Asda Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

There’s still one week left in August but already I’m beginning to think about the kids going back to school. As much as I love having them around for the summer holidays (and I promise I’m not sick of them and looking forward to sending them back again), I do dread the expense of “back to school”. For some reason, Summer seems to be that one time when they need loads more school uniform, new shoes and then a leather messenger bag , lunch boxes stationery etc.

School Uniform

With Lily’s school uniform, I’m very lucky that a school jumper or cardigan with the logo on, is not compulsory. As such, all her uniform tends to get bought from places like Asda and Tesco, who have tops, skirts, trousers etc. all around £4-5 mark. These are also great places to get PE kit, socks, underwear etc. Megan on the other hand, wears school uniform that is all very specific to her school and is quite regulated too.

Last year, when she started in Year 7, I spent almost £200 on new school uniform and that was only one blazer, one pack of shirts, one skirt, one trousers etc. Luckily this year I purchased these “girls school trousers” and they’re amazing for her and both of us are loving it.

Shoes

Ever since the girls first started wearing shoes, I have always taken them each year to get their feet measured at Clarks and then buy a pair each to last the year. While I’m all for shopping on a budget, £35-40 is well spent on a pair of Clarks shoes, given that they do last the whole year. Today I took the girls to get their shoes and funny enough the girls ended up with the exact same pairs as this time last year (except in bigger sizes of course). Megan is now fitting in a 3.5, while Lily is in a 1.

Backpacks

As well as the obvious school uniform necessities from Smiggle, there are plenty of extras that are needed for the school year. Last year Megan had a backpack from Asda Living which was really cute, but unfortunately it lasted about 3 months before one of the zips broke. In the end, she made her way through three backpacks during the whole year and we’re anticipating similar this year. That said, all the backpacks we bought previously were fairly cheap and so after quizzing her on what friends seem to have, Jacks Wills seems to be a brand we could try. Luckily Lily bought herself a Joker bag during the middle of last year and she is very keen to continue using that, along with her every growing collection of pom pom keyrings.

Stationery

Last but not least of course, is all the stationery, notebooks, calculators etc, that are needed – especially for Megan at secondary school. For the most part she has everything from last year, last week gave us a top up on some mechanical pencils and Otto Hut pens. To be honest there was a lot more there that we could have bought, but we behaved ourselves for the time being. Megan did join the Smiggle VIP club however, so no doubt we’ll be back there before too long.

As you know I’ve been busy sewing all sort of things recently but one of my most fun project was given to me by Asda. George – who make a wide range of clothes, bedding etc. for Asda, offered bloggers the chance to make something from some of their bedding. They have a beautiful range which you can find on their website. It was hard to pick to be honest, but it was especially hard knowing I was going to chop it up!

As you can see, there are some lovely choices and at really great prices too. I have plans for bunting, cushions and more clothes. However today I wanted to share one of my projects with you, and that was the Foxy dress I made for Megan yesterday.

Since I knew I was making a dress, I picked a king size cover, to make sure there was plenty of material. I used the main design as my outside print, but the back of the cover (which was a paw print design) as my lining. I also used the paw print pattern as a contrasting material. Both the sleeves and the waist band of made from this.

I was really pleased with how it turned out, though due to the large print I think I could have been more careful where I placed my front pattern piece – just to make the design look a bit more balanced. However that’s maybe just me as I’m a bit of a perfectionist!

Megan seems really pleased with the dress and that’s the main thing as far as I’m concerned. I also have more than enough fabric to make another dress from, so perhaps Lily will get one too. Or maybe I’ll make an adult skirt from it! Either way I’m looking forward to trying out some projects with my other duvet covers too!

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