatever comes to hand, we may eventually find we have be getting in line for a wonderful, unexpected blessing.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose! Romans 8:28
Will you please be so kind as to leave a comment to let me know if this helped you, or if you have any questions, to ask away?
