I’ve been shopping a lot in my closet lately, since everything I’ve bought over the summer is languishing on top of my partner’s bookshelf till he comes over! And so frustrated did I get at the absence of oversized, drop waisted things in my life, I ended up DIYing this dress yesterday! The more confident I’ve become in my body over the years, the less I’ve felt the need to wear waist defining clothes. I’ve discarded most of my fashion don’ts by now, but I clung on for ages to the idea that drop waisted dresses weren’t for me, because that’s one of the first pieces of fashion ‘advice’ I remember getting as a fatty. I wouldn’t have been caught dead in this dress when I started this blog! But look at how cute it is, me of the past????!?!! I’m glad my style evolution has included rejecting the tyranny of the waist. 

Even though my sewing skills aren’t great on their best days, all the DIY and decorating I’ve been doing around my room recently has made me more confident about crafting in general. This dress was originally a Hyacinth Bucket-esque 80s horror complete with boxy sleeves. I used a safety pin to pick the sleeves off, and fabric tape for the hems, which was way easier than fiddling about with pins! (Here’s a short, crappy video on my Instagram explaining how ?)  I’m super happy with how well everything turned out, and my landlady even told me that I seem a lot less depressed since I started my diwows. I guess she’s right. There’s something about domesticity that brings me so much peace and calm – probably because I waited so long for it, until it just became another one of my pipe dreams. And now, a full year after my lowest ebb, I feel like I finally am where I’d always wanted to be. With absolutely zero sarcasm, I’m truly blessed for that. 

Wearing

Vintage 80s dress, altered  //  ASOS sequin collar {similar here}  //  JuJu Jelly shoes