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?!

WHAT?! Bragging?? Oh do fuck off.
I mentioned the price because it's not like I can get three dresses for £10. That's an expensive item of uniform and they should be careful to make sure the children don't ruin them!

Sigh. And part of MN is being with being people from all walks of life. Why should someone feel they have to apologise for being able to afford £2 for daffodils?

At 9 yo, if my girl ruined a 40 quid dress it would be coming out of her pocket money.

How intricate is the design? Is there any possibility of going over it with fabric paint - would that make it less obvious? clutching straws

It wasn't her fault. And she's been in tears about it too

I meant going over the stain, not the design, obviously.

If it's possible, my sympathies have lessened even more following the boarding comments.

I read the first page of this thread and posted some stain advice. My post came up at the end of page 5 and I've scrolled backwards.

I cannot believe the bitchiness of some of the posters here. The OP asked for advice and so many of you have gone into a chip-on-the-shoulder rant at her.

Yes, private school dresses cost about £40 and supermarket ones cost £3. So what?

As for saying that those who choose to educate privately directly (adversely, I assume you mean) affect state education, we don't yet live in a communist society and we can choose to pay school fees if we wish. Paul and Linda McCartney shared your views and Stella is widely quoted on the subject. Do her four boys to go state schools? No way. They all went to one of the best prep schools in London.

Cleo - Good thing I'm not modelling myself on Stella then isn't it?

Point is inlove everyone is allowed to make their own choices. No need to be sarky about someone else's family ideals

Why not just stick to the "god that sounds annoying. Have you tried vanish?" rather than commenting on the op personal life

No, the dress is pink and white stripes so no chance of concealing, sadly.

I shall be following stain removal advice tomorrow!

Thanks all

in love - I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm looking for advice.

Stella McCartney, whose success is totally based on her father's fame? Why the hell should anyone care what the hell she thinks about anything?

Poor wee girl crying about her school dress, she shouldn't have to worry about such matters. It was an accident. We live to our means. One dress all year sounds like a family is too stretched financially. That is only my opinion and obviously you have managed up till now.

Taking in all the ideas on dealing with stains, very informative.

maltycocoa - have you read aibu threads before?

It never is their fault! But as I say to our girl when she does these sorts of things - how many other children went home with stains on their dresses? Who's apron is it and why was it so ineffective? Our girl ruined her kilt by spilling paint on it. The apron she claimed she wore wasn't actually on her - according to her teacher. She bought a school skirt from Tesco with money from her piggy bank. She wears an apron at all times now.

To be honest, this close to the end of term, not sure I'd buy another. Is there a choice of other uniform she can wear instead?

Enough to know that the word hubby is frowned upon inlove

Oh Malty I so wanted to comment on that but I didn't want to be bitchy!

That's more like it malty - get stuck in

Anyway op, sorry for derailing your thread!

Hope you manage to get the stain out / the school allows your DD to wear her winter uniform maybe for the last few weeks?

Good luck

Fair point original, I haven't actually checked the facts with her teacher yet

Gosh, there are some really nasty comments on this thread.

Once upon a time, having a household income in 5 figures meant you were the poor one on MN!

As someone else suggested can you not buy next size up and use it next year too?

I would try as many stain tricks as possible. If those didn't work, take a guess what size she'll be next year and buy next year's dress now.