Who ordered Autumn early?

 This is usually my favourite time of year, as spring slides into summer, but the weather here in Britain has been truly awful. Rain, rain, rain and... oh, more rain! I shouldn't grumble too hard; one part of Lincolnshire is flooded after getting two months' rain in two days, but it would be better for my tomato plants and flowers if we had some more sunshine.

The upshot of all this horrid weather is that I've dug out my winter coat again, and have been wearing my heavier clothing again. This blue dress is the one I bought to wear to a work event earlier this year. It ended up causing a massive anxiety flare-up for me. I had thought of getting rid of the dress – it was a charity shop purchase to start with – but you know what? I like this dress. And it's not the dress's fault I had such a bad time the first time I wore it again. So I wore it again and had a good day, and it's not an unlucky dress.


The first time I wore the dress, I had to wear shapewear with it, but I'm a few pounds down now and didn't need it this time. I've been using MyFitnessPal to count calories, and while I'm not always good at sticking to its limits, it is making me more aware of what I'm consuming and my weight is dropping slowly. (And yes, my back is feeling better, though that could also be the more frequent gym attendance helping tone up my muscles. I'm determined to get myself fitter and less achy.) It's really lovely looking through my wardrobe at my too-small vintage and thinking some of it might be wearable later this year, rather than that I should just get rid of it all.

Another thing I was thinking of getting rid of but am glad I hung onto is this man's black shirt. I bought it in a sale years ago, and thought my style had changed, but wore it again this week and thought it looked pretty good, so I guess I'll be keeping it after all.

And all those old clothes brings me onto slow fashion season, an initiative getting people to pledge not to buy new clothes for three months. If you follow any of the same bloggers or Instagrammers as me you've probably heard about it already. Well, I have absolutely no plans to buy any new clothes, but I don't feel I can sign up to the campaign in good faith as I already know I'm going to be buying new fabric during the next three months. Even if I make myself things using secondhand fabric or cloth out of my stash, I am planning to make a shirt for Pete, and that's going to mean new cloth. He has very particular tastes. Okay, the scheme is no more new clothes for onesself, but new cloth for my hobby seems a bit too close to the line. That said, I will pledge to you here and now to buy no new readymade clothes for three months – I'll be wearing things out of the wardrobe (including, fingers crossed, some of that too-small vintage), and anything new for myself will be made of secondhand cloth or wool/fabric from my stash.

Has the awful weather made you turn back to your winter wardrobe too?

Comments

  1. You look absolutely ravishing, Mim! That dress fits you perfectly and you look so good in black. I can see a slight shift in your style of late, you're radiating sass and confidence.
    I think you should sign up for Slow Fashion Season. The challenge is no new clothes, no mention of fabric and I can't imagine any material you'd buy would be of questionable quality. You've got seven days before the challenge starts so there's a whole week to buy Pete's shirt fabric.
    xxx

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    1. Well, I've signed up! Now can I stick to it?...

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  2. We had a rather good irish stew the other night . So thats one highlight of the Linconshire flood season ,the other being just up the road from the major floods Lincolnshire is having the most lush green summers ive seen in years

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    1. My family in Norfolk are constantly going on about the damage the rain's doing to the barley. (If rain isn't damaging the barley, lack of rain is bad for the sugar beet...)

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  3. It's such a contrast weather-wise to last year isn't it? I did pack all my winter coats up the attic, and left one new-to-me (but secondhand) out so that I would at least look different at first glance from my winter-wear. That dress is lovely on you, you'll have to make some fab memories wearing it to cancel out the bad event! I was thinking about that challenge too, but I really need some new pants... xx

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    1. Gotta have pants!

      And yeah, I'm going to make my own good luck.

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  4. Mim, you look gorgeous in that dress! It looks very versatile, too. You could wear a white shirt or a jumper underneath; or any shirt come to think of it.

    Good job you hung onto the black shirt; it looks fab. I love that pintucking (?) on the front of the shirt, in fact I love it on any type of garment - although it's a bugger to iron!

    I'll say the weather has been miserable...I resorted to boots and scarves again in an effort to warm up.

    Hope you get to wear some of your currently too small vintage soon!
    xxx

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    1. Thank you!

      I think black shirt has had a reprieve; the fabric is woven in a beautiful paisley pattern and I know I'll regret it later if I get rid of it.

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  5. I think I'm beginning to understand why you love navy so much. That dress is gorgeous on you and it looks great with your hair! I'm glad you managed to turn it into a happy dress by wearing it again. We've had a couple of hot days two weeks ago, but it's our usual up and down weather again by now. We haven't had as much rain as you, although it has rained quite heavily these past few days. I haven't turned to my Winter wardrobe yet, although I have been wearing ankle boots quite a lot. I need to get my thinking cap on on what to take to Shropshire ... xxx

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    1. I would definitely advise an umbrella! Though it hasn't been especially cold here, just very wet.

      I keep trying to move away from the navy, but things keep popping up. And they go so well with everything else I own...

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  6. I LOVE that plaid dress! The top is so intricate and all foldy and eee...I love it!

    Oh, I think there is enough leeway for you to buy fabric, Mim. I plan to "lawyer" the rules so that I can have something new that someone else buys for me (like my husband buying me shoes!). It's the spirit rather than the letter of it - not buying fast fashion new is the goal. Go for it! No one's going to be mad if you aren't strict about it. :)

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