Sunday, August 5, 2007

Sewing for school.

There is much talk about sewing for going back to school on blogs and on other sewing sites, so I thought I would share what happens here in Australia. We have school uniforms - yippee! At first this may sound too "uniform" and conformist but it really is very practical. Yes they are expensive but you only need the one! And you buy them, so no taking up precious sewing time on school clothes. Here are a couple of photos of the uniform my daughters wear:
On the left is Sofie on her first day at high school - February 2006. This is the summer uniform. The hat must be worn when outside and the blazer must be worn when outside school grounds unless the temp is over 28 degrees Celsius. On the right is Ellen and Marine in the winter uniform. I think they look pretty smart - and there is no trying to dress better than everyone else.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Marine who has now gone back to France. We really enjoyed having her stay with us!!

And I would like to thank Summerset for posting (very quickly) tips on prick-stitching. You guys are great! So generous with your time and talent.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just a comment for your non-Australian readers.

School uniforms are not worn by all schools; they are more a feature of fee-paying schools based on the British model.

Personally I found them expensive and that a lot of emotional energy was wasted in enforcing petty rules.

Teenage group differences are still displayed, just in more subtle ways; shoe brand, sock height, hem length etc.

I notice that your girls are not wearing gloves. That would have been a detention in ‘my day’.

Stephanie

Vicki said...

Hi Stephanie, thanks for your comment. Here in Melbourne I am not aware of any schools that don't wear a school uniform (but there may be some). Even non fee paying public government schools wear a uniform, but yes they are less strict with the whole look.

Gloves are not part of the uniform.

Summerset said...

Yes, I started school sewing yesterday! Uniforms would be a blessing, really! I wore them at several different schools growing up and it was much easier. I also went to schools without uniforms, so I do know both sides of the fence.

Your welcome for the prick stitch post! You requested it, and I think the information could be valuable for others.

Vonnevo said...

Vicki, your girls look fabulous. I too like school uniforms.
Here in Qld, our schools insist on uniforms too, some are less traditional due to our warmer climate.It sure does lighten the load for parents and from my experience the up front cost was a big saving compared to non uniform clothing.
So are your girls now planning a visit to France? Tag along if they do :))))

Anonymous said...

My daughter went to five schools in WA and the ACT over the years, both private and government. She's now in second year Uni in Victoria.

The most expensive was colour-code, the cheapest was no uniform; and the most competitive with pressure to wear the right thing, or harrassing kids (both about clothing, or just in general), was in the uniform/colour code schools.

One kid in her high school in Canberra (incidentally in one of the wealthiest suburbs) wore pyjamas to school for two years, and nobody bothered him. One day, he started to wear normal clothes again. There was no bullying in that school, either by students or teachers.

Without a uniform, my daughter only needed one set of clothes, not a second set for weekends/holidays/after school; and I could chose to make them, buy inexpensive clothes, or buy nice stuff - whatever my budget could cope with at the time.

With uniforms or colour code, I lost that choice. Not only that, but my daughter developed early - and the white shirt in her WA high school uniform was almost transparent; very embarassing for a young girl.