Fabulous flare with fleece

I discovered the stunning knitwear of Sandra Backlund last year whilst researching knitting techniques for a piece of work. This piece is for the SS2010 and would appear to be in 2 ply or cotton, there is a true sense of structure and body awareness in her work. I have always loved knitwear and Sandra's is some of the best I have ever found for its structure and manipulation.
I love working my own fleece and have been using my own alpaca,supplied by a fabulous woman in Cornwall. It is a wonderful fibre to work with, extremely soft, light and very hard wearing. It has very little oil and so can be worked straight from the animal. Felicia at Popham Farm is very helpful and her alpaca are adorable, soft friendly and approachable.

Glorious Gowns

I have always loved colour, texture and tailoring, these beautiful gowns from Russian designer Valentin Yudashkin are prime examples of my great passion. He has shown in Moscow, Paris and Milan, but is virtually unknown in the UK and in America. His work is some of my favorite. gowns,dresses and coats are the most amazingly tailored pieces I have ever found....

I have found a dress, a maxi dress, that with very few alterations will actually fit me....and the biggest surprise of all, I found it in a high street shop. Well done New Look, the Inspire range is limited and there was only one dress, but I liked it and it was well made, 100% cotton jersey and not too expensive. Just wish it had been made in a brighter, more summery colour..... Tre

St Lukes Swish fashion show.

26th March 2010, Shirley supported the St Lukes Hospice, Swish event in the Guildhall. She arranged for us, the Yr1 Foundation Fashion students to show our work from the Greenfibres. I am sorry if I have not shown an image of your work, but my little digital camera just could not cope with the poor light and the speed the models traversed the runway...

Swish Plymouth

27th March 2010, three of us from the first year spent the day in a giant marquee, representing the College. It was a fun but tiring day, we spent most of it manipulating XXL cotton tee-shirts into other garments.

If you want to keep it, put it away...!!!

I made the mistake of leaving a piece of knitting in my chair, it was a complicated front for a jumper, with moss and bumble-bee stitch. Now it is just a new toy for my dogs, my 'baby girl' was the thief and my husband caught her in the act. That was 4 hours of work dragged all around the living room and out into the garden...

Super market flare...

This year I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of main stream supermarkets now producing clothing in plus sizes.

Tesco's have the Cherokee range and Sainsbury's have Tu. I am a fan of the Tu range, especially the spring/summer range for this year. The linen mixes are particularly good, generously cut, well constructed, they wash well and do not look tired at the end of the day. In fact the trousers look better at the end of a day than I do !!!

White camisole two pack and black and white print skirt - Sainsbury's - Try something new today

White camisole two pack and black and white print skirt - Sainsbury's - Try something new today

For anyone who feels left-out

Ladies please join me in venting your frustrations with the fashion world. If you choose to dress in an alternative manner or you do not comply with the industry norms for the beautiful... then add your voice to mine.
I dress the way I do because thats what makes me feel good about myself. I break all the unwritten rules for "fat birds", I love colour, stripes, bold patterns, I do not want to hide away. If the "norms" don't like what they see, you know what the answer is don't you.....DON'T LOOK....

I need help, I am not computer savvy and I can't download/import/or whatever you do to get photographs onto this blog... In fact lets be honest I am very bad at this. The plan was to use this blog to vent my frustration about not finding anything decent to wear as a plus-size woman and to find images and websites and patterns that I have created showing that we can look beautiful and colourful as plus-size "birds". We need not hide in dark corners (unless you're planning jumping out on someone of course!! ), we need not comply with the unwritten dress codes for fat women...
DON'T HIDE IT LADIES, DECORATE IT....

Ask me why!!!!

This is the first time I have ever Blogged....Why? well I have to, but now I am doing it, be prepared for me to vent my spleen.
Why, when I have as much money to spend as any other woman, do I feel marginalised and disempowered when I go fashion shopping. I love clothing and shoes, but I end up just buying shoes and making clothes for myself, (now, don't get me wrong I love buying shoes, but I hate shopping for clothes. Because everything is soooooo.... bad.