Frilled To Bits our SNA challenge for May

Hello there! How are you this fine Bank Holiday Monday? So, here's our Style Not Age challenge for May, as chosen by yours truly. Frills are all the rage with me currently, so why not share this penchant with my style sisters?

Gail from Is This Mutton is sporting her blend of citrus brights - the frilled blouse is from eBay, crops are from Roman and sandals are from ASOS. It's a fab summery look, isn't it!

Jacqui's frilled wrap dress is from Izabel Clothing and fits the bill perfectly. Sage green and paisley print are a winning combination! Catch up with Jacqui's backstory on her blog Mummabstylish. 

I love the pink frilled and pearly top of Emma's! This was a happy purchase when she was in Funchal recently. See more from her on Style Splash blog.

Hilda's frilled dress is from Whistles, a fab thank you for contributing to a recent fashion feature in Good Housekeeping. Catch up with her story on Over the Hilda blog. Hilda's perched on the balcony of her daughter's house during her child-minding stay - what a view!

If you're a regular to the blog, you'll recognise the frilled petticoat as one of my recent sewing successes. I've just altered the length, shortened it, so that it sits better under my orange dress. (See the whole outfit here in case you missed that one.) Today's offering is more vintage than new - the frilled blouse was bought in a vintage shop in Exeter many years ago and the skirt must be at least 20 years old, from good old Dorothy Perkins. 

The boots are new, bought especially to wear while I'm in my pink and orange phase. I found them on ASOS, see here. They're available in three colourways but this one is perfect for my summer trend.

Nothing new today with my accessories. Sunglasses are from Radley, belt is old as are my rings. 

My friend Fiona volunteered to take the photos when I told her about my fab new cowboy boots. We had fun as we always do during these sessions, with me doing lots of bossing about while she heckled from the sidelines. The evening sun was soft and flattering to the skin and the new walkway to the bird hide made a great catwalk. The view from the hide was glittering in the evening light.

Hope you're basking in the early summer sunshine too. Looking forward to seeing you again soon. Please leave me a comment if you've enjoyed today's post.

Have a super week!

Anna x

The orange linen dress at last!

At last, here's my homemade linen dress and petticoat! After many alterations the dress finally fits, but as you progress through the photos you'll see that the petticoat is a tad too long. This has come about due to the fact that I had to take almost 2 inches off the bodice, hence the length of the dress is shorter than when I took my measurements at the start of this venture. But this too can be altered and will be in due course.

In celebration of the showcase event I decided to add my floral headband - well of course you'd expect nothing less from me eh?

As I'd mentioned previously the neckline of the dress wasn't sitting properly so I took it off to my sewing teacher and she did a fitting on me which revealed that the length of the bodice was causing the problem. After much tweaking and resewing I finally made the adjustments and now it fits like a glove. Dress number two, in aqua linen, is now undergoing the same amendments and hopefully will be ready to wear soon.

I bought these pink suede sandals from Vinted to wear with the outfit - that was £5 well spent! They're very comfy and are a great colour match. 

The only problem with wearing a frothy petticoat is that I want to do lots of swishing it about!

I did a search online for an orange and pink necklace finding this one on the Zara website. I'm having a real thing about pink and orange together at the moment so this will be popping up on the blog often I'm sure! My rings are both old but perfect for today's look. The pink stretch belt is rather ancient too, but does the trick.

I'm so very pleased to have turned this little lot into this - 

Many thanks to those of you who have taken an interest in my first foray into the world of dressmaking. During lockdown I took it upon myself to make new covers for my sofa and chairs which seemed to be an impossible task, but I somehow achieved it. After a lapse of three years I'm back in the sewing groove, living and breathing old reruns of The Great British Sewing Bee and loving the new challenge of dressmaking. 

                                                                                        Anna x

Another week, another trouser suit

Hello, how are you? Did you watch Eurovision? I'm afraid I opted out this year as I didn't think we could possibly repeat last year's success. Instead I went to bed for an early night with my book. I've just read The Lovely Bones for the second time and was so pleased that I had forgotten most of it, apart from the perfect murder weapon. I'll put it back onto my book shelf now that I know I can reread and enjoy it again.

This week's favourite outfit was yet another trouser suit and this one is from Boohoo, but I bought it from Vinted last year. I'm a huge fan of the trouser suit as you know - the brighter the better - and what could be better than grabbing a bargain for a brand new buy? I paid half the list price for the still-with-tags-on purchase which gives me a real rush of pleasure. I added my Orla Keily handbag to compliment the psychedelic print to good effect, don't you think?

The white ribbed vest was new last year from H&M and the white patent boots are from Deichman. Orange and white make such a fresh look and one that you can bet I'll be wearing often this summer. Weather-wise we're still waiting for summer, but at least we're getting the odd sunny day which does give a sense of hope. 

I've made a couple of adjustments to the trousers by way of taking up the hems and also sewing down the front pleats to give a smoother front, but seeing them here I think I probably could do with taking a little more off the length otherwise they'll get dirty and scuffed over time. Get me eh! Talking as if I know my way around a sewing machine now.

I went with my gold coloured chain belt and necklace (both old from Primark) along with orange resin rings (pre-loved) and my John Lennon type sunglasses (old from River Island), to complete the outfit. Feedback was good again this week with lots of flattering compliments from customers.

Apologies to those of you who are waiting to see my finished orange dress, but I still need to make adjustments to it. I've discovered that the length of the bodice is too long which means I have a lot of unpicking and resewing to do. It also means that the second version of the same dress in aqua will have to be redone too. I'm on a steep learning curve at the moment, but I suppose that's the whole point. So, sit tight and I promise I'll showcase it as soon as I'm finished.

I've been to the dentist this week as well as the hairdresser, but not much more than that to report. Somehow I managed to be two hours late for my hair appointment, but luckily I was still fitted in! I written the wrong time down in my phone, so I suppose that's more a senior moment than anything else...

Thanks for dropping by. Please leave me a comment if you can as it's lovely to have your thoughts and feedback.

Have a super week!

Anna x

Most loved outfit of the week

Hi there! How are you doing? Did you watch much of the TV coverage of the Coronation this weekend? I did. I watched the entire thing on Saturday and then enjoyed the concert this morning as I was doing some hand sewing. It's been a really uplifting time; makes me proud to be British. 

So, this was my most loved outfit of the week at work last week. I received so many lovely compliments on this trouser suit. Hurrah for the Iris Apfel and H&M collaboration of a year ago! This is probably only about my 6th time of wearing the (almost famous) Pea Pod Trouser Suit, but every time I do, I try to mix things up so that the accessories are different giving it a fresh look. This time I've popped on my Frida Kahlo tee shirt which has the same aqua colour as the suit and looked pretty fab, I must admit. The other addition are my new boots from MOMO in New York, recently bought on Vinted. They were brand new, with the labels on, and I saved $200 buying them second hand - result!

The tiny patch of aqua on the toe of the left boot was all it took for me to know that these would be a dream pairing, well that plus the ornate design and little pearls too. I'm thrilled to have these in my shoe collection. They are made from old sari's which appeals to me for its recycling.

The pearl belt is my go-to piece to wear with the suit, simply to match the pearl pea pods. I found it on Amazon and think it was a great buy. I've layered up necklaces, three this time, along with bangles and rings in turquoise and aqua. You'll probably recognise my old favourite sunglasses by Quay Australia too.

On the home front, I've spent most of the Bank Holiday weekend sewing. I'm all a bit OCD about this latest hobby of mine. I've nearly completed my second linen dress, this time in aqua, but am being held up waiting for interfacing to finish the neckline. It's all very frustrating as I know how easy it would be to find this in a shop on the high street if I lived on the mainland, but hey ho, such is island life! In the meantime, I'm finding lots of alterations I can do now which is quite exciting. I'm not sure if the word alteration is a bit grand as sometimes these are more along the lines of a botch job, but mostly they're wearable which is all that matters.

My lovely husband coined a great phrase about me recently, saying I was born audition ready as I appeared in yet another over-the-top work outfit. I love his total acceptance of my need for all that's glitz and glamour. I recounted this to a friend who visited me at work the other day when she said I looked as if I was about to go on stage! The gallery surely acts as my everyday stage, hahaha.

Thanks for swinging by and I do hope you have a great week ahead!

Anna x

Bank holiday weekend

Hi there! How's your Bank holiday going?This is me on our fine Bank holiday Monday taking a breather on the quay at New Grimsby. At last we have some fine weather here after an entire weekend of fog. It's been the World Pilot Gig Championship festival on the Isles of Scilly this weekend and some of the races have been affected by poor visibility. The event finished on Sunday meaning today will be a leisure day before the crews all start to disperse and make their way home. I personally haven't been involved but the vibe is always a positive one over these weekends.

I've had a week off work to play at my sewing machine, although it's not been fun and games all the time. I'm a bit held up while I wait for supplies to come through the post which is painfully slow. I've started sewing dress number two despite dress number one still needing adjustments around the neck. I think I need to replace the interfacing as it's too heavy. This is all very hit and miss, but is a very good learning curve for me.

Apart from sewing, my other tasks were to defrost the freezer (done, tick) and make a batch of soup for my lunches (two week's portions, done, tick) and then to undertake the bi-annual clothes changeover (done, tick). Which is where today's outfit comes from. The gingham seersucker shirt was new from TK Maxx last summer, but this is the first time I've worn it. In addition, the gingham baseball boots were a new purchase also last summer from Primark but never worn. It was great to discover them when I opened one of the suitcases; in fact I've come across a few other things that still have labels on them that were packed away at the end of the season. My jeans are by Curve Appeal (old) and are uber comfy with lots of stretch.

I do love filling my wardrobe with all of my colourful summer clothes! I can't wait to get back to work now. One of the other things I've done in the midst of this changeover is a big dejunk. I've thrown out 22 pairs of shoes that were truly sad and worn through - much loved to the point of being worn out so off they go to the bin. In addition I've filled an entire holdall with shoes and anther with clothes that I'll be selling on Vinted over the next few months. I've been quite honest with myself and decided that these will never be worn by me again, so off they go!

The 60's necklace and bracelet were both charity shop finds as was the funky ring. Sunglasses are by Radley London.

I'll probably nip out later to swim on the high tide this afternoon and then I'll spend another couple of hours at my sewing machine before dinner. My week off has been lovely, very restorative and just what I needed. 

                                                                                          Anna x