When life gives you lemons

I have worn some pretty wacky outfits in my time.

 But I don't consider this look to be particularly unusual to the modern world.  

It isn't even that vintagy looking to people that think vintage is a bit odd. 

And yet I have got some super weird looks when wearing this dress!

 

It is a pretty modest shape. A bit of a front split going on in the skirt, but nothing untoward is on show. I thought perhaps the fabric was sheer, but I am assured, from many a source,that I have had check in various lighting, that it is not sheer. No under crackers visible at all. 

And yet I have had points and stares from total strangers. And not just this day when I was super dressed up, but also when I have worn this dress casually to the park without any glamorous sprucing involved. 

I will never understand some people.

"It's a dress! Ain't you never seen a dress!"

Ok, rant over-insert good hair pic here!!!

I fell in love with this dress, or rather the real, designer, Dolce and Gabanna version last spring, which naturally was excessively expensive for a cotton sun dress.

So I totally knocked it off!

I possibly wouldn't have gone to such an effort to replicate this dress had it been for casual wear.

 But as I wanted to wear it to my friends wedding, I made the commitment to make my dream dress!

In all its yellow lemon glory!

I ordered a reproduction Dolce and Gabanna fabric on Etsy. It looked fab in the pictures. But the fabric that arrived was awful! (Ordered from China so I should have known!)

Very little detail, sloppy in fact and the colours were off. 

Why are there yellow leaves??? Leaves should be Green!!! 

 But as a glass half full kind of girl, I jumped on the challenge to fix it! 

So yes, I painted it!

All 4 meters of it. Took soo long!

But was totally worth every second!

Naturally I needed a large surface to paint the fabric, so the kitchen table was busy for a while. A long while! (Sorry Dad)

Here is part of the bodice before I stitched it together. Painting all done. I managed to get the colours looking vibrant and put some detail back in to the print!

It made all the difference.

As this dress was for a special occasion, I added some beads and crystals, just on the one side as an accent. I'm not sure why I only did one side to be honest, but it was intentional. I didn't just get bored half way through. 

I'm really happy with how the embellishments turned out! 

Pretty subtle with a nice sparkle. 

And don't worry, I am completely in love with this dress. 

Let them point, I wave back, they hate that!

X O X O 

Christina

My week with Marilyn in my Granville shirt

Sometimes I will see an outfit in a film, in a magazine or being worn by a fellow blogger and it calls out to me, I'm always on the look out for outfit inspiration! 

 Ever since I saw the film 'My week with Marilyn', one particular look screamed out to be recreated.

Simple, yet timelessly elegant. 

Easy to wear and style for different occasions, such a useful outfit to have!

As I don't have much storage space, I like to make sure that the garments I have really work hard for their keep.

I enjoyed putting this look together and swanning about, looking sophisticated on a sunny, autumn afternoon. Nothing says sophistication quite like a crisp white shirt and a cashmere pencil skirt.

I used the Granville Shirt pattern for this classic white shirt after ogling HandmadeJane's gorgeous versions.
I didn't do any alterations to the pattern and I absolutely love the fit! Slim fitting, without being restrictive.

The seams in the back of the shirt mean that you can adjust the fit to how you like it, and you can follow the shape of the body better than you can with a dart. 

A classic collar, with collar stand, though I wouldn't necessarily wear it done up, it is satisfying to sew, and looks very professional.

I was tempted to use a cotton shirting, or a cotton lawn to make this as it would sew up so easily, but I ended up using a very fluid viscose, which feels very lovely against the skin, and was worth the additional effort to sew together.

With a proper cuff and placket, which I had never sewn before and went in surprisingly easily as the pattern instructions were very clear and polishes off the look perfectly.

Close up of the placket, because the stitching is particularly straight, wink wink!

Outfit Details
Shirt- Me made- Granville shirt from Sewaholic patterns
Skirt- Me made- from Gertie's new book for better sewing
Shoes- Monsoon (super old)
Gold locket necklace- Vintage- Etsy



Bag- Vintage- Etsy
 

And just so you know it isn't my bellybutton you can see in all of these otherwise pretty perfect pictures. It is an unfortunately placed button that I must remember to cut off!

You can now scroll up and look back at all of the pictures of the blasted button that you probably didn't even notice before. Tee Hee Hee!!!

X O X O

Christina