A Pin Up Picnic... In A Bar!

Every year, The British Belles put on a little meet in London of pin ups and vintage style lovers. The original was named Pin Up Picnic In The Park - since it was pin ups... in a park. But sadly we're British and rain moved the event from Hyde Park to cocktails at Barrio Shoreditch. And so it was a Pin Up Picnic.. In A Bar!!

I always have big ideas about making special themed outfits for events like these, since they're a great excuse for real dressing up. The problem with that idea, though, is I'm too lazy and busy to do that, and I end up picking out whatever is clean on the morning of.

I ended up picking up my Check, Please! dress, because in my world, gingham is a neutral. I made this dress in 2013 and it's the only one from my early sewing that I still wear!

It's been so long since I went to any sort of event that I feel like I've forgotten how to socialise! I spent a lot of my time with my housemate Ellie outside sheltering from the rain.

But don't think that I didn't have fun! Barrio Shoreditch was a great, colourful venue that was the perfect backdrop for cocktails and meeting friends old and new. Plus, there was a lot of tips about hair being thrown around - and I love hair tips!

I've mentioned my anxiety before, but I was wondering if you guys deal with it and any tips and tricks? I need to push myself to go to more events, but that pesky anxiety really gets in the way!

I know I've posted about The George bag before, but it's still my absolute favourite designs we do. I'd suggest grabbing a George item now if you've wanted one. The line is being discontinued! We do have a new pub design on pre-order, if you do miss out.

Hair Flower&Necklace; Handmade
Cardigan; Collectif (old)
Dress; Handmade
Brooch; Luxulite
Bag; Vendula London
Shoes; Melissa

When No Inspiration Strikes

I've spent so long trying to write a post about this outfit. 

I've been trying to be witty, or profound or informative. But I'm uninspired.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been in this little rut. There’s a dip in my moods and depression has been riding on my back to remind me it’s there all the time. It's been a bit difficult. I'm tired, irritated, unhappy and completely uninspired.

Motivation to do everyday things has run thin, I can't bring myself to get out of bed or complete simple enough tasks. It sucks.

The good news is that I'm working on it. Accepting help has been quite terrifying for me, as though I was giving into my mental illness. But it's not that at all, it's helping me live with something that affects my daily life.

I've become so aware of myself in recent weeks that I'm torn in two ways - in one, I'm learning on how to better myself. In the other, understanding myself has meant I'm too overwhelmed to actually do anything about it. But slowly I'm changing my thought processes, challenging myself daily and finding small pockets of motivation to carry out tasks.

I'm pushing on through, trying to refocus and work out my long term goals and ambitions. Starting to take a little better care of myself and my appearance and dressing nicer. And most importantly for my state of mind - I'm managing to get my mojo back with creativity and am drawing and sewing a bit more!

Progress is progress, right?

• Cardigan; Collectif
• Earrings; Bow and Crossbones
• Brooch; Luxulite
• Dress & Necklace; Handmade
• Belt & Sunglasses; Primark
• Bag; Sunjellies
• Shoes; Melissa 

Sakura Season

If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen that I was lucky enough to go to Tokyo again  last month.

One of the days I spent the morning wandering around the beautiful Shinjuku Gyoen - a gorgeous public garden which has traditional Japanese landscaping and two tea houses. I was even so lucky to see the first signs of cherry blossoms in the gardens, which made me somewhat emotional.

Naturally, I had to get some photos in front of the blossoms because I'm that sort of person. Less naturally, I had to drag a tripod to the other side of the world with me because I was on my own and had no one to take photos for me. This was not an easy task because of other people walking into the shot, and also using my phone as a remote meant a wonderful delay that often caught me off guard.

Don't I just look so happy?

But I was determined, damnit!

I won this Adalene skirt from Lindy Bop's daily Facebook competitions last year, and it really couldn't be much more perfect for this setting! With a border print of Japanese pagodas and Torii gates, cherry blossoms and cranes and even a background with Mount Fuji - it's such a beautiful skirt that I couldn't wait to wear whilst I was in Tokyo.

I'm not really into pink as I always imagined it would either wash me out or clash horrendously with my hair, and boy am I glad I was wrong! The colour is subtle and sweet but looks striking against black, and I'm a big fan of the button-down front.

Lindy Bop's sizing is notoriously disastrous, but I took a 22 in this based on the measurements of the size guide, and it was the perfect size for me, not too tight to cut me up, not too loose to fall off me - but the cotton does have a bit of give!

It also has pockets, and if you've followed me for long enough you might know I have a bit of a thing for them. Anything without pockets is a useless garment to me!

Away from the blossoms and into the shade, I'm wearing my well-loved Rachel coat from Collectif from years ago - and of course, a Vendula London Chocolatiers Grab Bag!

The bag is more of a Parisian feel than the skirt, a little shopfront of a patisserie with cakes and chocolates, which is actually incredibly popular in Japan, which clearly means it was a set meant to be, right? Right.

Coat: Collectif

Hair Flower: Lady Luck's Boutique

Earrings: Bow and Crossbones

Necklace: Handmade 

Top: Primark

Brooch: Luxulite

Belt: Primark

Skirt: Lindy Bop

Shoes: Melissa

Bag: Vendula London (Disclaimer)

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Strawberry Sundae with Florence Carousel Photography

These are from the first of the two photoshoots I did with Florence Carousel in September (the second shoot is here) and I can't even explain just how much I absolutely adore these images. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Florence is such a talented photographer. You need to check out her main website and her other site, The Street Style Carousel to see just how wonderful she is at capturing style and beauty.

This outfit is possibly one of my absolute bests because it's so matchymatchy and delicious. 

This skirt is another dirndl that was made around the same time as the All Hail The Gingham Queen Skirt in exactly the same way - it's simply just my favourite cotton gingham from Rolls and Rems in Holloway pleated onto a waistband. This one is lined in white cotton, has a centre-back zipper and gigantic patch pockets with ricrac trim.

Simple, but effective! 

Teamed with my original 60's cross-stitch bag with strawberries and strawberry accents on my Miss L Fire Sundae shoes (from 2013) and a handmade strawberry necklace - I will happily say I'm horrendously matchy-matchy, but god, doesn't it just WORK? 

Hair Flowers: Lady Lucks Boutique 

Earrings: Bow and Crossbones

Necklace: Handmade

Brooch: Luxulite

Top: Collectif

Skirt: Handmade

Bangles: Splendette and vintage

Bag: Vintage

Shoes: Miss L Fire

All photos are taken by and belong to Florence Carousel. Use of these photos is only permitted with her approval.
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All My Royal Subjects - With Florence Carousel Photography

Back in September I was lucky enough to do a little shoot with the amaaaazing Florence Carousel after work one warm day whilst the colours of the trees were changing, and I wanted to show you the photos, because frankly? They are AMAZING.

This was the second half of the shoot, and I changed into this outfit in a weird toilet cubicle which was not easy when it was absolutely bloody boiling!

Although this dress isn't technically finished (currently it's strapless as I need to put the straps on, plus add pockets in) it was formed enough to show it off. I bought the fabric from Fabric.com with vouchers I'd been given for my birthday (thanks again, Kristina!), and it's a nice lightweight cotton - nothing too exciting, but it does what I wanted to do, which was simply to make a bright green sundress!

The pattern is the No Cock Nor Tails bodice and a pleated dirndl, of which there's really no more to say than the other dresses featuring the same components, because I have this habit of making the same two dresses.

I'm not very natural at doing any modelling, I can't take myself seriously enough to pose without pulling faces between every shot - but Florence knew what she wanted and made me very comfortable until it started to just flow naturally, resulting in some pretty amazing photos, if I'm allowed to be quite so big headed! She literally has so much talent at portraiture and I love every photo!

Plus she chose a perfect background, this is the fountain outside Buckingham Palace, of which many jokes about me looking over my royal subjects/peasants ensued - because I'm basically The Queen. Right? RIGHT? 

Hair flowers: Lady Lucks Boutique and handmade

Necklace: Handmade

Earrings: Bow and Crossbones

Brooch: Luxulite

Bolero and Belt: Collectif

Dress: Handmade

Bangles: Splendette and Lady Lucks Boutique

Shoes: Miss L Fire

All photos are taken by and belong to Florence Carousel. Use of these photos is only permitted with her approval.

Me Made May - Week Three!

Moody British Picnics Dress | When Life Gives You Lemons Skirt | Last of the Summer Gingham Dress | Check-ah-Check-ow Dress | When Life Gives you Lemons Skirt

Okay. So. I promise I do have a few non-MMM-round up posts in the pipeline, but I've been a busy bee and my photographer/best friend has been otherwise engaged so there has been less time to take proper photos of some things I've made/worn, and I'm putting actual effort into dressing at the moment!

I think it's safe to say that the red gingham Butterick B5880 is my most worn dress so far - and I'm honestly thinking of making a few more of them in different colours because they're so easy to wear and get a lot of attention.
Of course, I managed to wear exactly the same outfit on Tuesday and Saturday, but I went to three gigs this week (Girugamesh's last London show before they disband and two Funeral For A Friend gigs - the last. ever. shows. I cried a lot) and I really like the harness and striped skirt combo. It's like a slightly 'edgier' look than my usual style, which is something new for me.

How is everyone else getting on with their challenges? I'm finding it surprisingly easy, but then again I'm outfit repeating constantly! Clearly I need to get back on my machine soon!

P-P-P-Polkadots!

I've spoken about Rolls and Rem's remnant table before, right? This is yet another great find. Similar fabric to the Striped skirt I made, this is a stiff canvas-like cotton which just behaves beautifully through a machine, and provides great structure for a flared dress such as this one.

The pattern I used for this dress was an altered version of the No Cock Nor Tails dress I made several years ago - the difference being that I added a ruched bustline by taking the bust of the pattern, slashing and spreading, and gathering it. I opted to keep it with a frill instead of setting it into the bodice, but that was mainly just pure laziness on my part. It looks pretty adorable with the ric rac trim though, right?

The dress was actually made a whole year ago before I went on a night out - believe it or not! I had a real problem with overestimating the ease and the whole thing was massive and generally badly-fitting. So it got thrown in the wash and was set aside in my ever-mounting pile of alterations for another day.
Then after a re-discovery, I threw it through my machines and thought that was that.

But readers. This is me, and I am not a lucky person. The bloody thing shrunk in the wash without me realising, so the dress is preeeeeetty damn tight now. And I even had to cut out the bust of the original pattern (which at this point pretty much served as a lining for the ruching) just to make sure I wasn't giving myself pancake boobs!

However. The damn thing juuuust about fits, and quite frankly I love it. I'm still a bit of a sucker for a polka dot every now and then, and the off-white polkadots are a really welcome addition to my black obsession recently!

So! Lets get down to the nitty-gritty, yes? The dress is unlined (the fabric is thick enough without that!) but the neckline and straps are faced, and all the seams are overlocked. The hem was done with bias tape as I find it's really just the easiest way to hem a full circle skirt without any weird puckering.
And you'll be shocked to hear this, but there are NO POCKETS in this dress. I'd originally planned on patch pockets with ric rac trim, but honestly it looked pretty stupid and I've never really gotten around to popping in some in-seam ones - it might happen one day when I get too frustrated with keeping my phone in my bra, though.

Bolero: Collectif

Earrings: Bow and Crossbones and Luxulite

Necklace: Vintage

Brooch: Luxulite

Bangles: Vintage and Splendette

Handbag: Accessorize

Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens

Pastel Dreams!

I'm not going to lie to you - the whole pastel thing is not my thing.

Until I had pink hair, wore a mint green dress and stood in front of some pastel-painted houses, of course.

I walk past these houses on Camden Road every day on my way to work, and every day I would say to myself  "Damn, what a cute location for a pastel shoot!" So armed with my photographer (read: boyfriend) and a bundle of pastel sweetness, I gave my pink hair a final goodbye to forever be immortalised in a perfect setting.

Can we all take a moment to appreciate this hair perfection?

The dress is the Caterina Swing Dress from Collectif, a mint green/light blue shirtwaist which is as soft as it is adorable. I'm a big fan of shirtwaists in general, but the shape of these suits me so well I have the navy version, too.
And my favourite part? POCKETS.

For this dress in particular I'm wearing a 22, since I found the smaller sizes to be a little too tight in the bust and sleeves (which I'm wearing tucked up because I find shorter sleeves flattering on my arms), but I find that shirtwaists always look sweet slightly blousier around the bust, thanks to the cinched-in waist.

The only thing that really irk me about this dress is that since it's 95% cotton, it sure does like to crease a lot.

As I said before when I posted my new hair colour (okay, now it's old, since I went back to red only hours after this shoot), my wardrobe isn't quite made for pink, which made putting together outfits quite difficult. Luckily white works with this look so I could kinda get away with these Miss L Fire Sundae shoes - which didn't say white for long.

Luckily, though, I have this adorable Luxulite brooch and my £2.50 charity shop bargain petticoat, which is actually Malco Modes, which adds to the outfit!

Hair Flower: Handmade

Sunglasses: Collectif
Brooch: Luxulite
Dress: Collectif Caterina Swing Dress
Petticoat: Malco Modes (charity shop score)

Handbag: Vintage Atlas (Bought in Spitalfields Market)
Bangle: Vintage Celluloid (Charity shop score)

Shoes: Miss L Fire Sundae (SS14)