Charity Shops
By Lois Price
Bargain
It comes as a relief to leave the subject of beautiful clothes much too small to wear, and consider the third reason people give things to charity shops. This is because they're worn out. Clothes of this kind can be found on the bargain rails - cheap even by charity shop standards. Alas, unless you're good with a needle and thread, you are unlikely to rescue anything useful in this category.
Indeed, even if you can sew, it isn't worth trying to fix anything worse than unstitched seams. When the fabric of the garment starts to give out, there's not much to be done apart from ripping it up to use as dusters. That said, perhaps the most intriguing thing I've ever seen in a charity shop came into the worn out category. I didn't buy it - the item wasn't worth having - but it did set me wondering.
It was a red suspender belt which had been repaired repeatedly with large and clumsy stitches. A woman who sewed that badly would surely not bother to sew at all. Women don't usually repair their lingerie, in any case. Suspender belts continue to be worn in this age of tights because they are sexy - the much repaired one had long since lost its last trace of sexiness. The original owner was almost certainly a transvestite - but why had the worn out suspender belt gone to a charity shop instead of in the bin (where it belonged)? I sensed that there was a story behind it - and I still wonder about it.
Perhaps the best treasures to be found in charity shops are such intriguing little hints of other people's lives. I've donated several items to charity shops which, I'd like to think, may have set someone wondering about the original owner. These have included garments carrying Transformation labels - at the end of their useful lives.
I have found one (and only one) useful garment - repaired by its original owner after much wear - on the bargain rail of a charity shop. It was a little pink blouse with re-sewn seams under the armpits. I bought it for 50p, expecting the seams to go again very shortly. Many wearings later, the seams are still holding - and the blouse has proved itself a genuine bargain.
I've wondered about that original owner. She may have been an exceptionally tubby woman - overly fleshy arms, perhaps. Alternatively, the blouse may have formerly belonged to an other transvestite. The strain on the armpits could be the result of broad shoulders (a major problem in clothes made for women placed on a male body). The restitching of the seams, while not as clumsy as that of the red suspender belt, does not exhibit much delicacy. That may be another sign of a tranny former owner.
To be fair to charity shops, I ought to mention another excellent buy - albeit one that few trannies could have worn - a genuine girl's blazer. Can a schoolgirl be properly outfitted without a blazer? This was - and is - a treasure, not least because the blazer is an item of school uniform not available from such outlets as Transformation.
Buying a blazer from a school outfitter is not a transaction I would care to make. They would surely wonder why my 'daughter' hadn't come with me to try on her new blazer. And then, perhaps...
"What size is she, sir?"
"Oh, about my size..."
Really, I'd rather not even think about that. But here was a blazer that would be easy to buy. It seemed natural enough that I would snap up a charity shop bargain while it was available, rather than risk losing it by waiting to return with my 'daughter' at some future time. The only question was whether it would fit me...
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