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

The Lil(le) Black Dress

Now that winter is well and truly on it's way, why not do a post about a really hot summery daytrip in July, eh? The occasion was The Manbacon's 35th birthday, and I'd spent the previous two weeks frantically arranging tickets to Lille, and making sure that he'd booked that day off, while keeping the trip a surprise from him. I also managed to make myself a little black dress for the trip, in between everything else. 

It's difficult to make out many details on this dress, but it's made with black jersey (from the op-shop, of course), to a bodice pattern by Sew Vera Venus. The pattern itself is only available in one size, for busts between 35 to 37 inches, and is meant for woven fabrics. Since I usually wear a 34" bust, I simply 'cheated' and made the seam allowances slightly larger, instead of faffing about with grading it down. I figured that since my fabric had quite a bit of stretch to it, it wouldn't really matter too much if I accidentally took too much in.  

Once the bodice came together, it took no time at all to make a skirt from the rest of the fabric (simply two rectangles joined at the side seams) and attach it to the top. I also cut a long strip of fabric and sewed it into a tube, to make the spaghetti straps for my dress. Probably not the best idea to use a flimsy strip of stretchy jersey to hold up your dress - I spent many minutes throughout the day tugging at the bodice and tying and retying the straps and as they had a tendency to stretch and head south as the day progressed. 

Other than that little problem (which seems to have finally sorted itself out - the straps seem to have stopped stretching), the dress itself was a dream to wear, especially on a filthy hot, humid summer day. I've since worn that dress several times, putting it to the test by cycling and even getting tangled in blackberry bushes while wearing it, and it's held up wonderfully. 

As I mentioned above, it was a pretty disgustingly sweaty type of day, so we passed the worst of it in the seemingly under-hyped treasure that is the Lille Natural History Museum (Musee d'Histoire Naturelle). There was almost no one else there except for us and the staff, so we explored the collections in peace. There's plenty of wonderful taxidermy animals in it, including the rather magnificent Ron Swanson-like snow leopard above, as well as a little tableau showing how they mount the animals for display. 

The twitchers among you might also be interested to know that the museum has a vast collection of stuffed birds, all displayed in beautiful old vitrines, including hundreds of jewel-toned hummingbirds. These were breathtaking, I spent ages staring at them trying to memorise every single detail. There are a few displays of dinosaur fossils, although nowhere near as spectacular as the displays at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. And, almost forgotten in a hidden corner upstairs, is a rather lonely little axolotl. It's quite a small musuem, but it's got such a still, old-fashioned air about it that it's easy to lose hours in there enjoying the various exhibits. 

Dress - self made, pattern from Sew Vera Venus, handbag - vintage, belt - Sainsburys, sunglasses - vintage

Musée d’Histoire Naturelle

19, rue de Bruxelles
59000 Lille

France