Nov: 24: organizing a clothing swap

So this week Joyce and I tried to do a clothing swap between our church and the preschool that shares contiguous space. I think it could eventually turn into a local charity clothing drive/swap combo thing, which we do maybe twice a year. I know that I put in 30 pieces, and really only took 2 out, maybe more. I've currently got the extras in the trunk of my car on their way to storage or goodwill. We had a lot left over that no one claimed today.

When it was in the planning stages, I did a little leg work, and there are so many ways you can do a swap. You can dump all the clothing in between you and grab, you can hand out tickets and trade them in for all the pieces you put in. This was something in between. People could browse over a couple of days and were on the honor system. It felt a bit like a silent auction. There was a room where no one was but things happened to the clothing on the tables when no one was looking. For me, the idea came from the annual clothing sale that a local school use to do in Pittsburgh. We just didn't want to get into that whole money thing if we could help it.

Most people's reaction to it when I suggest it was "that's a great idea, I don't need anything." It was a bit last minute and all, but we had a batch of clothing show up that I didn't bring and I got a nice sweater and shirt for tobo out of it. If tobo was a 1yr old girl, I'd have a lot more options.

If I had known that this was an option for the christmas party...well I still probably would have been to chicken to wear it, but wow, that's some beautious materinity wear:

little lavender dress

From misc

(it's an auction, so look quickly before it goes away tomorrow.)

My mom asked me recently if I had enough clothes. I've got basically enough for a week, with a few additions that I just ordered tonight from jcp. The biggest thing I've noticed though is that I need to learn how to hem pants. Both Paul and I could benefit from being able to sew up cuffs and such. Any suggestions?

In other fabric news, I have about 5 sets of double bed size sheets that are in good conditions. Do I have any takers? Let me know before the end of December and I'd be happy to send them to you. Otherwise I'm passing them on to folks who need them at goodwill.

Also, does anyone know how to get rid of black marks on white clothing from the dryer? Our dryer occasionally leaves black smudges on things. Unfortunately it left it the second time I washed the only white maternity t-shirt I own.