The Winter is Coming dress

No, this dress does not have anything to do with Game of Thrones. But it is the last summery dress I'll be making this year.

 

 I usually make at least one coat every winter. Last year I got carried away with summery dresses and made nothing else (almost) all year. By the time we got through winter and summer came around again, I was kind of annoyed at myself.

So here is the last summer dress of the year.

I absolutely love the fabric I've used for the bodice. The print is just beautiful. I have a feeling it would also look amazing with a skirt in a rusty red colour. I don't completely love it with the blue skirt of this dress, but it will do.

For some reason the skirt came out really tight. It fitted really well at the waist but there was a lot of seam allowance along the zip, which I had to let out. I haven't tried sitting in it yet so I'm going to assume it will not actually split open when I do.

I have crazy cat lady hair in these photos. I started with my hair in a bun, decided it was boring, so I took it out and it just fluffed up everywhere. I still have one short side from when I shaved half my head a while ago; at the rate it's growing it should be shoulder length by the end of the year.

And just to prove I really am going to make wintery stuff for winter, here is a little sneak peek of a coat I've started on.

F*ck off summer. There is velvet and fur and silk in my future and I must wear them.

A day with Miss Fisher's 1920's costumes

Yesterday, along with Jay and Mumsie, I visited the Rippon Lea estate to see the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries Costume Exhibition.

The exhibition features many of the beautiful and glorious costumes from the television series based on the books by Kerry Greenwood. I love, love, love the books and the series is, well, good enough I suppose! I'm the sort of person who likes books to be adapted into series and films with nothing altered. The series is light and silly and it's fun to see the characters come to life.

 First stop, tea and scones. And some photos, of course.

 

Dress - ASOS

Boots & tights - old

Cameo necklace - gift from Jay

Cameo ring - (old) Samantha Wills

Upon entering the mansion (a situation in which I find myself every day, darling) we were delighted to discover a rack of coats, capes and feather boas, accompanied by a bowlful of fascinators and headbands, available purely for the purpose of dressing up and getting into the swing of things.

 

 

How could we resist?

 

One of the actual costumes is shown behind us here.

   

    

As you can see, I was not enjoying myself at all. And is that an admirer in the background? 

One of my usuals, no doubt.

Time to get down to business and see the exhibition. Sadly, no other photography was permitted, so here are some of the costumes we saw, as shown in the souvenir booklet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 If you are not able to visit the exhibit I can only highly recommend watching the series to see more of the costumes, as they are quite exquisite. 

The exhibition was spread out through several rooms, with headless bodies and large (fake) knives lying around in abundance. I'd never been to Rippon Lea before, and seeing the house was as much of a treat as seeing the costumes.

 After the exhibit we took a stroll around the gardens. We couldn't have picked a better day for it.

I was very excited by everything we saw. 

"A bridge! Someone take my photo with this bridge!"

"A tree! Someone take my photo with this tree! It's huge!"

"OMG! A seat! Wait! Wait! I need a photo with this seat!"

I ended up with almost 200 photos. I was a happy little black duck.