Maxwells are home!

[Petronella7]

I noticed that about their new skirts: Shades of Beige.

Or as my mother would say, "Three Different Shades of Shit!"

[Hane]

Since I've been following the Maxwells, I have found the birthday parties to be a bit sad for different reasons. The Maxwell kids are stunted in a lot of ways. I feel bad that a young woman celebrates her 20th birthday with a tea party with her nieces. Yes, it is good to sometimes celebrate your birthdays at home surrounded by your family. But sometimes it is good to have friends to have celebrations with.

I spent my 20th birthday cutting classes to go to various bars and drink whiskey sours (I think I had 6, total) with a couple of Vietnam vets--and that was 40 years ago. Neither of them was my boyfriend (who actually baked me a cake). This whole thing makes me sound a lot wilder than I was.

[SisiL78]

I even looked up the patterns they were using. Not bad patterns actually, if you used a colorful and modern fabric. The stuff they use looks like my grandma's old sheets.

I wonder what going shopping is like with them. They go to Costco so they must see the clothes that Costco sells. Its not really super fashionable but they sometiems have nice things for sale. They especially have awesome and cheap kid's costumes. I wonder if that makes them long for a childhood they never had.

And at Jo-Ann's for fabric they must see cool and colorful fabrics while they are shopping for the beige and boring. Even in those patterns were skirts with more interesting hemlines, but they probably chose the longest and dullest of the patterns... goodness forbid that the skirt is higher in the front than the back or has a bias cut seam running through it or something else "naughty" like that.

So very sad.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Beige, they are all beige.

Joseph removed actual wood shingles from the front of his house only to replace them with VINYL SIDING. Not just any vinyl siding either, but BEIGE vinyl siding, so his house can look like one out of every three cheap tract box houses across the Midwest (you have your choice: beige, pale blue, grey, or OCCASIONALLY pale yellow. Vinyl white window frames, and there ya go, done, surely the HOA will approve).

Hopefully he will at least wash the outside of his house so it doesn't get moldy like so many of the others...

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I even looked up the patterns they were using. Not bad patterns actually, if you used a colorful and modern fabric. The stuff they use looks like my grandma's old sheets.

I wonder what going shopping is like with them. They go to Costco so they must see the clothes that Costco sells. Its not really super fashionable but they sometiems have nice things for sale. They especially have awesome and cheap kid's costumes. I wonder if that makes them long for a childhood they never had.

And at Jo-Ann's for fabric they must see cool and colorful fabrics while they are shopping for the beige and boring. Even in those patterns were skirts with more interesting hemlines, but they probably chose the longest and dullest of the patterns... goodness forbid that the skirt is higher in the front than the back or has a bias cut seam running through it or something else "naughty" like that.

So very sad.

It's something I appreciate about my mother, when I was little she sewed a lot of my clothes, and yes, a lot of it was frumpers or skirts with suspenders (but it was the fashion then). Anyway, while the patterns were pretty much same same same old, she would let me pick out the fabric and the buttons, and if that meant Mickey Mouse comic book fabric with big flower buttons, that's what I got. (Yes, I wore some pretty horrid things, but hey, at the time I was into them!)

She would cut out fancy shapes for the patches on my pants, too, so say it was a pair of jeans with holes in the knee, the patch would be some bright red contrasting heart or a cherry blossom or whatever. But hey. It was the 70's.

[sparkles]

In my sewing heyday picking out fabrics was my favorite thing to do. I used to work near NYC's garment distinct, so I had the very best at my disposal. I sewed not so much to save money but because i loved having outfits that were unique so I'd spend almost very lunch hour putting things together. I amassed quite a stash of fabric too and none of it ever looked as dull and depressing as what the Maxwell girls wear. Beige on beige is right. Is colors a sin too?

[Closed Womb]

In my sewing heyday picking out fabrics was my favorite thing to do. I used to work near NYC's garment distinct, so I had the very best at my disposal. I sewed not so much to save money but because i loved having outfits that were unique so I'd spend almost very lunch hour putting things together. I amassed quite a stash of fabric too and none of it ever looked as dull and depressing as what the Maxwell girls wear. Beige on beige is right. Is colors a sin too?

Yes, color might draw the attention of men. Grabbing the attention of men makes one a dirty, dirty whore, ripe for stoning. Best to stay with beige.

[ceg045]

I noticed that about their new skirts: Shades of Beige.

FIFTY Shades of Beige? :o

[lilith]

I just cannot get my head around Steve banning contrasting buttons.

I asked my headship if he was turned on by contrasting buttons. He asked me what they were (possibly he thought it was some sort of strange show and tell sex game) and he thought I was crazy when I told him. He assures me most men don't notice buttons, contrasting or otherwise, unless they have inadvertently popped open or are straining to do so.

Steve is not only a controlling maniac but also a very strange man.

[terranova]

Fifty Shades of Beige would be even worse than FSOG! Can you imagine?

[blatantlyeggplant]

How was her birthday different from any of her other days? She stayed at home/on the compound, with the same people she sees every day, doing the same repetitive homemaking chores that she does every day.

edited to add: Why did Sarah list the sewing patterns they used for their skirts? Do they think that so many people want to dress like them? In any case, I just googled the patterns, and laughed out loud to see the way the clothes are depicted on the Butterick and Simplicity websites. The skirts as designed are knee-length, flared, paired with pretty stylish fitted blouses and modelled by confident-looking women with healthy hair, makeup, and provocative poses! The Maxwell girls had better keep their patterns under lock and key or their brothers will be sneaking them off for some private viewing. They are the most defrauding images to ever come through the door of that house. As bad as Playboy or Penthouse, Steve!

Whenever the women are shown in photos wearing homemade dresses, the comments are always flooded with requests for the pattern. Steve's comments do not hide his contempt for having to answer such questions, but he won't let Sarah reply to the comments on her own blog posts. So I'm guessing he told her to put the patterns in the post to avoid him having to deal with such questions. Dickhead.

[WonderingInWA]

I do think it's odd that they always cut fabric on the floor. Even my kitchen has a countertop and a table both long enough to pin and cut fabric on a level surface without me having to be on the floor.

And yes, half the fun of sewing is going to the fabric store and choosing colors and patterns. But Sarah blogged once that they strictly shop the smaller cotton calicos (this was back when they were still wearing frumpers). I'm actually surprised they apparently had brown corduroy in their stash -- isn't the texture of corduroy somehow defrauding?

[FireIsCatching89]

I stopped reading their blog after Mary started to blossom. It was too depressing for me (as someone who loves to mess around with make up and hair products) to see this girl who was so obviously very pretty not be able to experiment with her looks the way a lot of teenage girls do. It sounds superficial and all, but that was truly the clincher for me. I want to take her to Target and get her some cute clothes and makeup, then to the salon for a decent haircut. Let her be the young thing she is, you know?

[Witsec7]

More beige and brown clothing. How exciting. :roll:

[Creaky Mom]

If you are going to sew on the kitchen table, after cutting on the kitchen floor, :roll: , at least clear off the salt shakers and what appears to be, the butter dish. :shock: I sew and food is never allowed anywhere near the machines, work area or fabrics. Slippy-sloppy imho.

[Hane]

I just cannot get my head around Steve banning contrasting buttons...

Steve is not only a controlling maniac but also a very strange man.

As I recall, he specifically banned contrasting buttons on skirts, as well as basque waists (the kind where the waistline is a downward-pointing V), because they drew attention to teh ladybits.

It all falls in with the white tees under the girls' shapeless tops, shapeless ankle-length skirts, no makeup, plain long poker-straight hair, no jewelry--and the enforced skinniness from skimpy low-calorie meals and all that walking and exercise. I think that Steve would just-plain blow a gasket if any of his daughters started actually showing she had a female-shaped body, with actual noticeable breasts and hips and so on. The priapism would probably cause him to have a simultaneous stroke and heart attack.

[lilith]

As I recall, he specifically banned contrasting buttons on skirts, as well as basque waists (the kind where the waistline is a downward-pointing V), because they drew attention to teh ladybits.

It all falls in with the white tees under the girls' shapeless tops, shapeless ankle-length skirts, no makeup, plain long poker-straight hair, no jewelry--and the enforced skinniness from skimpy low-calorie meals and all that walking and exercise. I think that Steve would just-plain blow a gasket if any of his daughters started actually showing she had a female-shaped body, with actual noticeable breasts and hips and so on. The priapism would probably cause him to have a simultaneous stroke and heart attack.

Yet they are theoretically valued for their fertility.......

I wonder if he would be so hung up on it of Sarah and Mary weren't so attractive and potentially tempting.

[Lillybee]

In their latest post, the girls are wearing their new skirts and are shopping for the tea party. Actually, Mary's outfit looks almost normal. I think that she has a sense of style.

[Witsec7]

Brown and beige. How different :roll:

I can't wait to see the plates they picked out and the next table settings the Munck's post.

[Creaky Mom]

In their latest post, the girls are wearing their new skirts and are shopping for the tea party. Actually, Mary's outfit looks almost normal. I think that she has a sense of style.

Agreed. Mary doesn't look like she is wearing a granny nightgown underneath her grandfather's cardigan or boyfriend's vest.

[Seven Severn]

They painted vinyl siding. Is that a thing?

[WonderingInWA]

They painted vinyl siding. Is that a thing?

I didn't know you COULD paint vinyl siding. That's news to me.

[Loveday]

:shock: Is Anna carrying a Vera Bradley handbag? That's...that's almost trendy!

[Naga Viper]

I really ought to stop looking at the blog. People who have more gum than teeth should not be forced to smile constantly. And now, of course, that's all my eyes go to in the damned photos. That's not gonna get 'em married off any faster, Steve!

(Not a Maxwell, merely provided for illustration.)

[Seven Severn]

Oooooo...they ate lunch at a place where alcohol is served. I thought that was no no. :snooty: