A couple of weekends ago, it was my cousin Eva’s christening. Those of you that have been hanging around here a long time might remember when it was her sister Mollie’s christening back in 2011 – look how much younger I look there! Back then, the concept of making my own dress for an occasion had never even entered my mind, so I was wearing a dress from the high street, from Dorothy Perkins. I do love that dress still though and wear it to work every so often – who says fashion bloggers are buying new clothes all the time?! (Okay, I do still buy new clothes all the time, but I also hang on to old ones too!). Anyway, Mollie’s christening also took place at the church in the background of these photos, as did Gareth and Karen’s wedding for which I was a bridesmaid, so fortunately I didn’t have to choose a dress then (phew, too much choice out there!). I don’t think I ever managed to post about the wedding itself actually (maybe I’ll do that as a throwback post one day?!) – there are so many beautiful bridesmaid dresses out there like these at TopWeddings.co.uk, so I don’t know how I would ever choose for something like that, but Karen chose us some gorgeous light purple (almost lilac, very similar to these) flowing dresses that were strapless and reached the floor.
Anyway, sidetracked by wedding things there – I was planning to talk about this dress!
I spotted this Butterick pattern a couple of months ago and loved it. I’m all for the off the shoulder bardot look at the moment, and that combined with a full, knee length skirt won me over. I didn’t have a specific occasion in mind to make it for, then realised when it arrived that I actually had the perfect occasion: Eva’s christening. I started it the weekend before, thinking I’d be able to get it mostly finished, which I did. The bodice is lined, and the sleeves, even though they look difficult with the pleating, are actually not that bad to do, although I did get a bit confused by the pattern directions (as usual!). They do suggest using elastic on the sleeves (I guess to hold them up), but I left that part out and it’s fine without. By the end of the weekend before the christening, all I had left to do was to take out the basting that was holding the pleats in place (I did this with the longest straight stitch on the machine, but in future, I’ll just do it by hand since it took ages to unpick!), and to sew the hem. I ended up doing this the morning of the christening and was a little confused by the directions for this, so just hemmed it as I usually would, and it was fine. The only issue with this dress is that the bodice was SO gapey at the back! I have no idea why, but I might make my first attempt at fitting on this. I sewed the size 12 in this, but I think in future I’d do a size 10 with a full bust adjustment – I’m hoping that would help with the gapey back bodice a bit too.
Dress: Handmade (Pattern: Butterick B6129; Fabric: Hobbycraft) | Corset (not visible): Restyle.pl | Belt: ASOS | Heels: ASOS
If you read my outfit details above, you’ll notice there’s a small detail about this outfit that’s going unseen. Yep, underneath all this, I’m wearing a corset! It was my first time wearing a corset out in the “real world” for a full day, and it was absolutely fine. There will be a review of it on Big Cup Little Cup soon (pics already taken), but see a sneak preview of it here. A lot of people think that corsets are hugely uncomfortable and restrictive, but in fact, if you get a correctly fitting one and get used to it, they don’t have to be uncomfortable at all. This one fits me really well thanks to the wide hips, so I didn’t feel restricted at all – in fact, I was able to chase children around all afternoon, eat a buffet lunch and pudding, and even hold Mollie on one hip, Eva on the other! I didn’t have it tightened as much as I possibly could have done, just in case, and I was prepared to loosen it if it felt too tight. But surprisingly, what I discovered was that the strapless bra I was also wearing was more uncomfortable than the corset! I took off the corset when we returned home, expecting to feel relief, but it wasn’t until I took off the bra I felt that relief! Technically though the bra is one to two cup sizes too small (I’m still hanging onto it as it’s the only strapless one I have right now and I don’t wear one often enough to justify a new one).
I wouldn’t normally post on a Sunday like today, but I’ve got so much ready to post (plus I’m a little behind on my Blogging & PR series), that I needed to post today to fit it all in! I’ve had a lovely, busy weekend though. Yesterday I went with Beth to see Laura from work in Sister Act in Harrogate – I love musicals, and this was fantastic, especially since it was technically an amateur group (you’d forget that when watching it though!). There was so much energy in the cast, and during the finale, most of the audience were on their feet dancing along. Beth and I then sped off afterwards over to York where we met Ben and my dad at the cinema to watch Jurassic World. I’ve never been a big fan of Jurassic Park (mostly because I was…still am…a wimp and was scared of them as a child), but I love the Jurassic section of Islands of Adventure plus the music, so agreed to see it. To be fair, it was pretty awesome! We then decided to have tea at our local pub on the way home – I had grilled swordfish and made everyone else jealous with it as it was so amazing.
Today Ben and I popped down to York to do exciting things like buying fitted sheets for the bed. We’re almost there with the house now, and in a few weeks I might be able to do a series of home tour posts for each room. We’re just waiting for our new dining table to arrive still, plus a few other pieces. We’ve collected a few new pieces recently to give the place a bit more of an “us” feel and it’s nearly there. And finally today, I’ve made a pair of (self drafted, eek!) shorts for a competition. That post should be coming up tomorrow, so keep an eye out!
Have you had a busy weekend? Got any plans for the week ahead?