I Carried A Watermelon With Lindy Bop

I love a novelty print. Actually, I BLOODY LOVE a novelty print. And right now, there's one brand killing it on the novelty front; Lindy Bop! I've posted a few of my favourite novelty prints from them before, and I'm always in awe of the quality. So I jumped at the chance to review the Lindy Bop Bambi Dress - in Watermelon Pip Print!

Surprisingly for some, I don't often wear red dresses for fear of clashing against my hair, but I just fell in love with this print. Unlike other watermelon prints, it's just the flesh and pips, which I think makes it unique. It also reminds me of some abstract art, so it makes me feel just a liiiittle bit cultured!

I also generally steer clear of orange-based reds because of the hair and skin tone. However, I don't think this looks bad at all? Oooh, that means I've gone and learned something about myself.

The Bambi Dress is a cute little sundress with a sweetheart neckline, elasticated waist and back, and side seam pockets. I'll say off the bat - this runs LARGE. I usually wear a 22 in Lindy Bop, and I'm wearing an 18 in this dress, but could easily go down to a 16. I always end up talking about my boobs when reviewing, but being less-busty means the straps are a bit loose for me. 

The elasticated waist is a great design point, but can end up a bit too blousy in the bodice if you don't size down. My sizing suggestion is; go one size down from your usual Lindy Bop size if you're busty. Two sizes down if you're less busty. Three sizes down for a much more fitted look.

It's funny how recently I'm less inclined to dress up because of anxiety - I've always dressed 'weird' or 'outlandish' since a young age. I've got one hell of a hard shell because of this, and although it's been a long time since I've had any comments, it's been a bit difficult to be looked at so much.

Also funny because I decided to take all my photos in a busy London park by myself, which really opens you up to questions, looks and people taking photos. How on earth do anxious bloggers do this all the time?!

But hey, aside from anxiety - how cute is the Biscuit Shop Grab Bag from Vendula London?

Wearing black with this dress was my attempt to almost tone it down because it's a real in-your-face colour, but the white bag brings out those white accents and I kinda love it. I'd love to wear this with green, too, to up the Watermelon realness! 

Buuuuut godamnit this dress is comfy, and if we ever have the sun back I'm going to wear it all summer! 

Hair Flower; Handmade
Brooch; Luxulite
Bangles; Splendette
Dress; C/O Lindy Bop (Disclaimer)
Bag; Vendula London (Disclaimer)
Shoes; Yours Clothing 

Something White, Something Blue With Dolly and Dotty

Red is clearly my favourite colour - but I have a lot of love for blues! And there's something about blue and white that really just grabs me every time. So I was so excited to be offered this Dolly And Dotty Annie Dress in Blue Floral to review!

Dolly and Dotty is a relatively new company in the vintage reproduction game that came to my attention a year or so ago. Their ethos is to create vintage inspired designs in modern fits for an affordable price. So I hope this is helpful for those of you also interested in the quality!

Dolly And Dotty have joined a lot of brands with having sizing from 6-24, which I find wonderful, personally. Their size guide put me between the 20 and 22, which is my usual sizing in most brands. However! I will suggest at least in the Annie style to size down. I was sent a 22 to review, but I'm wearing an 18 here, which is the perfect size for me.

I've mentioned a few times before that I have a small bust for my size, and I have bottom-heavy breasts. This is important to know and keep in mind because a larger or fuller bust would need a larger size than I took. Also because of the bottom-heavy breasts issue, I find a lot of these high-neck bodices gape. This is an issue on all brands, but as you can see in the above photo I've got quite a gap going on under my hand! There's no real way of rectifying the issue outside of popping in a dart or avoiding the bodice style, though - so don't take that into consideration with the overall fit.

The dress' fabric is a cotton blend with a small amount of stretch, and the print is clear and vibrant. The Annie is a summer dress and isn't lined, but there is no worry of showing off your underwear! The fabric is just thick enough to keep those undergarments hidden.

It's a real beaut of a dress, to be honest with you. I prefer pleating over gathering in skirts, since there's no extra volume on the stomach/hips. This dress is perfect for that! The waist seam comes a little lower than my natural waist, so if you're tall this is for you.

I think the only downside is there's no pockets!

Now you've heard my thoughts on this dress - and Dolly And Dotty have so many designs and patterns to choose from! We'd love you to try them out - and if you use the code SPONSOREDBYD&D you can even get a cheeky 10% off!

• Necklace; Vintage
• Dress; C/O Dolly and Dotty (Disclaimer)
• Hair Flower; Handmade
• Brooch; Luxulite
• Bag; Vintage
• Bangles; Splendette

Some Southern Hospitality

The UK had a heatwave.
As we're Brits, we loooove a chat about the weather, and bloody hell guys it was HOT.

So over the weekend I managed to grow balls and sweat them off -  just in time to spend a few days with my sister-in-law and end up in a Coheed and Cambria mosh pit on the hottest day of the year. Seeing both the sister-in-law and Coheed were amazing, but the heat was a little less ideal!

As soon as hot weather comes in, I have this mental image of me wearing white eyelet lace sundresses and frolicking in tall grass having picnics and prosecco with beautiful sun kissed friends. In reality, I'm hiding under a tree with a warm cider with food thrown down myself complaining about how much I sweat.

Mmm, what a gorgeous mental image.

But hell, I never learn anything and ended up buying this top from Primark because MY GOD isn't it cute? I'm such a sucker for a frilled bardot and the aforementioned white eyelet lace, so this was kinda a necessary purchase. (Is any Primark purchase really that necessary, though?) It fulfils my summer dreams - regardless of the fact I dropped food down it and dyed the inside pink...

My love for gingham is everlasting, though, and this top was just so perfect for my Blue Gingham Skirt, that was blogged about last year. It reminds me of a stereotypical sort of Southern-American sweetheart, bar the overplayed accent, pigtails and penchant for country music!

• Hair Flowers; Lady Lucks Boutique
• Necklace; Handmade
• Top; Primark
• Brooch; Luxulite
• Bangles; Vintage and Splendette
• Bag; Vintage
• Shoes; Miss L Fire

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Outside The Comfort Zone with Yours Clothing

I would say I’m a pretty self-loving, positive human being.

I believe that loving yourself for who you are at this very minute is possibly the most important thing that a person can do.

But I still hate my belly. 

Hate it in the most loving way possible, but there’s no denying my entire style is revolved around hiding my belly - petticoats and full skirts are ‘the best’ silhouettes for me because it emphasises my waist, but skims over the ol’ stomach. 

So when Yours Clothing offered a collaboration, I thought it was about time I break down my own barriers and try something a little different, since I spend so much time telling other people to embrace themselves and be comfortable no matter what.

So I chose this dress. It's not exactly a slinky pencil skirt, but considering the styles I've been wearing the last few years, it was so far out of my comfort zone! 

And you know what? I feel great.

The dress itself is really lovely, a faux-wrap bodice with short sleeves, and straight-cut skirt with slight gathering both back and front to accommodate a little junk in the tum 'n' trunk, which is pretty great for a fuller shape like mine. 

I was originally attracted to it since it has a hint of 40's styling (another style out of my comfort zone), and I think it could easily be used in similar vintage inspired looks for my vintage girls out there looking for everyday clothing - but since it's made from jersey with a bold print, it's still modern enough for you gals that aren't so interested in dressing in the style.

One thing I love about Yours Clothing is that it actually caters for larger sizing, focussing on fit and comfort first and foremost. This dress is from their own collection and comes in sizes 16-36, and at just £29 it's not just accessible for quite a range of sizes, but also just incredibly affordable.

I took the 22 in this, based off the sizing of the hips alone, because I wanted to make sure the dress wasn't stretched over my stomach. I definitely chose the right size for a comfortable fit for me without showing so much VBO (Visible Belly Outline if you weren't sure) - this does mean it's a little loose on the bust and a lot loose on the waist, but that was a calculated risk I took, even if I'm sure I could fit into the 18! 

Also! The shoes I'm wearing are from Yours Clothing as well, and other than being adorable, lightweight and literally THE MOST COMFORTABLE HEELS EVER - these Block Heel Sandals are in two colours and sizes 4E-9E. you read that right, darlings, wide fit sandals you can wear all day and night! For £15, you'd be stupid to not buy them!

Dress; C/O Yours Clothing (Disclaimer)

Bolero; Collectif

Brooch; Luxulite

Necklace and Earrings; Vintage

Bag; Vendula London (Disclaimer)

Shoes; C/O Yours Clothing (Disclaimer)

So I'm not going to BS you darlings, I'm not suddenly going to be baring the VBO at all times, but a dress like this is perfect for the start of the second part of my own body acceptance journey. 

I really hope you all join me and challenge that comfort zone this weekend! 

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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.

All Hail The Gingham Queen!

It's been said before, but I'll say it again.

I bloody love gingham.

This is the second in three items I've made recently in gingham, and yes, it's exactly the same gingham from Rolls and Rems in Holloway as every other bloody gingham item on this blog.

But hell, when something works for you, it works for you, right?

 

I've got a bit of a gap in my wardrobe for skirts, and especially one for slightly more casual outfits for when I can't be bothered. So, a length of gingham got pleated up to become my new favourite skirt!

Bloody typical my bag is the wrong way around in this shot!

There's so little to say about this skirt, it's fully lined and has gigantic pockets I keep trying to fit the dog in - with a bit of tiny pompom trim across to make it a little bit more exciting than it really is. It's a simple dirndl skirt, with three-inch box pleats instead of the traditional gathering.

It just so happens that the day I planned to shoot this skirt, the amazing Katy from Luxulite sent me the most amazing brooch and earring set - IT'S BLOODY GINGHAM. Can you think of any accessory better suited to my severe obsession than this? They're absolutely gorgeous, and I can't recommend Luxulite any higher than I already do.

 

Hair Flowers; Lady Luck's Boutique

Necklace; Vintage
Brooch and Earrings; Luxulite

Top; Boohoo (last year)

Belt; Collectif

Bag; Vendula

Bangles; Splendette and Vintage

Shoes; Rocket Originals

And even stranger? Karen at Did You Make That? just announced a Ginghamalong!
Who else is joining me in making a gingham item by 13th September to be in for a chance to win even more gingham? Of course, the self-proclaimed Gingham Queen is on it!!

Sunshine Through The Clouds

Well hello beautiful strangers!

As you may have noticed, I took a little unannounced break from blogging whilst I got myself moved and sorted into my new place - of which I'm now very happy in with the addition of my brand new sewing desk (more on that in a later post!)

But for now I wanted to play catch-up a bit with some sewing projects, this one being the last thing I made in my last house, which gives me a little bit of an emotional attachment to it.
It's pretty lucky that I honestly think it's my best project to date, and quickly becoming a favourite dress!

So I've gone a bit colour-crazy recently and I've had this idea of a red and yellow colour combination in my head for a few years, and it's only really now that I've actually decided to act on it. I got myself down to Rolls and Rems to scout out my trusty 1-inch cotton gingham (you can see everything I've made with it under the gingham tag) in a slightly offensively bright shade of yellow.

The pattern to this dress is another variation on the No Cock Nor Tails pattern I drafted a good few years back - with the baggy nipples of the Big Ol' Black dress rectified somewhat unsuccessfully as it's still just a touch tight on the bust.
The skirt is old faithful - the pleated dirndl. It's basically a copy of the Check, Please dress in yellow instead of red. But once I like a pattern I really do stick to it!

To keep a bit of a differentiate between the Check, Please dress and this one I added my new favourite trim in the world - POM POMS! from Frumble Fabrics onto the neckline, hem and pockets. I always find it amusing how such a small amount of trim can really make a garment pop - and I find people seem to go a little nuts for pom pom trim.

Other than the fitting issues of the failed FBA adjustment from my last version from this dress, I think this self-drafted pattern is really teaching me about my body - how my shoulders slope and why the straps don't stay in one place, where my waist actually sits and the way thing such as belts sit on them, and how the top of my back slopes and why I always have a gape in the back of my dresses.

This dress features a lovely scoop back that looks fine when I'm relaxed, as you can see below, but as soon as I move the thing can fit a small dog between me and the fabric - and although I like small dogs, thats not my preferred way of carrying animals.

However, my hair looks pretty amazing though, so we can focus on that instead of fit issues, right?

But I love this dress, and it's absolutely perfect once the sun actually decides to shine in this crappy excuse for a summer!

Hair Flowers; Lady Lucks Boutique and a gift

Necklace; Handmade

Brooch; Luxulite

Bangles; Splendette

Bag; Vendula

Shoes; Miss L Fire