Black Circle Skirt

Hey look, another black jersey item...how exciting! 

Yes fine, it's not the most challenging make, but I'd argue that a good circle skirt is a pretty essential part of a wardrobe. Especially when that wardrobe has to fit into a rucksack and spend the next two weeks travelling by rail and bus through Poland, Germany and France. 

It was for that very reason that I chose this black, textured double-knit jersey from my gigantic eBay haul of a couple of years ago. The fabric's weight gave the skirt a nice drape, while the all-over crinkly texture helped disguise most packing wrinkles. I was able to shake it out of the bag and put it on without fussing with an iron. Best of all, it helped me look and feel slightly more elegant - even when I was just wearing a t-shirt - then the pair of shorts and crumpled trousers I'd brought along. 

The lovely team at By Hand London brought out a circle skirt app several months ago - if you haven't tried it yet, what the hell are you waiting for? It's helped simplify things so much, and was what I used to make this skirt. I've used it before to make another circle skirt - a navy and white striped piece that has yet to be blogged. And now I keep wanting to make more skirts! I'm currently restraining myself from making 20 different circle skirts, but it's hard to do when the app makes it so easy and the results are so comfortable. 

There's not much else to say about this skirt really - other than I really LOVE IT and have worn it A LOT. So much, in fact, that I have to make a conscious effort not to wear it every week so the people I work with don't think I only have one set of clothes. I really should make one or two more circle skirts in other fabrics to change things up a bit. 

What else? It's got a lapped zipper, and a waistband made of the same fabric, which unfortunately stretched a bit but is really useful for when I've eaten too much. Oh, it's also got big, deep pockets, lined in big pink fabric. For keeping my hands in, either on cold days or when I'm feeling awkward and have no idea what to do with them.

 Sunglasses - Shotgun Wedding at the Tea Rooms, T-shirt - op-shop, Skirt - self-made, Bag - op-shop, plimsolls - John Lewis

Pele-Mele

What's a holiday without a visit to at least one ramshackle second-hand bookshop, eh? Pele-Mele is a small-ish Belgian chain (there are two other branches in Brussels) that buys and sells books, magazines, records, and some toys. It's also a brilliant way to escape from a grey, rainy Brussels day. 

For the hardcore tram aficionado

The majority of books and records are Belgian or French, although there's a small selection of English-language books toward the back of the store. (See this photo above? It's here, as well as on the wall in front of it.) You might have to do some pretty thorough excavations to find an interesting book (be prepared to wade through lots of airport-books/Paulo Coelho/non-Harry-Potter J.K Rowling/perhaps even a Dan Brown or two!, you get my drift), as most of the tomes on offer seem to have been offloaded by backpackers passing through the capital. Still, isn't that part of the fun of second-hand shopping? The thrill of looking for treasure, the possibility of finding something special! 

Or you could simply pick up a few copies of Tram 2000 for the special tram-spotter in your life.

Beautiful wallpaper - I need this

Pele-Mele

Boulevard Maurice Lemonnier 55

1000 Brussels

Belgium

Rocks and Bones

You don't expect me to miss out on dinosaurs, do you? Even though I'd already been there on my first trip to Brussels, I had to revisit my favourite Belgian museum again. There's something pleasantly old-fashioned about this place - the beautiful wrought iron stairs, awkwardly posed models, and the glass-fronted cases in the geology section. Having lots of big dinosaur skeletons around don't hurt either. 

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences 

Rue Vautier 29

1000 Brussels

Belgium

Fast Food Brussels

So, I went to Brussels last week! Which you would have known if you bothered to follow me on Instagram (or 'Instant-gram', as the Manbacon calls it). It ain't all fine-dining in fancy restaurants when I'm on holiday...sometimes I get to eat some fast food too. 

The interior at Exki in Porte de Namur

Exki is a Belgian chain in the vein of Pret a Manger/Itsu, and they seem to be everywhere in Brussels. We went to the branch in Porte de Namur, because we needed to calm down after a visit to the Dino Museum where we were surrounded by rowdy toddlers.

The food is precisely what you'd expect from such places - clean-looking, supposedly healthy sandwiches, pastas, noodle dishes, soups and drinks. Their staff are cheery and wholesome-looking, and the dining room upstairs was bright, airy, and warm, with a mix of Ikea-style and random 'vintage' furniture. All very clean, as you'd expect. It made me feel a little like I should have wiped my battered plimsolls on the mat before entering. They also provide complimentary Wifi, so you can grab a couple of drinks and while away an afternoon if you're so inclined.

Manbacon went for a roast chicken sandwich from the refrigerated section - probably not the best choice on a blustery cold Brussels afternoon. So it wasn't much of a surprise when he said he didn't think much of it. The single bite I made tasted rather...indistinct, and certainly didn't make me want to have more. In fact, I'd initially assumed the beige, insipid-tasting meat was some sort of turkey, until informed otherwise. My quiche, on the other hand, was pleasantly warm and had generous portions of bacon and ham in it. What else can I say about it? It was a salty warm quiche, I had no complains.

Exki (locations all around Brussels)

Bacon, ham and cheese quiche

Phillipa - roast chicken sandwich with a carrot and ginger emulsion, salad and olive oil dressing

Hector on De Brouckere

How could we resist the bright lights of Hector? It seemed so out of place, a fried chicken joint right beside our fancypants hotel. We'd been burning through episodes of Breaking Bad, and if you've seen it, you'll know that a fried chicken restaurant is almost a major character in the series. Part of us really, REALLY wanted to meet a Belgian Gus Fring and maybe uncover a major meth business. The other parts just wanted to sit in a warm place and indulge in some fried chicken.

Unfortunately, Gus didn't seem to be at work the day we were there. We relayed our orders to the two guys industriously frying up coated chicken pieces, then took a tray and slid it towards the cashier, stopping to help ourselves to drinks and sauces ('Samourai' and 'Andalouse'). The experience was reminiscent of school lunchtimes. 

No. 3 - Wings, chips and coleslaw

And the fried chicken? Not bad...but not up there with my current favourite fried chicken place - Chicken Inn on Rye Lane. The wings were juicy enough, although rather unevenly crispy. There certainly wasn't a pleasurable shattering of batter when I bit into it. Still, it's a stack of hot fried chicken and chips, so who am I to complain? Also a side of coleslaw and requisite limp lettuce leaf, for the, y'know, vitamins and that. No blue meth on the side. 

Hector (locations all around Brussels)

No. 4 - Chicken tenders, chips and coleslaw

Brighton Summer

Towards the end of summer, my lovely Jodie came over from Sydney for a (much too short) visit. We decided that a daytrip to Brighton was in order. Despite London being typically wet and grey when we left in the morning, by the time we got to Brighton, the weather had decided to behave, and we had a glorious day by the seaside. 

Black Poppy - Refashioned Floral Dress

The original dress (plus some wrinkles)

This dress, like so many of my other refashioned items, was found in an op-shop (for the bargain price of £2.99! I love Salvos!), and originally from Marks and Spencers. I loved the print and drapey fabric, and the bodice evoked 1940s dresses with its double-breasted opening. Unfortunately, it was a size 16, and way too long for me - the skirt went down to my ankles. The shoulders were also much too big, and padded as well, for full 1980s effect.

Out came my trusty seam ripper, and off went the sleeves and skirt. There was some elastic along the waist, so I gently unpicked that too, and saved it, just in case. I started by adding some bust and waist darts, and then took in an inch along each side seam, to bring in the bodice and make it a closer fit. The shoulders were still too big, so I cut off an inch at the top (narrowing it down to nothing at the bottom of the armscye). This of course meant the sleeves were a little too big when I tried to set them in, so instead of gathering and easing it in, I added two little pleats to the top of the sleeves. You can see how that turned out in the photo above - I'm quite pleased with it, although of course it means I have to iron them down after every wash.

After that, everything else got done fairly quickly and smoothly. I gathered the skirt and attached it back to the bodice, then reattached the elastic that I had unpicked from the dress earlier. The belt was still much too big though, so I added a couple more holes with the help of my trusty eyelet kit. I found mine in an op-shop, but you can find a similar kit here - trust me, it's more useful than you think it will be. 

The only thing left was to shorten the skirt. I briefly considered leaving it long, as I'm partial to a good mid-length skirt, but this just looked a little too mumsy for my taste. So I ended up taking a good EIGHT inches off, which left it at a nice just-above-the-knee length. Job done, and it's quickly become one of the dresses I reach for whenever I want to feel just a little bit (not too much) dressed up.

Villa Royale, Paris

Nope, there's no need to adjust your screens. The Villa Royale, which was our home for our four nights in Paris, is indeed this colourful and OTT. Oh why yes, I did go to Paris again, a mere month after my last 24-hour trip there. Why? Mainly because I just wanted to spend more time eating tiny cakes and walking around Paris, and also because it was a big-number birthday for me. I was completely enraptured by the blinged-out decor when searching for a hotel online, and to top it off, there was a whopping 30% off the price. Sometimes the stars just align...

Anyway, the Villa Royal certainly lived up to my expectations. All the photos above were taken in the lobby, and I haven't even got to the rooms yet. Each room is named after a notable French person - we got the Edith Piaf room, which had French windows that opened out onto a little balcony overlooking the Place Pigalle. 

Now, Place Pigalle has a reputation for being seedy and rowdy, and is lined with neon-lit sex shops, so may not be the ideal destination for some, but I really enjoyed staying there. I liked the neon lights, and the liveliness, and the general energy of the area. Aaand it's only a 5 minute stroll from the famous Moulin Rouge, as well as being very close to Montmartre and Rue des Martyrs, a street lined with yummy food shops and restaurants (more on that in a later post). 

Our room was on the small side, but then again, most rooms in Paris seem to be small. It's a very crowded city, after all. Anyway, who goes to Paris to spend all day in their rooms?! By the way, did I mention our room had pink silk walls? And a princess bed? And pink padding on all the doors? All in all, a delicious girly confection of a room. I did feel rather sorry for Manbacon, although he did say that he liked it a lot more than other more minimalist hotel rooms. I'm sure he actually loved it too.