Daisy Chain

FYI- The official Girl Scout Patterns were carried by Simplicity. They were discontiued in February of 2002. Simplicity does allow special orders for a limited (and unpublished) length of time following the discontinuance of a pattern number. When our Bwornie Troop special ordered the pattern they could not tell us whether Simplicity would carry patterns for the new junior uniforms or not. Their number is 1-888-588-2700.

I agree that the cost of uniforms is way out of control. Our troop did buy the official girl scout pattern. It has since been discontinued. The fabric has also been discontinued. Our Brownie troop just uses brown cheap fabric from the local Walmart. We "strongly encourage" our girls to have a uniform. However, we are the only troop in our service unit who has full uniforms for our girls. We "require" them to wear them to school each week on Girl Scout day and to every troop meeting and activity. Also, my co-leader and I intended to purchase the blue 3/4 sleeve shirts to wear since they would match the girls. However, we were informed that we were not allowed to wear them by the Girls Services Director when we went to purchase them. The cost to join as a new girl scout is quite a shock to parents- especially now that the national dues have gone up. The books are expensive and our council asks for a donation as well. Even our meager $2.50 a month dues add up. It cost one family (with two new Brownies) over $290 for the books, uniforms, and dues!