Well Fit

I haven't been out much due to the dreaded exam season. Endless paperwork and evening/weekend classes... happily they are now completed, students feeling confident, staff sorted- so my social life can start afresh with this bank holiday weekend. Huzzah!

Being housebound with paperwork of a weekend, naturally I used my full reserve of intellectual and creative power to avoid anything resembling an Excel spreadsheet until Sunday evening when it absolutely positively had to be done. Bad girl. Rebelling against years of 'no TV until you can show me your homework' as a child.

So, I have finally taken in that teal tunic I bought months and months ago. It was a size 10, River Island, but sadly - in spite of being a rare tags-on-in-a-charity-shop find, the stretch fabric wasn't up to the job. I have a large hip-waist ratio so the fabric which fitted well across my bust and hips 'bagged' in the back and made my waist look thicker. Grrr. Things that don't fit are a massive bugbear of mine.

I wish shops would label them more clearly. At least then people like me, of a slightly unusual build, could shop with ease. Retrochick has started a campaign about this which I support wholeheartedly and urge anyone who reads this too. The message is simple: label clothing with CMs and inches, not just 'size 10' etc'. Not least because as everyone knows, size 10 in one shop can mean size 12 or 8 in another. It would just save SO much time and stress for the shopper- and probably enable better stock control and sales for the shops, too. Simple, innit?

The link above also has a super-useful WHICH? table of sizes on the high-street, I've printed it and popped it in my purse, it tells you exactly what a size is in each shop.

Anyway, in this case I did purchase it from my local Barnardos for well under the RRP, so once laundered, my rubbishness at all things haberdashery related did not deter me (I would have been hesitant had it cost the full £40. No, wait: I just wouldn't have bought it. Or bought it and let it end up, unworn in Barnardo's window... See, shops, see what I mean about accurate sizes = sales?).

It has a gathering under the bust, so at the front I simply adjusted it to create more volume round the ruffly bit and thus reduce the size under the bust. This does mean that the Bros. Mitchel are super-emphasised (for non Eastenders fans, imagine these guys peeping over a low cut top) and thus for decency' sake I shall forthwith wear it as a disco-style tunic with flares (one does not do cleavaage and leggaaage in the same look, dahlins. One is super classy like that).

The colour is more a bright teal/turquoise,
His Lordship's Iphone and poor lighting...

Yeah I did have a Veronica Lake style peekaboo that day but the rain and wind did for it, so I just look like ginger Phantom Of The Opera.

To reflect the ruffle/gather on the front, I took in the back by folding in and stitching the fabric in the small of my back. This added some front/back symmetry. It also made his Lordship sing 'Baby Got Back' due to it's emphasis of my derriere (but that's OK, one is not that classy).

As you can see, the gathering shortened it, but no worries
as I'll only be wearing it as a tunic with flares or leggings.

Mmm. I know what I'll do, post a picture
of my big ass in a shiny velvet top on 'tinterweb.
Err. Yeah sorry- just focus on the gathered waist.
This is what happens when you get your fella to take this angle of photo.

And soon I'll be in the midst of birthday-season (how strange - so many F&F have birthdays over the next two months) so a glam-top-with-palazzos will be perfect day-to-evening pubwear. Huzzah.