September feels like a good time for new beginnings. Our eldest daughter has just flown the nest, which leaves a spare room in the house! This is going to be my new sewing room; leaving my previous one as a study and art studio. I’m currently in the midst of stripping old wallpaper, and then it will be filling the cracks, painting the walls, and carrying all my sewing stuff upstairs. There’s a lot to do, so I’m not starting any commissions right now. However, if you’re not in a hurry, please get in touch and we can start the ball rolling for your custom made dress. When the room is finished, I’ll be raring to go!
Helen Hobden
Glastonbury Festival
Well folks, the Glastonbury Festival line-up is now out! Are you going? Who are you looking forward to seeing?
Don’t forget to take a look in the Threads of a Fairytale shop for your sustainable festival fashion!
How to dress more creatively in March
Hello! Here’s this month’s new blog post with ideas to freshen up your outfit choices and dress a little more creatively.
Dark and Pastel
Continuing my How to Dress more Creatively series.
March is a funny old month. I feel like every year there’s a few days when the sun shines and everyone feels hopeful for spring, but the reality is, March is often still a pretty gloomy month! It’s also pretty cold, but oh my goodness we are so done with winter.
Thick black leggings are still keeping my legs warm, but I’m ready to add a little spring into my wardrobe. And this is where mixing dark colours with pastels comes in. The classy way to go about this is to go tonal, so if you have navy on your bottom half, you can go pastel blue on the top half. Mix burgundy with pastel pink; rich brown with cream; Forrest green with light green. This looks timelessly stylish.
And if you have a lot of black or dark grey clothing in your wardrobe, instead of adding pale grey so you look like a cloudy sky; why not mix it up a little and go with any pastel shade you like?! In alternative circles this is called ‘Pastel goth’! I agree with Trinny (from Trinny and Susannah) that black and a colour of the same intensity can dull or even cheapen the look, but if you’re going for pastel colours rather than brights, I think they look lovely together. The intensity of black with an unexpected splash of pale pink or lilac is pretty cool in my opinion!
I don’t currently have any dark florals in the Threads of a Fairytale shop at the moment, but dresses with a black background and a pale floral print looks really pretty at this time of year too, and will look good with your black boots.
So if you’re ready to add some spring into your life, then take a fresh look at your wardrobe and see if you can find some new mixes of dark with pastel colours.
How to wear red!
There’s a new blog post up with ideas to dress a little brighter and bolder in February. How to dress more creatively.
How to dress more creatively in February
I can’t help but think of the month of February being the month of love. Just because Valentine’s Day only falls on the fourteenth, doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate it every other day as well! Whether you have a partner or are celebrating just how brilliant you are; it’s a good job it comes around at this time of year because otherwise February would be a very cold, drab month!
So take your cue from the bunches of roses and pyjamas covered in hearts, and look through your wardrobe for some bright red clothing. By the way, I love pink and red together for an amazing clash of colours!
Cheer yourself and everyone around you up because red is a bold, bright colour that shows everyone you mean business whilst also having a sense of fun. It is a colour to enjoy, and I love it!
How to wear red:
- My advice would be not to wear it with black as that can make your outfit look less sophisticated.
- Instead, wear red with charcoal grey or chocolate brown if you’re going for separates. If you’re wearing a red dress, that advice also goes for your shoes or boots.
- Alternatively, go tonal with other shades of red. Just check you’re not mixing cool reds (that lean towards purple) with warm reds (that lean towards orange).
Online workshops are coming!
I’m really excited because things are finally coming together for the workshop I’ve been talking about for years now! I have the information video to edit, and actual workshop page to finish, but it’s moving forward at a pace! If you’re interested, don’t forget to sign up for newsletters to be the first to know more.
Happy New Year! Need wardrobe inspiration?
Happy New Year! I hope 2023 brings you lots of magical moments!
I’m starting a new series about How to dress more creatively each month. I’ll post it on the blog, but it will also be in the monthly newsletter (which I’m going to be a lot better about this year!) along with any current discounts in the shop or other relevant news. If you haven’t signed up yet, please join us!
Are you still sparkling?
A few years’ ago I gave my old personal blog a new look and started a fashion blogging section (It’s whenIgrowupblog.com if you’d like a look) and something that came from that is people were genuinely interested in advice and inspiration for how to dress more creatively. So I’m going to start a monthly guide for those of you feeling a little bit bored with your wardrobe. I thought this links in nicely with Threads of a Fairytale as I’m always trying to encourage people to be a little more adventurous with their clothing choices and really dress to match your true style and personality….
How to dress more creatively in January
Don’t gather up all your Christmas and New Year party dresses and hide them under the bed just yet! Winter is such a dreary time of year, and seems to last forever (here in the UK at least) so why limit your most fun items of clothing to just a couple of weeks around Christmas? Keep wearing those sparkly garments and I promise you, you will feel happier for it.
The key is to dress them down a little to make them more suitable for being back to work and back to your ‘normal’ life.
- Ok, so jumpers with Christmas trees or Rudolph might have to be folded away for now, but keep wearing those with metallic yarn running through them, or have more subtle decoration like a silver or gold trim. Instead of wearing with a satin skirt or heels like you might for a Christmas party; simply wear with jeans or plain trousers and chunky shoes or boots.
- Sequin or velvet dresses suddenly become more wearable if you simply put a plain knitted jumper over the top. Add a cotton shirt and a jacket over a satin slip dress and wear with trainers for a cool juxtaposition of styles.
- Sometimes it’s all about the footwear. Cheer everyone up in the office by full-on wearing your sparkly dress, but wear it with your more practical knee-length or ankle boots rather than your ‘going-out-out shoes’.
- If in doubt, honestly, a relaxed cardigan dresses down anything. Fling one over the top of a wedding dress and you’d probably get away with it!
I hope you enjoy looking through your wardrobe (or ‘shop your wardrobe’ as I’ve heard it called!) and finding some new outfits to wear. 🙂
A luxury Disney Costume for Halloween
As you can probably already tell, I love fairytales; and so, although I didn’t get to watch much Disney when I was growing up, my daughters compensated by watching plenty! Costumes inspired by iconic Disney characters are a classic recognisable theme to go to for a Halloween costume, so here’s a luxury Snow White costume.
The blue top has been adapted from an Indian satin and chiffon top with genuine Swarovski crystals. The yellow skirt is made from pure silk with a silk chiffon and sequin frill at the hem. I enjoyed giving the costume a Halloween twist with the touches of red that make it so distinguishable as Snow White. It could even be a Disney zombie costume with the red jersey falling like drips of blood! Just add some splatters of fake blood to your arms and legs for the complete look.
(Click the photos to shop.) If this adult Snow White costume isn’t for you, take a look for more sustainable Halloween costume ideas here.