Big Beach Bums - outfit

Okay, so my second belated BBB post has arrived! This is what I wore on the day. I had dreams of crop tops and short shorts but sadly the weather called for a shift in my plans. I even had to bring my tights back out for the day!

This dress is my latest sewing project. It's made from a vintage 1960s shift pattern I bought on eBay earlier this year, with some 60s patterned polyester I bought at Brighton Marina car boot sale in January this year for £1! The pattern features a contrasting section for which I used the reverse of the fabric, and added a small bow made from some old white scrap fabric. The collar went a little wrong, and the dress needed shortening to fit me (for some reason it came out calf length, even though the picture argued otherwise. Whoops!). It was a step up from my normal sewing projects, though the stretchy fabric meant I could avoid zip fitting.

Teamed with bright blue tights and clashing red shoes.

Dress, handmade (total cost £7.50 including the reusable pattern!)

Tights, M&S XL

Shoes, Priceless, £10

...and a bonus styling method, from when I debuted it at work earlier that week on a sunnier day:

This time teamed with bare legs and some vintage peep toes I bought from Otley car boot sale in Leeds last year for £1.50!

Today was another day at work, spent transferring magnetic tapes and geeking over audio software. I broke out the smock that started my love for reclaiming the unfitted dress. Despite all the most horrific applications of muu muus and smocks as items of clothing to disguise and make invisible a fatter body, I have come to really love them as part of my more 60s/uniform moments. This beaut was found at a costume sale at Bradford Playhouse last summer, and is definitely a staple dress for daywear.

Dress, Bradford Playhouse costume sale, £5
Shirt, vintage via eBay, £6
Tights, M&S
Loafers, vintage, £17

Also worth mentioning is this awesome Groupon voucher to get £20 worth of ASOS credit for £9. I had a £8 credit code for not having bought anything, so managed to score it for £1! It's apparently not valid on sale stuff, but will inevitably bring full price stuff down to a reasonable price for me. Yay!

I'm back at work, pah. I'm still wayyyyy behind on posting, so here's two outfits worn last week, both utilising this leopard print body con number I found at Leeds Affordable Vintage Fair a few years back.

Top photo:
Dress, £14, vintage
Cardigan, $5 vintage (bought in New York in 2009)
Belt, Dorothy Perkins, £5(?)
Docs, gifted

Bottom photo:
Dress, £14, vintage
Lace body, Very.co.uk, £12
Scarf, old vintage stock
Docs, gifted

Proper thoughts will return eventually. For now I'm feeling a little glum and choose True Blood and pajamas instead. x

Haircut time! This is the second year that, as Spring approaches, I've decided to go super short for the summer. I took in a photo of Mia Farrow and Carey Mulligan for this, and definitely happy with the results.

My inspiration for the summer doesn't really differ that much from last year. Short hair, 60s tomboy femme, scooter dresses, uniforms made out of button up blouses, suspenders and wide legged trousers, palazzos or high waisted jumper skirts. A mixture of 50s-70s. Ties, shorts and brogues. Ankle boots, ballet flats and lace ups. Boy-ish, but with classic feminine detailing. Uniforms. Button up everything.

Spring and Summer 2011 by prettymary_k on Polyvore.com

One thing I am excited about this year is my capability to maybe make some of these pieces! Normally I spend so much time hunting for items that the spontaneity just disappears, or the things I find are slightly lukewarm in comparison with my style aspirations.

And one outfit also:

Wednesday night:
Dress, River Island, £30
Scarf, old vintage stock
Belt, £5 Dorothy Perkins
Docs, gifted

I bought this body con dress from ASOS about a year and a half ago, and because I always saw it as a formal dress, never really wore it! It has a low back and front, and for some reason none of my bras would successfully go with it without pinning and general annoying-ness. The other week I thought I would try it with a plain white t-shirt beneath it to see if it suits a day look, and it's great! Suffice to say I'll not be letting it sit on a hanger for so long again.

Check out the lace heart:
!

Dress, £20, ASOS sale (straight size range, size 20)
T-shirt, £3, Dorothy Perkins
Belt, £free, old vintage stock
Docs, gifted.

I would have teamed it with some dressier shoes but as I'm away these are my only option. That and I never seem to take them off nowadays!

This was worn for a day of charity shop rummaging in Otley. Sadly not much in the way of actual scores, but a pleasant way to spend a sunny day nonetheless. This brown velvet skirt was another sale score from Primark. I swear I think I've bought everything on that velvet range since I discovered it's all generously fitted! This is super short, though thankfully I saved my dignity with some cut offs beneath it!

Brown jumper, £7, Dorothy Perkins
Blouse, ASOS, £8.50 via fatshionexchange
Skirt, £3, Primark
Socks, £1, Primark
Boots, gifted (d0cs)
Belt, old vintage stock, £free

Shirts and ties

Two weekends ago I picked up a beautiful silk paisley tie from a charity shop near me. The brown/grey tones of the pattern seemed so perfect for my colour palette of choice, and I've been meaning to adapt more towards a menswear-esque uniform for work that's a little easier to throw on in the morning than my more elaborate ensembles. I dressed it in a similar way the first two times I wore it, once with my wide legged grey pinstripe trousers and brogues for a more dapper formal look, and the second with my skinnies, because I enjoyed the way the androgynous-ness of the boots, shirt and tie mixed with my unruly hips and belly in those jeans.

Jumper, Dorothy Perkins, £7
Blouse, M+S via eBay, £15
Trousers, £14, Very
Jeans, Beth Ditto for Evans, £8
Docs, gifted
Brown brogues, Primark, £12
Belt, old vintage stock, £free
Paisley tie, £1, charity shop

I definitely have so many more plans for the tie. I just won this beaaaautiful floral blouse on eBay, and I think pattern clashing and pencil skirts might be in order next, though I'd also love to pair it (and the blouse) with these serious floral palazzos from Very, which are calling so hard to me right now.

Ah, something almost resembling Spring is approaching on occasion at the minute. Certainly not today (though luckily I'm only going out to a local record fair in Leeds), but it was the day I took this. I can't wait to chuck my winter coat to the back of my wardrobe and bring a simple blazer or mac about with me once again.

Blazer, £10, Dorothy Perkins via Fatshion Exchange
Top, £3, Dorothy Perkins
Skirt, £10, Evans via an online sales post
Cameo necklace, £4, online sales post on Thrift Store UK
Tights, M&S
Shoes, £15, Evans

...and we're back

So I have internet contact again! Yay! I'm up in Leeds for the week now, staying at my boyfriend's house, and *hopefully* I might even have my laptop charger by Monday. In the mean time, I actually have photoshop also, so hurrah for non-shit image editing. Here's an outfit from a couple of weekends ago, worn to go shopping for Algerian sausages and various food delights.

Lace body, Very.co.uk, £12
Cami, £4, Primark
Waterfall waistcoat, £8 Primark
Shorts, £20, very.co.uk
Docs, gifted


And the epic banquet of the evening. Merguez sausages, potatoes roasted in chilli and chorizo, roasted red peppers, hummus, pittas, lentil dip, olives, followed by many a gin and juice. Yum!

Dressing down the dress! Firstly, please excuse me er, pursing(?!) my lips in this picture, I appear to have been a very angry person that morning. Oh dear.

This is how I plan to wear the dress I made in a more casual style - paired with a button up blouse beneath, and my staple docs. I am in love with making my own more formal workwear at the minute (my list of sewing projects grows a bit too quickly perhaps!) - it's great to have items of tailoring that can work during the day that aren't just generic black trousers.

Dress, handmade (from a £4 piece of fabric and reusing an old pattern)
Belt, old vintage stock, £free
Badge, traded with the lovely Donna (who makes the most beautiful purses, photo frames and hair ties ever, seriously!) over on ThriftstoreUK. It has a lion on it!
Tights, M&S
Docs, gifted

Here's Monday morning for you! I scored this plaid shirt from a junk stall at the open market in Brighton two weekends ago. I seemed to have endless trouble finding button up blouses that actually button up to the collar last year, yet recently I've thrifted two for a pittance! This makes me happy. I get the feeling that button up shirts with this belt, loafers and the Beth Ditto jeans will become my work uniform for spring (I work as a technician in an archive, and my working day generally involves lots of dust and heavy lifting, something my wardrobe is not used to!)

Plaid shirt, found at Brighton Open Market, 50p
Jeans, Beth Ditto for Evans, £8
Belt, old vintage stock, £free
Loafers, vintage, £5

Also:
This week has been awesome - after making the polka dot dress for Plus London after work for the best part of two weeks, I needed a good few nights sleep. So evenings have been mainly watching trashy TV, cooking and plotting new projects. I scored this vintage pattern (in a size 26!) on eBay for £5, and I still have the 60s polyester I bought at the marina car boot sale in January, so I'm hoping to tackle it over the next few weeks. Scary exciting! It's a bit harder than the last two dresses I've made, so fingers crossed it still works out. Eep!

I'm so behind on my outfits of late. Here's one from early last week, trying the ASOS camel pencil skirt I got in the sale in a new way. Not convinced about the pale shoes/dark tights combo, but this is what happens when you get dressed at 6am! Yuck!

Lace body, Very.co.uk £12

Cami, Primark, £4

Skirt, ASOS sale, £9

Tights, M&S

Shoes, £12, Primark

Scarf, vintage, £1

So onto the evening fun at Plus London! The evening do over at the Strand Gallery involved lots of champagne, cupcakes, and samples from Anna Scholz, Torrid, ASOS Curve and Yours Clothing amongst others (though I was useless and didn't really take many pictures of the clothes). There was also a pop up studio where my friend Caroline and I had some photographs taken (and I pulled my awkward camera horror face for a professional audience).






Annnnnnd, my sewing project in it's completed state! This was a close call, and only got finished on Thursday evening. It's a rehash of the same pattern I used in the summer to make this dress, by Very Easy Vogue (the number is V8615). With this dress I adapted this neckline to make it a round high neckline instead of a bateau as per the original pattern. My drafting didn't quite work, so I ended up pleated the (slightly baggy) neckline and crafting a bow to take onto it, which in hindsight worked pretty well!

I was terrified that a seam would break on the night or something, but it held up really well! Also, the fabric I used seems pretty crease-proof, so definitely suited for my wardrobe and er, lack of ironing skills. I'll definitely be dressing it down later this week. It was great to flounce about in my petticoat again though.



Dress, handmade using a £4 piece of material from the open market in Brighton (the pattern cost me £8 last summer).
Belt, former vintage stock, £free
Petticoat, Vivien of Holloway, £60
Cardigan, gifted by my lovely friend Caroline who found it at the Big Bum Jumble last August.
Tights, £3, Dorothy Perkins
Shoes, £8 Priceless

And also, Caroline's outfit, which I thought was super cute!

All in all, a lovely day, and it was great to get to meet so many amazing bloggers!

Plus London: daytime

So this weekend I attended the much anticipated Plus London meet. Here's a picture during the day section, after we'd all finished shopping and met up again.

Read all about it, and see much better photographs of the event and the outfits on the tumblr here. I only have a few pics as I'm more than slightly awkward about talking/asking people for pictures of their awesome outfits. But suffice to say, it was amazing to see so many different styles in one place, and despite having never met anyone before (and er, being more than slightly socially awkward), I felt comfortable chatting with you all...

Here's what I wore during the day:
I bought the Beth Ditto high waisted skinnies at the very end of the Evans sale (they had 20% off last week, so I scored them for £8!), and actually haven't really taken them off since! They fit perfectly, and haven't sagged at all over the time I've worn them. I've never found a pair of jeans that fit me well at all (the two pairs I own are jeggings, and aren't hugely comfortable), so now I have them, I'm regretting not buying two pairs!

Jacket, Sabrosa Vintage at etsy, £30
Necklace, £2, Primark
Jeans, Beth Ditto for Evans, £8
Shoes, Priceless, £8
Sequinned belt, £3, Dorothy Perkins

Hey all! Gin and antics have made the past weekend a bit slow on the writing front, though most pleasant otherwise. This is what I wore to work on Friday, then to pick up some friends for a weekend of fun. The dress was from the etsy seller If Autumn Ends, though I bought it on a fatshionista sales post for cheaper than her list prices. It's a fantastic fit (despite not being custom made) and one of my most staple work dresses (despite the odd looks I get in it!).

Run down:
Dress, £40, If Autumn Ends via fatshionista sales post
Tights, M&S
Shoes, £5 vintage store

Here's another work outfit for you. I was eager to try out the new velvet shorts I scored from the ASOS sale, and decided to try and workwear look with them - I work in a super casual environment, but somehow I still feel a bit odd wearing shorts to the office (even though this is much more formal than most of my colleagues!). Anyhow, the shorts are simply fantastic. I'm a larger size 22 around my hips (sometimes a 24) and these are actually slightly loose on me, making them a much more comfortable fit than other styles I've owned. The velvet is a dark grey which catches the light really nicely, with hugggge pockets (they're the entire length of the shorts!).

Rundown:
Shorts, £9, ASOS Curve sale
Polo neck, £7, Dorothy Perkins sale
Jumper, 99p, charity shop
Necklace, £2, Primark
Tights, M&S
Boots, £39.50, Evans

Gah, house hunting! Still super busy. Here's an outfit from Friday to tide you all over though... this shirt is the best shirt I own. It's a thick winter-y flannel, and it fits so well. I own two shirts of a similar shape from New Look's Inspire range (the other is a khaki summer shirt), and find them to be the best fit for my very hip-py self.

Shirt, £10, New Look sale
Skirt, £10, River Island
Tights, M&S
Docs, gifted (and oh so loved, I think these deserve a post of their very own some time soon).

I'm wearing this outfit but with skinnies today as well! Hurrah for remixes!

A quick post today. I'm house hunting at the minute, so afraid my evenings are rather full up to post as much.

Rundown:

Blouse, ASOS curve via fatshionista sales post, £8.50 including shipping

Dress, Next, £20

Tights, M&S

Loafers, £5 vintage shop

It arrived! This is the camel pencil skirt I ordered from the ASOS sale. A rather uninspired outfit but I wanted to post about it because it's amazing! I ordered a size 22. The skirt is a body con shape, and more importantly it's actually a pencil skirt! I find it really hard to find knee length skirts (I'm only 5'9" but somehow they always end up mid thigh), so I normally just stick to minis and a-line or full skirts. This fits *perfectly* and ends at my calf. The thing I love about it the most, however, is that it's made from a stretchy, thick fabric. As a belly-heavy fatty, I often find tailoring hard to work because my fat spreads when I sit down - thus, a skirt or pair of trousers that are fine around my hips when stood up are often uncomfortable when I sit down. As this is stretchy, it makes it comfortable in both positions. So to conclude, I love it!

Rundown:
Top, £10, Dorothy Perkins
Skirt, £9 ASOS
Nude fishnets, £1 New Look
Loafer heels, £15 Clarks

Hello lovelies! I'm showing off one of my car boot scores from the weekend today. This sheer floral shirt cost £2 this weekend from the Brighton Marina antiques fair and car boot. I found it rummaging amidst a pile of goodies that also contained some liberty print culottes and the most amazing gold brocade evening dress (I left that behind as sadly it wasn't my size). I think this is a 1960s housecoat as it's very unfitted with a huge pocket. I'm big into sheer florals and sheer colours at the moment, they are just so effortlessly girly.

Look at the detail! Beautiful!

Shirt, Brighton Marina car boot, £2
Bustier (just seen beneath), £4 Dorothy Perkins
Jeggings, New Look, £7
Docs, gifted
Belt, old vintage stock

On the car boot front, I really can't recommend Brighton Marina's Sunday sale enough. Whilst there are a lot of "proper" antiques/vintage sellers who I find incredibly overpriced, I was surprised to find some house clearance stalls with gigantic piles of vintage on the floor. As well as this top I also found;

Huge amount of vintage 60s polyester (perfect for shift dresses), £1, about 4 metres of grey polka dot cotton, £5 (bit more than I would normally pay, but it's beautiful), brown patchwork belt, £1. I also got a vintage slip for £1 that I plan to grunge up with some docs and a plaid shirt, and a copy of Watchmen on DVD for 50p. And looootttts of vintage stock.

These were all hidden bargains, found by rummaging on the floor and avoiding the "proper" stalls. I really enjoyed the day, I have to say, despite the cold and long walk over!