Home made uniform?

[WoolyMama]

Is this an daft idea?
I really want to make most of dd's uniform when she goes to school - I'll probably buy shirts but I'd like to knit or sew the rest.

I'm quite a confident sewer and knitter and already make a lot of dc's clothes

The school uniform isn't super strict so they'll definitely be allowed and younger dc's are both girls so stuff can be handed down.

Yes, you can get non Teflon clothes. If you look carefully through the M&S uniform section, read the product details, some are pure cotton and no Teflon (there's a great cotton pinafore).

John Lewis do pure cotton gingham dresses and pure cotton jumpers and cardigans.

https://www.ecooutfitters.co.uk

Try here for school uniform without the plastic.

http://www.cambridgebaby.co.uk/catalog/2-6-yrs/school-wear

Or here.

Also, for boys, Gap do smart non Teflon trousers.

https://www.disana.de/en/collection/product/boiled-wool-jacket/

You can lanolise these coats.

i made my own secondary school uniform back in the 80's and made my own childrens primary school uniforms. the only nasty comments were made by a few girls about my own (rather way out) choice of uniform saying it was home made and not as cool as theirs. all these years later those same now women have asked me to make bespoke suits for their husbands so suddenly my home made is cool enough to want.
i think if you know what your doing (and you sound like you do) then go ahead and make her uniform.

Homemade is much ‘cooler’ now than it used to be.

Homemade dress up costumes get all the gasps and compliments, shopbought look cheap, tacky and samey.

Hand knits are a sign of wealth and time spent, but they used to be a sign of poverty. Now you can buy very cheap uniforms in the supermarket shop bought stuff has no status anymore. There might be a label hierarchy, but hand made says my family has enough means that my mum can sit down and make things for me.

She needs burgundy jumpers and is a trouser refuser so there's not a lot on those websites that's suitable.

I'll have a good look at exactly what's available in the shops then decide what I'm doing.

Have you asked your dd? Some children would be happy and confident wearing something slightly different whilst others would hate it. My ds have very particular ideas of what they wear. Ds3 will only wear shorts and does not care if everyone else is in trousers whilst ds2 likes to fit in. You know your dd so I would go for it but keep an open dialogue of her wishes too.

I made dd a backpack and it was actually something her friends wanted and couldn’t get. This was y2 though, not sure they’d have noticed in reception.

My DD4 is also tiny OP, wears 2-3yrs. I bought her this knitted cotton pinnafore from M&S.

www.marksandspencer.com/girls-cotton-rich-knitted-pinafore-with-bow-feature/p/p22226535?prevPage=plp&pdpredirect

It's soft and comfortable.

I wore home-made summer dresses at my girls' primary school in the 1980s. They had been my mum's and they weren't remotely school-uniformish. My school must have had a very flexible attitude to school uniforms but the other girls all wore gingham dresses, albeit in a variety of different colours. Nevertheless, I loved my unique and beautiful school dresses, and even then I considered myself very lucky to have them. I was a socially unaware child but I don't remember ever being teased or bullied about my dresses.

M&S have a lot of cotton rich stuff but the only things they have in pure cotton with no coatings that will be suitable are a single skirt and one gingham dress.

And polo shirt and shirts as well sorry

Honestly, I don't think children in reception or ks1 really care what others are wearing. (Maybe a different story later on.)
So I think if you want to, do it, regardless of what majority says. I've seen girls wearing hand knitted cardi and thought it was lovely.

What does go down really well at our school is obviously hand knitted hats and scarves... My kids get loads of comments on the ones they wear that they always look really cool and I get their class mates asking me to make them the same ones!

Handmade is cool but only in certain ways.

I think it's fine to make your own when she's little as long as school are ok with it we have to get the school sweatshirt with logo on. I don't think many 4 year olds will notice or care what she is wearing and I'm it sure anyone would tell the difference between the shop bought skirt and the one you made. Obviously if she starts to get comments or come about it then I would say buy the shop bought but if she's happy go for it. I was also going to me thom the do sit very close to each other an have had glue all down my so s t shirt he spilled that but also paint In hair on back ECT that I think is due to them flicking the paint brushes so even though she is very clean she may still get pretty dirty.

complain about it

I am another who went to school in home made clothes in the ‘80s made by my grandma. I remember some hideous brown cords that have scared me for life! I think there was a vague uniform, but we never wore it. I just remember wanting to be like everyone else. As a consequence I am now very particular about what my dc wear as I never want them to feel as I did. I think you’re fine to do it whilst your dc are small but once they start to notice differences in what they’re wearing you may find it kinder to buy them some standard items, and keep the home made to accessories or out of school wear.

I got bullied mercilessly at primary school because I had home made uniform. It was cheaper then though and it was what we could afford, now you can get it cheaper by buying it in Asda etc.

Ps. Wish I was talented enough to make clothes a knit jumpers!

You could defo do summer dresses. Tbh my youngest (huge age gap) i have found the quality of shop bought to have diminished hugely.
You could prob do pinafores.
Knit them a lovely scarf and hat rather than a jumper.
You sound like a lovely mum!

I wouldn't do this. 4 year olds may not notice or care (yet), but older kids in the school will and your DC will be picked on - kids in her own year will learn from this and follow suit.

School uniform can be bought dead cheap in Asda, Sainsbury's etc.

It's sad that a lot of school life is about conforming and not being seen to be different, but that's how it is. Don't start your DC off at school standing out as "different" if you don't want her to have a hard time socially.

What about something like this?

www.ecooutfitters.co.uk/shop/girls-school-uniform/pinafores-and-summer-dress/girls-cotton-jersey-pinafore.html

I don't think you should do it. It will not benefit your DD in any way, and is really only a way for you to project your values and preferences onto her. Which we all do to some extent when choosing our DCs clothes, but sending her to school in homemade clothes is a really deafening roar about who her mother is, which will only make it harder for her to express who she actually is.