Lime green eyelet dress with lime green car, dress of the day 421

Angela Lansbury in green eyelet dress, by green car, with green and multi-colour umbrella. Photo by Trevor Sharot.
 

I bought this eyelet dress on eBay. I was looking for an eyelet dress. (Eyelet dresses used to be called broderie anglaise. Once folksy, now fashionable. In the old days only white, now also in black and all kinds of colours.) What did I want? Preferably not white, because I already have one in white and would like a change.



I bid on this attractive lime green. I won the bidding at only five pounds but the postage was over three so the total was about eight pounds. Still a bargain. The dress price ticket said twenty pounds!

As the old saying goes, you win some, you lose some. This is one that I won, in both senses of the word. I won the auction. I won a bargain.

The Dress Brand & Label

The neck label says Made in Italy.

The hip length lining's inner hem has two labels. Both say the same. The wording reveals a brand name, Euro Miss UK Made in Italy. 

100 % viscose. Then the four washing symbols. Hand wash at maximum 30 degrees. Do not bleach. Cool iron, one dot. Do not tumble dry. May be dry cleaned, but only with certain products, hence the symbol P.

Surprise. Viscose. Yet it feels like soft, light, close weave, cool, cotton. 

The dress has no shoulder straps. Rather revealing. I can cover the arms with a white button-less, open-front jacket or blouse.

What if the dress drops? I could add a belt. I made a belt from an unwanted man's white tie. (Unwanted tie, not unwanted man.)

But the dress is not secure over the bust. My solution was to turn up the frill over the bust and tuck it into my bra. The frill fabric is inside out, but you don't notice.

Safety Pins To Secure

If I were out and about I would have to attach it the top with safety pins. To stop the top sliding and showing my bra.

Sewing Solution

 I prefer sewing if I have time. It feels more permanent and professional.

But I cannot attach the top permanently to a bra which I could otherwise wear with other items. 

Safety Pin Solution

So the solution is safety pins. But this is only temporary. You risk your clothes slipping and showing the safety pin. Admittedly Elizabeth Hurley wore a dress held together with safety pins. But they were in a neat line, all of the same size. Attached at regular intervals. Big and strong enough to hold the fabric. 

Besides, I don't like using safety pins. If you catch the fabric on anything, or pull your arms up, the safety pin does not pull out like cotton but makes a tear. That happened to a half slip which I tightened when the waist elastic went. I used safety pins to tighten it. The safety pins worked well for several weeks. But, finally, something bad, something sad, happened. 

Maybe I sat down suddenly and pulled it. Maybe the fabric finally tore after being stretched for days on end. 

The solution is to sew on two spaghetti straps of white ribbon. Maybe take the straps off an old slip. Even buy a small slip cheaply, in any size, from one of the cheapest shops, or a small bra, or one I no longer wear, just to use the straps. 

The Blouse

The blouse label says Zara Basic. XL. Made in China. 55 % linen.

The Tie

The tie label says Rockfield London Made in England polyester washable

Cream Sandals

The sandals are from Hotter, UK size five and a half.

Cream Socks

The socks are airline socks, like seemed tubes.

Bra

White sleep bra, Jockey for her, size M. Cover all bra. Size medium.

Useful Websites

https://www.yell.com/biz/euro-miss-london-2751233/

eBay

Zara

Wikipedia (on eyelet, broderie anglaise and company names and brand names.

Etsy

Washing symbols

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/washing-machines/article/washing-symbols-explained-aXkjx1J2v8nK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to repair a torn Mark & Spencer slip and make the hem wider, Post 294

Image
What is this? My repair.  I have a lovely shiny, smart black slip, from Marks & Spencers. It has a slit with pretty lace edging.  But it is slightly tight. It tore from the top of the slit, diagonally.  I looked for another slip. The ones I found onlin were twice the price and not in a satiny fabric. I wore it torn. I repaired it several times. It tore again.  I gave up. I wore it torn. Nobody sees. My husband saw. He complained. What could I do? It is useless to keep stitching it. It just tears again. I needed a new solution. I thought of adding a godet, a triangle of black fabric. I did not have anything to match. tht doesn't matter a godet is often a contrasting material. But that's when you have several godets and they look deliberate. I hunted in my sewing box. Boxes. All I had was teeny scraps of cloth in unsuitable fabrics. And ribbons. I thought about what I could do with the ribbons. They were not wide enough. But I could sew one each side of the slit. t...
Read more

Blue H & M Dress, dress of the day 393

Image
  Angela Lansbury wearing a blue background dress from H &M. Photo by Trevor Sharot. The Blue H & M Dress Blue background dress has a white pattern. Blues are hard to match. But I had a white blouse, so I wore this. On the internet and on Facebook you can see lots of videos of how to tie a scarf, but mine is simply hanging, which partly obscures the cleavage.  Cleavage cover I had a choice. To insert a dickey or false front, also called a removable or detachable collar. I have one or two which are plain white.  The alternative which saves hunting for a matching dickey without distracting collar colours and embrodiery, is simply to add a fastening. I decided that a snap or press stud fastener in small size is qhich to fasten and unlikely to pull apart (as opposed to hook and eye. I like velcro but it can scratch your skin, so the press stud was the right andwer. You have to get the two sides exactly measured up from the point of the V neck otherwide you end up with...
Read more

Period Pants from Marks & Spencer & More, post 345

Image
Period pants from Savida. Pants, UK. In the USA they would be called underpants. They come in two colours, black or dark blue with a mottled effect. They are triple layer. Could be useful for hiking and travelling. Or when you have a cough.  A pack of three full briefs for fifteen pounds. I then googled period pants and found lots of results.  Marks Marks & Spencer do a pack of three containing three different colours, black, white and pink, for sixteen pounds.  They also do different absorbencies. The options range though light, heavy, and extra heavy. And more styles, such as pantaloon style, like short tight shorts coming half way down your thighs. You can also buy leakproof swimwear with the brand name WUKA. Wikipedia has useful worldwide reviews of practices. Wiki picture. Useful search words (alphabetically):  A-D absorbent, absorbency adult diapers briefs,  cloth menstrual pads diapers E-K full briefs,  heavy absorbency,  heavy flow,  i...
Read more