Gingham Style

Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou Frou‘Matilda’ Dress: Lindy Bop

Belt: Lane Bryant

Shoes: Chie Mihara

After my success with my first Lindy Bop dress I thought I’d take advantage of their big end-of-season sale and try a few of their other styles on for size.

This one is the Matilda dress – a fifties-style shirt dress with Lindy Bop’s traditional full skirt, and a self-covered belt (that I swapped out for one of brown leather to cut back on the school-uniform vibe).

I sized up, because unlike my first dress (the Adele) Matilda doesn’t have any stretch to the fabric, and I was a bit concerned about how the button-up front would manage with the Rack of Doom.

I ended up sewing the front buttons up anyway so I probably could have stuck with the smaller size, as the larger swims a little on my narrow shoulders. The waist fits comfortably though, and I’m very thankful for the deep side pockets.

The big collar isn’t as flattering as the collar on my home-made Hawthorn dress, but for someone with a smaller bust it would provide a fantastic balance with the full skirt.

The dress is 100% cotton, and wonderfully breezy (39 degrees today in Melbourne. Sweltertown.) and while it’s not perfect, it was a steal at just 17 pounds.

In other news: If you’re in Melbourne this weekend, you might like to drop by the A Plus Market in their exciting new location at the Queen Victoria Markets. On Sunday Ashley Rose and I will be having our very own blogger bonanza stall, where you’ll be able to pick up some great pieces (and lots of favourites from the blog!)

12742537_964085757019852_1387571446755314611_nHope to see you there!

Through the Arch Window

Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou Frou Frocks and Frou FrouTop: Sportsgirl

Skirt: Jacqui E

Shoes: Chie Mihara

Pardon the shiny face and the flat hair! It bucketed down rain for most of today and I’m just feeling a bit waterlogged. Still, at least my awesome graphic print skirt still has a bit of fouff.

I spotted this one in the window at Jacqui E just before Christmas while I was doing some present-buying. They’ve been flying under my radar for a year or so because I don’t have that much need for corporate-wear, and everything else on their racks was just so same-samey that I stopped visiting the shops. More fool me, because it looks like there’s still a few gems to be found.

Frocks and Frou FrouThe skirt is fully lined with lovely deep functional pockets. The outer fabric is a cotton sateen, which really showcases the bold black and white print (that, full disclosure, kind of reminded me of the Play School windows). The pleated skirt was sewn flat for several inches below the waistband which made the pockets pull open in a not-terribly-nice way over my hips, but once I got the skirt home I just unpicked the pleats open and the result’s much more successful.

The wide black waistband means that I haven’t figured out any other way to wear it other than with a black top, so any recommendations would be great!

I can’t find this skirt on the website any more, so if you love it as much as I did your best bet might be to try some of the clearance stores.