Hi everyone,
At long last, we finally found the fabric for the now extinct pre-primary school uniform after months of hunting down literally every fabric shop on the planet! Thank you all for your patience!
I am starting a new fund raising initiative for the school rebuilding. We will be making the exact same design as the original. Bloomers, criss crossed top panel and pockets, blue trimmings and skirt. Before we start, we are currently seeking permission from the school to make these uniforms for children age 1-6yrs old. The pre-primary uniform will be priced at $50. All proceeds for this effort will go to the school rebuilding effort. If you are interested to purchase and support the school fundraising, please leave a comment and email contact on this post and I will keep you updated.
The exact details where to purchase and when this item will be available etc will be confirmed once we have a good gauge on the number of people interested in supporting this effort. The actual number of pre-primary uniforms we can offer for this effort may also be limited depending on the final availability of the criss-crossed fabric.
Please help spread the word to make this a success!
x
Su Ling
The pic above was taken back in 1982, outside the classrooms in Chijmes (near where Esmirada is now). I am seated second from the left in the front row, the one that is most coloured on. I still remember the names of the chinese teacher with the long hair--->Huang Lao Shi. At that age, it didn't matter how female adults looked to me. If they had long hair, they were pretty. The other one I forgot cos she didn't have long hair. Too bad...
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Earlier post below dated 3 July 2008
I was caught up with a feeling of nolstaga when I visited my old school, St Nicholas Girls, a few months ago. The school building will be undergoing a major renovation and it is likely that most of the familiar places in the school will be torn down. St Nicholas used to have a pre-primary session for girls age 6 to attend before Primary 1. I spent my pre-primary school days in the building more commonly known as Chijmes today. Though it was such a long time ago, the memories of the old Chijmes buildings still remains in my head. I remember the oh-so-tempting fields which we were forbidden to trod on due to the dying grass... I remember dashing for fried chicken wings during recess, being taught the chinese school song in Chui Lao Shi's class and the spiral staircases leading up to the haunted classrooms where flying nuns sat on the ceiling fans....
Anyway, for some reason, I had a very strong compulsion to relive the memories of my pre-primary school days. I had forgotten how the uniform looked like. I vaguely remember the criss-crossed fabric and those huge bloomers...but couldn't quite remember the details. I started asking around the school to find out where I could locate the old school uniform maker.
Finally, after various phone calls, I managed to locate the old school uniform maker. To my pleasant surprise, she still kept the original fabric for the pre-primary school uniform. I jumped in joy when she agreed to make me a uniform sized for a 1 year old. I could have kissed her with excitement there and then!
So here it is, my unsuspecting (again) daughter wearing the uniform I wore when I was 6. With the bloomers, school crest, pockets and all! Guess I was just too impatient to wait till she really goes to school. The uniform is great and a wonderful design for play. I am so tempted to make more as her play clothes with this same dress pattern out of different fabrics!
Afternote: An old schoolmate alerted me that the pre-pri school uniform doesn't look like what it used to look so I did a check with my old school albums. Dug out my old primary school class photos which I "accidentally" drew with my crayons years ago....and gasps gasps!!!!! The bottom part of the skirt was blue! Just like what I first suspected!! The poor old tailor must have forgotton....Anyway, what she sewed for Vera was just as cute.
