School dress ruined at school!

[DianaMitford]

As the title says. New dress, bought at the beginning of the summer term. 9yo DD, doing art today and black ink has soaked through her apron onto her dress. I washed it immediately she came home with Vanish and it's faded but it's ruined. I mean, she can still wear it but it's got black ink all down the front

My dilemma is that a new dress is £40 and there are no secondhand ones. Do I say anything to the school?? If so, what?!

Maltycocoa - don't expect sympathy for eating beans at the end of the month when you choose to stretch yourself financially to gain an educational and social advantage for your child. You'll get fuck all from us normos.

I hate reverse snobbery too. WTF as asking for suggestions to remove a stain have to do with school fees.
We live frugally with or without school fees, it makes no bloody difference.
Some people afford it easily, some struggle, some can't afford it.

I have always used stain devils for ink, because it works and lasts for ever.

I don't expect sympathy. We are happy with our choices. We have a decent life and save in areas where we can.

I was pointing out the annoyance of double standards. It's ok to bash those who try to put their children brought private education. Just because the op chooses to pay for her children's education doesn't mean she should have any less sympathy at having to replace a school dress, whether it's £40 or £3. It's all relative to each person

But god forbid if I turned round and slagged off belittled your choices

Don't be so bitchy about someone who chooses to pay to send their child to private school.
I understand the black ink problem. All pens in school are supposed to be washable ink but DGS has black mark on most of his school polo shirts. Even at £5 a go it's very annoying. Can you ask school about why they're using ink that doesn't wash out?

"My girls always had 4 or 5 supermarket dresses."

This. DD3 has four of the trad style gingham dresses - £6 each - so she wears a fresh one every day.

£40 for a child's dress - someone's having a laugh.

I think its ok to mention it to school in terms of getting better aprons but accidents happen.

I send dd in in clean but stained stuff. She wears long sleeves and they get marked with pen and paint.

I am currently in a sock battle with school. Dd has ended up with two odd pe socks remaining from five pairs. Slightly different tones of the same colour. In September they are changing the sock colour. No way am i buying new 8 quid socks for three weeks.

Some people are SO rude! What business is it of yours if the op pays for her child to go to a private School?? Why does that make it any less annoying that the dress is stained?! Everything is relative. For some people having to replace a £3 dress is an annoying and difficult cost, for others it's the same but for a £30/40 dress.

Get over yourselves, reverse snobbery is disgusting.

It's worth knowing a few tricks to get stains out as this could well happen again and again.
I think it's a waste to throw away any new clothes without attempting to remove the stain first, regardless of whether you can afford to or not.

Rather than blaming the school, I would be drumming into my 9 yr old to be careful in art and take responsibility for not leaning in paint, although accidents happen.

It's not being bitchy. It's like coming on here and complaining about the cost of your replacement panel for the Ferrari that you just pranged and asking if you should query the garage's £1zillion quotation. Know thy audience.

You don't have to be low income to be on MN in love

Know the audience indeed. Inclusive site for one and all isn't it?

I don't have a problem with this thread and I'm as poor as a church mouse.
Don't be bitter Inlove let's have some peace and love.

And if we're going to discuss bitch about choices, I'd love to be able to afford the nanny you had inlove

You spent your money on a nanny. I spend mine on school fees

Potato pohtahto....

It's not being bitchy

Yes it is.

I worked and had two kids - nanny was cheaper than nursery

Incidentally we could well afford private and choose not to so no bitterness here or reverse snobbery. We don't believe in elitist education or buying advantage so this is a particular bugbear of mine. I disagree very strongly with private education and don't mind saying it. People choosing to privately educate directly affects the standard of state education so it's kind of my business as it's everyone's business.

I recently learned that for stains, the first wAsh should be a cold wash, because a hot wash will set the stain in. This has worked for me on pollen and ink stains.

pretends to ignore the political slant this thread has taken

In fairness, I think it was the OP's implication that being able to afford private school/replacement dresses is simply a matter of working hard that put people on the defensive.

Never put any stain like this in the washing machine immediately - even with Vanish. Soak in cold water with Vanish, Biotex or another stain remover. And keep trying different stain removers with cold water until you find one that removes it.

Like you I wanted DD to look pristine, but I bet if you look at some of the other children they will be wearing faded, hand-me-down, sister's dresses, and so on.

Does the apron come from the same supplier as the dress?

Sneaky way to brag about being able to afford to send your kids to private school - mission accomplished. Granted most people would be a bit miffed but £40 isn't much compared to school fees is it.

And if you don't like the varied opinion from posters then maybe you should have a good read of the serious issues people post on mumsnet for advice. £40 is two weeks shopping for some people

And £3 isn't much to other folk nelly

It's all relative!!!!!

F*ck sakes

Malty - people who can easily
Afford private school fees fair play to them. People who leave themselves skint to afford private schools are foolish imo. Without sounding crass because obviously this is extreme but private school isn't always the ticket to a better life. I know sisters who attended private school - got 'the best chance' in life - and both ended up on the game. Mumsnet is full of people with serious problems. The OP could have just asked advice without the price of the dress which obviously invites more questions. She didn't and more than likely knew this would happen

Something to think about

Oh Lord, this has descended. I apologise if I upset anyone by suggesting working hard automatically results in the money needed for fees. Of course it doesn't necessarily follow.

The dress is the sort that can be washed and dried overnight so having one isn't a problem. I'm freelance and generally work from home so I can put the dress in the machine the minute she gets home from school if needed.

I normally wouldn't cause an issue but:

a) the dress is brand new
b) she was wearing an apron so it shouldn't have happened.

I just wish it had happened a couple of days later because she boards on Wednesdays and then it would have been their problem to sort out! Last week she had a nosebleed and because she was boarding they laundered and dried her dress overnight for her.

Maybe they're not leaving themselves skint, but £40 is still a chunk of money to pay out for a new dress with only, what, 4/5 weeks of term left? The op is justified in wanting to get rid of the stain rather than buy a new one

And in regards to saying how much it is, don't we all vent? "Gods sakes, I'd only just bought those sodding daffodils, £2 wasted because the cat destroyed them"

It's a way of talking

Some people can't afford to spend £2 on daffodils and have to pinch them from people's gardens. It's all relative though isn't it Malty?