My parents really like to purchase things for my sister, my niece, and me that we wouldn’t normally buy on our own. A number of years ago, my sister and niece both asked for designer handbags for Christmas, and my mom had so much fun shopping and purchasing their bags, and they have really enjoyed carrying those bags, that a new tradition began where my parents bought them an expensive bag every Christmas and birthday.
How long did you spend selecting your perfect wedding dress? The answer always varies, but it takes most brides a couple of months to find the one, and when you did, it was probably one of the best days of your life. Your wedding dress is not just a dress for a day, most likely you’ve been dreaming of this day and your gown since you were a little girl. No, it’s not just a dress for a day, it’s a symbol for all of those to come. Remember you’re going to look back at those photographs for the rest of your life. That’s why the choice and selection of the perfect gown was so important.
There is such a big difference between the way a custom-made dress shirt looks and holds up when compared to mainstream brands. Obviously, you pay a premium for custom-made dress shirts, but because they are custom-made for you, they fit properly. Plus, no corners are cut. For instance, many mass-manufactured dress shirts use adhesive around the seams of the pockets, collar, and cuffs, and because the adhesive weakens over time, the shirt simply won’t last as long or look as crisp as a custom-made dress shirt.
We always tell brides to have their gowns cleaned and preserved as soon as possible after the ceremony because the longer you let spills and stains sit on your garments, the less likely it is that a professional dry cleaner will be able to remove them. Sadly, we didn’t know as much back in 1974 or 1946 as we do today, but luckily for Margaret Rehder, we are as good as we say we are.
When you drop off your dress shirts to be laundered, we always ask if you’d like them to be starched. If you do, we separate them from those that aren’t going to receive starch, both batches are laundered according to specifications with the shirts receiving starch getting it through a separate cycle, then all shirts meet back up at the finishing department. But what exactly is starch and what purpose does it serve?
Allison Drake opened Magnolias of Madison in March as sort of an homage to her late mother. “My mom had a bridal boutique in Eden for 30 years,” Allison explained. “She loved her dresses, so I opened Magnolias in her honor.”
You feel like you haven’t had the shirt very long or at least you haven’t worn it that many times before you notice that slight discoloration, sort of a yellowish hue, underneath the arms. What is it? Perspiration. Actually, it is likely a combination of perspiration and anti-perspirant, and while that discoloring can form on other areas of your garments, it seems the most vulnerable area is under the arms.
Linen fabric is some of the oldest in the world with its history going back thousands of years. It was so valuable that it was sometimes used as currency in ancient Egypt, and mummies were wrapped in it as a display of wealth. Linen is made from the cellulose fibers that grow inside of the stalks of the flax plant, so one could really consider it a vegetable. Flax can grow in various climates, but it does best in cool, damp environments, so planting depends on where it is being grown. Once it’s planted, it lives for one growing season and is ready to be harvested in approximately 100 da
There is no such thing as the “perfect” wedding gown; that makes us sound like such pessimists, but the truth is that even the most beautiful of gowns needs a tuck here or a hem there. So you have “the one”, and now what? Here are a few tips to turn "the one" into "the perfect one":
I have friends that change purses for every occasion. I think that’s simply too much work. I don’t think of a purse as an accessory; to me, it’s more like a necessary tool. It holds things that I need to function in everyday life – phone, keys, money, small notebooks (one for work and one for volunteer work), things Gray needs for school, Jolly Ranchers. Basically my purse organizes my life. So, I like to find an all-purpose, good-quality purse that I can use for pretty much any occasion, and when I find the right one, I hang onto it until it no longer conveys the nice, crisp, tidy ima