Pattern edition

I see we've gained a couple of new followers and the stats when it comes to how many people read each entry are increasing which is nice as it does take a bit of time to put together an entry here.
As I'm sure you're  aware the current trading conditions for many retailers are not good, something that takes me on to the first part of this weeks entry and as a result you'll have seen quite a number of empty stores in your town and city centres, some of which may go back a fair number of decades.
Well one company I first encountered when I was first exploring what learned was the world of Adult Little Girls was called Rosemary Woods whose premises were only a few miles away in the former Mill Town of Congleton, Cheshire.
While much of what they made was targeted at subset of the transgendered community mainly what the natives here call Crossdressers (or transvestite) who were into things such as "sissy maid" attire such as maid dresses, frilly knickers all with considerable lashings of silk and lace, they did do quite a bit of made to measure school uniform such as traditional gymslips (for North Americans a Tunic see  below), games skirts and tops.

Can anyone imagine me in one  with box pleats? :D
I bought a number of garments from them in the late 90's through mid 2000's finding them to be well cut, easy to re-stitch if needed and compared to people such as Transformation pretty reasonable value for money.
Unfortunately after 29 years of trading they've closed down for good which really is rather a shame.

Sometimes despite what you may of read in the newspapers over the last ten days or ago you can stumble across some really nice things such as a series of images by Mary Beth when you're just browsing.
Her inspiration seems to be classic children's adventure stories putting  a depiction of part of them in a washed out background to her main image like her with have scenes from the Alice Adventures behind her creation, Alex in Wonderland.
The drawing is haunting me actually as I look at the dress with the puffed up sleeves the full skirt with petticoat and then look back at myself thinking could I wear this maybe at some kind of gathering?

Castle Hill

You know, this whole area around age regression sometimes takes you in different directions such consider what could of happened had your life had indeed been different  as a child.
One area for me is what would of happened had I of attended a different sort of school such as more traditional girls school.
For one thing, the chances are it would be built from old brick or stone having two stories one of which would be the dormitories, recreation area and prep rooms possible in the shape of a castle with four turrets.
Each would be occupied  based on a house system with each wing belong to a house who compete in various competitions for a prize outside of that of inter form prizes which was something my own school didn't have.
There wasn't  really much to strive form that probably did not aid my motivational issues because there wasn't anything really to set your aims for or encourage you to work hard for your fellow form members taking individual responsibility for a collective effort.
It would have a large grounds to stroll around as  well as sports fields and a swimming pool that could be used by permission at the weekends for fun.

Gordon the gopher

The other week I was tidying one of my shelves and a white pile of dust landed on my head and with it was this:

He used to appear on Going Live and Children's BBC with Philip Schofield and his significance to me was I bought him as a hand puppet in Elvaston Country Park, Derbyshire in the English East Midlands together with some other outfits.
I was with with my family and I came skipping across the fields  jumping up and down with Gordon all excited in this public place with lots and lots of groan ups! Can you believe it!!! I even carried him back all the way on the bus cos I couldn't bear to be removed from him and oddly enough nobody said anything.
I think this would of been the first  time I'd acted as an adult little girl publicly although at the time I don't know it!

Time to change NOW, Jo

This is a staple of my childhood, having many pairs both at home and certainly for school as for anything outside of ball games you simply had to have a pair in your PE Kit, the thing that used to get in trouble for leaving purposely behind even though I did know I need them.
Back in the day, most were lace up which I struggled with  with very poor hand-eye co-ordination and required help doing them.
It also wasn't by any means unknown for people such as gym mistresses to use slippers or gym shoes to spank you with if you were being less than co-operative or disrespectful which certainly was the case when I grew up.
They certainly make a big impression on your bottom

Joanne steps out

Phew! It's been a hot week, not that I'm complaining about the Sun and that but you do need to keep cool so It's been a week of plenty of drinks and icecream.
As well I've been working a bit on my wardrobe  cos as we all know I love my school uniform, pinafore dresses and  shorts  but was thinking something cool and still on the little side of girlie that would  work for me.

This was pretty much (or should I say mooch!) what I was thinking about because its easily available in sizes that fit my waist, although that's a blouse there's no reason not to substitute a t shirt even a long sleeved t shirt  with some detail and ankle socks with ribbed tops are very much me (as are knee length ones).
The skirt type - skater skirts - are just me I think as I like pleats and something airy in the cut (drainpipe trousers never appealed to me) and anyways I got a couple of skirts this week which was as well given it was over 20 degrees outside.

That's the blue one that has four pleats and I also got a charcoal grey one both of which feature  elasticated waists, something I prefer as having a very curved spine I find belts painful and being wide they don't dig in.
I also don't like clothes with lots of branding on as I don't feel like being a walking advertising board for them

Handwriting

Ever wondered about why you feel you can guess male and female handwriting? What makes it so different even though the content may be more androgynous .
There was discussion at a couple of sites about this and as someone who is Ts then in order to be 'me' I needed to find out more about the subtle clues and dare I say practise. One of the best resources out there is the TS Road map who had this to say:Handwriting and gender cues

This is well worth a good several hours careful studying as there is a lot to take in as after all most of us learnt this around age 7 thru 11 years which is a distant memory!

I am continuing on my female handwriting practice.

Gingham dresses

Going back to Junior and even Infants, such dresses were normal for Spring and Summer for girls being cool, easy to put on  and complete with a pocket for your hankie and so not surprisingly they feature in school based stories some of which my reference school discipline.