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Easter is just around the corner. The shopping we need to do at this time of year should be about done. Easter baskets and new outfits … or that is the way it used to be.

So much has changed that it’s hard to do any kind of store shopping anymore. So much ordering these days. Stores are closing and those left have limited wares, no matter what you are seeking.

Holiday things will show up. Easter baskets are still pretty normal and if you have children, you buy those baskets filled with goodies or fill them yourself.

No new dress for me for several years as my closets are full from old times, but this year I decided I was going shopping for a new dress.

Easier said than done. First thing I asked when I got in any store was the location of the petite dresses. I am short and a little wide and fairly hard to fit without petites.

“I’m sorry but we don’t have petite dresses,” was the usual answer. With my shorter arms and legs, if I don’t get petite, I have lots of hemming to do and clothes still don’t fit.

However, they had plenty dresses. I even tried some of them on. Most were what we use to call shift dresses, straight cut from the shoulders to the hem, usually with short sleeves. Some were cute, but the shorter hemlines were a little much for this over-aged girl. Really cute if one were 13 to 25 and had great looking legs.

Then I asked for dresses for older women. I was pointed toward a small corner of a dress-filled area, which held a few really elderly-looking outfits. I looked at them, but even if they were somewhere about my size, the hemlines would have been to my ankles.

After a visit to several nice stores, I was tired and aggravated. All I wanted was a nice dress … one that fits. Let me try it on and if it does, I will buy it! Where are the Goldman’s, Rosenblum’s and Estelle’s of the past? And even J.C. Penney’s! Easy to order clothes, but harder to get the right size and some of us still like to shop!

I looked on computer at some dresses from one store, and then rapidly my Facebook filled up with all kinds of dresses from all kinds of places. Several very cute dresses. Very tempting, but which of these does one trust?

I thought about the pretty shoes I once ordered on Facebook. They were total disasters and arrived from China wrapped only in plastic. They didn’t fit and looked nothing like the pictures! Never again.

After this shopping trip, I began to think about sewing. It has been a while since I sewed anything, but maybe I could revert back to the old days and make my own Easter dress!

After almost as much trouble, I purchased a piece of fabric, pattern and thread. I was going to make one of those shift-like dresses I saw in the store … most made with stretchy fabric with no buttons or zippers. It will be one that will fit and I can put the hem where I want it to be. I used to do this all the time!

Clearing the space around the sewing machine was first, and adjusting the machine had to be done. The material has been cut and it is time to sew. Time passes. It may be at least a couple more days before I can actually sit down and sew and Easter is getting closer.

If you wonder why women wear pants so much, maybe this explains the problem. There are plenty petite pants and tops in stores!

At this point, one of my older dresses is looking pretty good for Easter. Maybe nobody will remember that I wore it last year!

Retired as Associate News Editor, Bob Ann Breland writes a weekly column for The Daily News. You can email her at bobann70@att.net.