Crinoline Robot's vintage week

Maybe it’s the sunshine, maybe it’s finding a set of uranium glass dishes in a charity shop weekend, or maybe it's taking part in the #vintagefashionchallenge on Instagram, but I am really feeling my love of old tat right now.

 It was also Mr Robot's birthday this week, so we went for a really delicious dinner at a restaurant called Henry's, behind the Assembly Rooms (where the Fashion Museum is, if you know Bath). We both work nearer the train station and it felt like it had been ages since we went into that part of the city. It was lovely seeing the Circus in late afternoon. (If you don't know Bath, the curved terrace above is one of three forming a circular street, called The Circus, and it's just down from the Royal Crescent, probably the city's most famous street. They're not big on straight roads round here, which is ironic given how the city swanks about its Roman heritage.)

I’m only three days into the vintage fashion challenge, and for the first couple of days (themes: ‘You, in a nutshell’ and ‘Heritage and roots’) I felt really awful – so many people had beautiful photos of themselves, and I’m acutely aware of how I’m neither naturally beautiful or polished into elegant perfection. I was also annoyed at not having better-quality photos of my family. But yesterday’s theme was ‘Eras’, and that made me look at all my lovely 1960s frocks and think ahead to my sewing plans, and the happiness I felt was exactly why I took up the challenge. Not to compare myself and be found wanting, but as a useful exercise in counting my blessings and seeing where actually things are okay. Today it’s ‘People and places’ and so I will be celebrating YOU.

Still can’t actually wear my vintage gear, but that’s fine for now: after a month, I’ve managed to shift my lunches at work over to mostly salad, and turning down biccies when offered is easy now. The weight took a long time to go on, it might take a long while to come off, but the lifestyle shift is happening. Mr Robot and I have even had the odd vegetarian day, thanks to interesting curry recipes and being too lazy to haul ourselves over to Devizes to the butcher every weekend. And I’ve some nice non-vintage pieces to wear; photographing myself in those has reminded me that even if my vintage doesn’t fit, I’m still not the appalling blob I think of myself as. I’m a nicely-dressed fat lady, and that’s just dandy.

More good things from charity shops: vintage crime from the Oxfam bookshop. I wasn’t surprised to find the repro one, but the older volume of Christie and that lovely hardback were a pleasant surprise. No idea what The Gazebo will be like, but it's a hardback with a nigh-immaculate dust jacket and it called to me...

We’ve got next week off, and I’m planning to make another version of the 1960s top – hopefully the second version in modern fabric will work and I’ll be able to move on to the vintage cloth. Perhaps I’ll whip up some cushions from our Indian silk too.

There are books to read, and things to cook, and people to see… and with luck that Instagram challenge will keep providing more inspiration. Here’s to brighter days, and if you too are doing the challenge I look forward to seeing your photos.