Me Made May Day 5: Self-drafted skirt

Top: Joanie
Skirt: DIY (fabric from Cloud 9)
Tights: Heist
Boots: Clarks

Day five of Me Made May is courtesy of my life-long obsession with The Wizard of Oz.

This self drafted skirt is basically just a long rectangle gathered into a narrow waistband and fastened with a zip, though I used the pockets from Fancy Tiger Crafts’ Fen dress, because what even is the point of sewing for yourself if you’re not going to add pockets?

The fabric is from Cloud 9 Fabrics, and was designed by Leah Duncan. Look closely and you’ll see Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and a yellow brick road that winds through fields of enchanted poppies.

It’s made from quilting cotton which is my least favourite fabric – it’s sews easily, but always ends up looking a bit stiff and it always sticks to my tights/leggings/chub-rub shorts. The only way to get around it is to wear a slip under it, and if you took a peek under my skirt you’d see one from Sonsee.

Also wearing today: tights from Heist Studios, boots from Clarks Australia and a fun sweater from Joanie Clothing that often inspires strangers to smile and say “hello!” back at me.

Brunchlady

Tee: Joanie Clothing

Skirt: Eshakti

Shoes: Seychelles

I like brunch.

The Mister and I managed to find our dream apartment in the heartland of Melbourne’s brunch mecca, and we’ve been taking full advantage of all of the local cafes since we arrived.

I’ve been seeing Joanie Clothing on my Instagram feed for a couple of years ago. They do the kinds of fabulous retro-style dresses and colourful novelty prints that would have been  irresistible to me a couple of years ago, but it’s this Every Day Brunch Club tee that finally had me giving the label a whirl.

According to Joanie Clothing‘s About Us page, they imagine their customer to be “quietly confident, witty and full of wonder – with an infectious fervour for life’s little pleasures. She wears her heart on her sleeve, is loyal to the end and prides herself on being a great friend.” She’s also anything from a size 8 to a size 26, and the brand’s social media actually backs this up – they use models of all sizes in their campaigns, and on most of their product pages.

I ordered both this and a fabulous sweater that you’ll see as soon as the weather starts to cool. (Their slogan jumpers? Looooovve.) and they both fit perfectly, were good quality, arrived quickly, and were nicely packaged. Shipping was a not-too-prohibitive £9.

This past weekend (for brunch, naturally) I teamed the tee with a denim skirt that was part of my last eShakti order.

I’m not sure if I can express quite how much I’m loving being able to order from eShakti. The store’s new-and-improved order period (my last order took ten days to arrive! For three custom-sized items!)  and their regular discount and special offers has meant that my wardrobe is growing in leaps and bounds. This denim skirt fits like a dream, and the fabric’s better quality than I’d expected. It’s very stretchy, but doesn’t pull across my hips and tummy as I usually find pencil skirts do.

I recently took the plunge on a jumpsuit and a fancy new party dress that you might have caught in my Instagram stories (along with some majorly goofy facial expressions), and I’m keen to try their trousers next.