Hand me Downs

Growing up as the youngest of 4 kids - 3 of them girls, I got my fair share of hand me downs. Sweaters, pants, shorts, shoes - nearly all of my wardrobe used to belong to someone else. Even the dress I wore to my grade 8 grad was a hand me down from my sister - do you honestly think I would've worn a pink dress with ruffles and a big floppy pink bow? I like to think it looked really good on me, but I know that if I were given an option the pink bow would've been kiboshed.

On Friday, one of my coworkers gave me some hand-me downs. She had some pyjama pants that she had never worn, a dress top she only wore once and swore never to wear again and some jeans that for whatever reason she never wore - might be the sparkles on them. I was a little hesitant at first. It's been a really long time since anyone has handed me down their cast offs and I wasn't sure they'd fit me, let alone be something that I'd want to wear.

The first thing I tried on was the pyjama pants. They are funky colours, have polka dots and stripes and I had already decided that if they didn't fit/work that I'd be turning them into something crafty and fun. Success - they fit! I'm still contemplating turning one of them into some sort of fabric necklace or fabric flower or something (thank you Pinterest for making me look at everything in a completely different way!)

The second item was the jeans. They are black and a little long, and are actually a little bit big but they are really pretty. I figure until I feel like hemming, I'll be rolling them up all big and 60s style with a wide cuff. I'm a little crazy like that.

The third item was the pretty top that I had immediately looked at and realized was completely not my co-worker's style. It had ruffles and was a very thin gauze-type fabric that you could see through. The fabric was mostly white but had almost a floral pattern of black, grey and dusty rose. My coworker is more of an Ozzy fan, so the fact she had owned this shirt and worn it once was a bit amazing. As soon as I put this shirt on it was like it was completely meant for me. I own lots of tank tops (gotta hide my gigantic mammories somehow) so it was no issue to think that I have white, black and grey that could go underneath. The tones look really good with my skin even and made it look like I had a slight tan. I was so happy that I kept the shirt on all day long and received many compliments.

Sometimes a hand me down is just a wonderful gift that we can give another person. In a way, I can count my coworker as one of my sisters now. Now I only have to figure out how to repay the favour. :)