Handmade on Holiday

One thing I was determined to do for my holiday was ensure that I took and wore at least one of my handmade pieces of clothing. Funnily enough though, a lot of my pieces are more suited to British weather – yes, several of them are more typically summery looking dresses, but they’re either made out of a heavier material, lined or made from a fabric that isn’t “summery” in my eyes, so my task was more difficult than it first appeared! I did make a little skirt out of a blue and white anchor print fabric with red exposed bias binding on the hem before leaving, but the shape was slightly odd (it had a bit of a bubble effect which I didn’t fully like), so I decided to leave that at home. So in the end, the only truly handmade piece that made the trip was my Beach Houses dress, made from Simplicity 2444. I did also take a bandeau bra top that I fashioned into a strappy backed contraption to wear under a low backed top that I’d bought – I only have one picture of that though and it’s not particularly flattering!
Nevertheless, this dress didn’t let me down! Okay, the fabric is actually not so lightweight for holiday, but for an evening out it was perfectly fine. Simplicity 2444 is probably my favourite dress pattern as it fits me well, has a nice length skirt and has several sleeve/collar options. To be honest, I could probably work on tweaking the bodice to fit me more closely – I think it’ll be a case of going down a size for the waist but doing a full bust adjustment. We’ll see how that goes! I’ve worn the dress before on the blog here, and have also shown you two other dresses I’ve made from Simplicity 2444 – my Sailor Pin Up Girls one (from a duvet cover!) and my favourite ever memade dress, my Lighthouse one.

This outfit styling is a little unusual for me. My old denim jacket used to be a staple for me on holiday because it was cropped (so went with my high waisted or nipped in waist clothes easily) and warm for air conditioning. But then I left it on a plane. At the beginning of the holiday. Yes, you can imagine how upset I was about that! So there was nothing for it but to buy a new denim jacket. My original one was a Matalan one and I searched eBay to no avail (apart from this Primark one which I didn’t really like, so has now gone to charity), so I had to try a few new brands to find one I liked. I eventually found this one in Animal at the York Designer Outlet (mentioned in my recent post!) for a knock down price. It’s longer than my old one and a darker colour – I’m still not convinced I like it as much (you can tell how much I loved the old one – there are 3 pages of posts where I’m wearing it on the blog!), but I guess it’s a slightly more “grown up” version if that makes sense!
The other thing about this outfit that’s entirely different for me: the shoes, Converse! I bought these on holiday from an outlet mall where we managed to get them cheaper than they would normally be, plus another pair of shoes for half price (Ben bought some Skechers). I’d been wanting some Converse to wear with more casual outfits and for things like Brownies, as I often just turn up in ballet flats, so I was really pleased to get them for a good price! I’d initially been wanting white, but after being dissuaded by the family considering how clumsy I am, I went for these nice safe grey ones. And I’ve worn them so much since getting them. I would never have thought about wearing them with a dress before, particularly a knee length one, but I decided to go for that kind of 50s casual look, and despite it not being particularly flattering on the legs, I really like it!