Toasties springing into Spring 🌼

[IlovePond]

Hi,

As promised, here is the new thread. All are welcome to chat about all things Toast, znd any related topics!

I’m now wondering if the cotton twill belted trousers might take the place of a summer light coloured dress or floaty skirt. Has anyone tried these? Usually full length trousers are too long for me.

Thanks for the warning on ironing. I don't mind that.

So glad to hear the top worked and that the bag is lovely @ScottishMouse eagerly awaiting the arrival of mine on Tuesday!

@ScallopShellWalk I’m pretty sure you can take items in although I haven’t been there since last summer. Funnily enough I’m off to London for the day tomorrow and rang Notting Hill branch to check they still do the exchange rail as I may take something in. I was told yes but I did know it was a bit hit and miss, didn’t I?!! 😁

@mizu hit and miss that you’ll see something? Will they give you a token if you don’t see something. I called Edinburgh and she said yes I could bring in an item for the exchange. But she was quick off the phone and I stood there wondering if she thought a new return? If I go tomorrow I’ll take an item. It’s a heavy linen dress/tunic that I bought on Vinted that just doesn’t fit. It’s not been worn but the arms are very slim, I will never fit in it. I was tempted to cut it up and either make a linen bag or linen napkins, maybe even embroider them. But who am I really kidding?

@Saurus72 - I didn’t get to the Kate Sheridan sale, (I might go tomorrow but it’s a three hour round trip!) DSis went and said ‘there wasn’t much there’. As she is notoriously vague, this could mean anything 🤷‍♀️

However, I did manage to winkle out of her that the Scout bags were on sale for £45 and also the Tregoose bags for £100.

At last May’s sale, the Scout bags were £20, (I was annoyed I didn’t buy one), and I don’t remember any bags being £100, so prices seem to have increased.

However, if you were wanting one of those bags anyway, these are good prices.

I have been using the small rectangular brown crossbody bag I got last year for £40 a LOT - it’s a bag for all seasons. Meanwhile, I think I have used the bigger green crossbody with the fabric strap only a few times. It’s hard to know what you will find useful until you have it sometimes!

@ScallopShellWalk yes hit or miss as sometimes there’s not much there. Which I know. I can get a voucher thing instead. Two things on Vinted which aren’t selling, a blouse and a linen / Lyocell long V neck dress.

My dresses arrived
The Market fish print dress is lovely , was prepared for disappointment regarding the colour but its exactly as shown on my phone
Very fitted on the bust with lovely waist shaping and a full skirt and pockets .
Down side
The straps have been sewn with one using dark fabric and the other very light so it looks awful and mis matched.
Come on Toast!
Its unacceptable at any price range but infuriating at this one
The other thing
The buttons are on the side so very difficult to contort ones self to do them up
I dont think it will work for the fuller busted customer
I will send back and reorder though as I loved it and the fabric
Would it be wrong to order the fish vest to wear over so no cardigan needed and I can wear as a top also ?

The Table setting dress

The fabric is just perfect
Beautiful, complimenting hues on a crisp cream background
At last something non sludgy
Lemons, cherry tomatoes,fish !
The pattern is just right, not too overpowering

Nice cut

Downside
Drawstring ties back and front, too much imho

I ended up tying the front in a bow and Im going to stitch down and remove the back ties so its just gathered .
The collar is high but when I tied at the front it pulled the collar down and looked much nicer
Lovely dress, fabric and cut

Im a size 12 and both dresses a nice comfortable fit
Fish print a 10
Table setting a small

Help! Now I’m looking at the contrast smock cotton dress in black walnut. Looks lovely but the price keeps going up as I look at dresses with sleeves. 😆

New kindred email this morning.

I would love to join the kindred walk and picnic in Somerset in June but I’m not nearby and it’s further than I want to travel. Does sound right up my street. I guess you’d want to ramble in toast clothes 😁. Anyone here thinking they’d like to go. I wonder if the picnic will be as grand as the outdoor dining?

Basket weave workshop appeals to me too but I think that’s soon, it’s online and we need to get hold of the reeds ahead of time.

Ok so I’m sitting here, pets attended to, in my toasty toast wool dress, long socks and alpaca jumper (had a bug that’s only just shifting) coffee in my favourite mug with the rain on and off outside. Do I or don’t I want to go to Edinburgh and try on a white dress and some linen culottes. I’d be able to have a look at the dresses we discussed and feedback a little on them, though there’s been great feedback already from others. I’d have liked to try the ikat dress but I don’t see it yet in store. Hmmm

Ok Toasties, it’s completely my fault that the weather has changed from last week’s bright blue skies (indeed, bright blue in London until the evening yesterday). On my trip to the capital, I popped into Toast Marylebone and bought summery items. I’m sorry to those of you who love that store but the service was just as standoffish as ever, so different to the Bloomsbury, Brighton and Oxford stores. I had to ask them to link my account to the purchase as they’d taken payment and finished the transaction without asking.

I bought the oat barrel trousers, which look to be a summer staple (I have the navy and wear them a lot), the fish top (1-2 sizes larger than my usual size, in a 16!) and the navy lightweight cotton seersucker shirt in a s/m. Glad that I was able to go in and try things on as it would have been a pain to do that by post. I tried on the fish dress and agree with the pp’s comment. It’s a really lovely garment but the straps are odd, even with my strange mastectomy bra, and the buttons are a real fiddle to do up. I can’t reach there due to scarring under my skin from my operation so it’s good to hear that it’s not just me!

I’d been to the Royal Opera House prior to my shopping trip, for an opera dress rehearsal. Popping my head into the grand tier, where they have the technical desk for rehearsals, I was delighted to see one of the creatives wearing the Toast white seersucker cotton shirt with the sleeves artfully rolled.

@ScallopShellWalk - the Kindred walk sounds interesting, but I am guessing most people would turn up with friends, so I would feel like a spare part on my own! I am also hours away from Somerset so not really an option.

I like online workshops but I think Toast have missed a trick by not offering the option of buying some reeds from them ahead of the workshop. As a basket novice, I wouldn’t have a clue what to buy or where to source stuff!

@Bimblesalong glad your shopping went well!

@IlovePond yes, I might have considered the basket weave workshop if they sold a weave package. I haven’t a clue either. Re the walk, I’d be happy to turn up on my own, someone will always talk to you, I’d hope anyway.

@Bimblesalong your shopping trip sounds fab. Lots of nice things. Thanks for the feedback.

It looks like I’m off to Edinburgh, my other half is super keen so I made a “condition” we go to Toast. 😁 Although I said to try on dresses I mean buy, if I see something. 😃 What’s the chance of that though?

Morning all.

These FitFlops remind me a little bit of the FM sandals that I couldn’t get to work for me last year:

https://www.fitflop.com/uk/en/shop/neo-d-hyker-water-resistant-walking-sandals-p-IB9?

I might try a pair - 25% off with code: SUNNYDAYS

I also fancy trying the basket weaving workshop. It says you need:

Round reed cut into 16 pieces of 10 inches and 2 full-length pieces

and I've looked online and it's available, but there are lots of different diameters. I think I might book it and email Toast tomorrow about which size to get

I'm glad the basket bag is as lovely as it looks. I hope it's still there by the time I decide I need another bag!

@IlovePond the Fitflops look good. I don't know that style but I have others and they can be a dream to walk in

I currently have six pairs in my basket @faustina!

I am still suffering from PF after overwalking when I went on holiday in October, so really want/need a couple of pairs of sandals with back straps that I can wear for work and elsewhere.

I have so many beautiful shoes that I just can’t wear anymore, (or only for very short periods), so I think buying some FitFlops would cheer me up. I have always liked them but they are getting pricy!

@IlovePond I have their fisherman's sandals from a couple of years ago -not the flat ones, the slightly chunkier ones, and they are brilliant and still look like new

Thanks @faustina - they are in my basket, (along with half the shop 🙀)

Code: SHARE15 takes 15% off everything, SUNNYDAYS is 25% off a few styles only.

If you buy the reeds, can you share which size and where you bought them?

Thanks

@IlovePond - there was a button to contact the organiser so I've asked them - willl let you know what they say.

Good luck with the sandals!

Thanks @faustina - I have registered for the workshop - it’s a bit ridiculous that they expect complete beginners to know what to buy!

That walk looks lovely and it’s very impressive for free with a coach as well!

I hope this is the start of better/more Kindred events.

Sadly I fully expect to get chucked out of Kindred this year as I haven’t spent much.

@faustina I too have registered with the basket workshop and would really like to hear what reeds I need too rather than go out foraging, if your even allowed to do that. 😂

@CoasttoToast that is dreadful about the straps and really annoying, I wonder does anyone ever think about these things when they’re putting it together. I love the idea of wearing the fish vest on top.
Regarding the side buttons, with dresses in that style one of my own rules is that I must be able to get it on without using the buttons. Twisting to do it does not work for me either, I neither have arms like Twizzle ( anyone remember him? )or am bendy enough. It makes for a bit of a squeeze sometimes but I couldn’t be bothered struggling with the buttons.

The walk sounds lovely @ScallopShellWalk . I would be happy to join you but I’m not even in England so will have to pass.

Can you imagine the price of the reeds if Toast sold them @IlovePond ? They would be grown in an organic field tended by fairies and rare breed water buffalo.

@Countmeout I’d love to join the walk but I’m not close enough up here in Scotland. Now if it was in Edinburgh going up the Pentlands, yes.

re: the reed workshop, they’re usually available for a while after the event via a recording. I’m v keen to give it a shot! But I’ve tried to get reeds before and failed, so that might buy a bit of time. A guy I knew from art school ended up making reed weaving his life’s work, he makes amazing things and I’d love to learn the basics.

i like exploring and walking though I think would feel cynical about a “free” branded walk (but not a free lunch!) Maybe it’s the turning of connection to the environment and ancient things into “aesthetics”, feels a bit poisonous? But I’d still go if I lived anywhere near it! Maybe a toasties group could unite!

So true @Countmeout !