Summer brings my favourite outfits

You might have noticed I haven't shared as many outfit pictures in recent times as in the past. There are various reasons for this but one being the fact that I find that my love for Winter and cold-weather outfits is significantly smaller than my love for Summer clothes. I just adore Summer outfits and find I just like sharing what I wear. Even if it's just a dress with little or no other styling, I still enjoy seeing and remembering them! 

So, here are a few I've worn in recent weeks. 

CBC and I went to the beach last Saturday after a wander in a town to get some essential refill items we had completely run out of. 

The skirt was Monsoon, charity shopped, and beautifully light-weight cotton. The top is, also Monsoon and linen. It's a little awkward to style but I feel cool in it! The little cotton waistcoat is embroidered and I bought it recently from Vinted. It's a little big for me but I have seen Vix wearing so many pretty waistcoats like this and wanted to try it! 

This dress is just F&F at Tesco, charity-shopped. It's a light cotton and I wore it on that hot Saturday a few weeks ago and perfect for a hot day where you want to be covered up. I wore it to go for a mooch around the shops when CBC was away and I added this Boden Cashmere cardigan I bought that day for £4 and this cute hat which I needed as I'd forgotten a hat! Plus my gold sequinned Tom pumps. 

The next outfit was worn for church the next day and then school and features my Miss Patina sailor cardigan. I added my cats as mermaids skirt, also Miss Patina plus my Clarks Funny dream shoes. And the hat! 

Another Miss Patina outfit. I tried this beautiful light-weight linen/cotton pinafore with lace trim and the cotton blouse.  I actually ended up swapping it for a darker linen version. Now looking at these pics, I'm kind of regretting swapping it but I wasn't sure about it! 

The final outfit was worn for Cultural Day at school. Last year, I wore a Greek dress (for my Greek grandma) and I did debate wearing the White F&F dress above as it has Grecian look and colours but also almost Scottish flags for some ancestors but in the end, I wore this beautiful Laura Ashley cotton lawn dress. Nothing screams English more than Laura Ashley, especially with roses. When I first wore it on this blog about 14 years ago, it was too big for me but now it fits perfectly. Soooo many compliments from staff, kids (all genders!). 

I wore this hat with it all day. 

I've got to talk about the Cultural Day. 

It was, like last year, an incredible day! 

Everyone was dressed in outfits which they felt reflected a culture they have a connection or background to. 

Last year, the same week, we did three morning performances on 3 days in Mid-July to parents featuring songs from multiple cultures represented in my school. 

This year, as it was May and we had only had 6 weeks to learn songs, we just did internal assemblies. Also, we have been having a focus on representing South Asian cultures. As part of this, I had sent out a request to staff to see if anyone was willing to do a short term club to teach some sort of South Asian dance. To my delight,  3 members of staff volunteered to run clubs for 3 different year groups and different types of dace- one Rajusthani puppet dance for year 1-2, another Dandiya stick dance to year 3-4 and another Bhangra dance to year 5-6.

In each assembly, all three dance groups performed, brilliantly.

In Year 1-2, I had taught them, and they sang 3 songs.  Ghum Parani from Bangladesh, Anile, Anile O diva from Sri Lanka and Ali Baba from Afghanistan.  They did such a sweet job of the songs especially the Afghan song.

In year 3-4, I taught them Khamma Mana Nanderji from India and Alef Ba (alphabet song) from Afghanistan and in addition , recorder club played a piece from Jamaica.

In year 5-6, they sang Alef Ba from Afghanistan and Eso Eso by Rabindrath Tagore from the West Bengal/Bangledesh and drumming club performed some Bhangra Chaal drumming rhythmson snare drums.  The whole day was extremely joyful and I was so proud of all the children.

One lovely member of staff came and gave me a hug when she heard Eso Eso as she said she had sung that in school and loved it and was so glad I had helped her twin girls learn some songs from their cultural background when they had shown little interest when she had tried to interest them in it. This really touched me!

 

Style Imitating Art Katzensymphonie

I haven't taken part in Style Imitating Art for ages! I kept forgetting about it and then not having the time to think of an outfit. However, when I saw last week's inspiration piece, I knew what I could wear:

The piece was chosen by Salazar at 14 Shades of Grey

“Katzensymphonie” by Austrian artist Moritz von Schwind,

Such a gorgeous piece!!! Right up my street.

Naturally, I began with my Miss Patina Cats playing instruments blouse!

I love this blouse! It's so me.

I then added the Kew Broderie Anglaise skirt.  The eyelets made me think of musical notes. I would have worn my cat culottes but they are still away in a suitcase of winter clothes (not done my swap yet!) 

I added my Clarks Artisan black Nubuck wedges (worn yesterday) and I was good to go! 

 I wore this for school on Monday! I remember a girl, who plays cello, walking behind me saying, "That cat is playing the cello on your shirt!" in utter wonderment!

The school trip today was challenging. Mainly due to the Elizabeth line being utterly vile! There were trespassers on the line when I attempted to get to school so I arrived an hour and a quarter later than I should have done.  We then had delays and really overcrowded trains on the way in, got separated on the train and then had the same issues on the way back! The train journey was very stressful but I had a great team of adults to help and the kids were super!

 

Piano girl

I've had this dress for almost 9 months.  I remember seeing it on Miss Patina's website a couple of years ago and absolutely loving it! A sailor look, ruffly sleeves AND musical??? Check!

But the Dainty Melody dress was £85 and you can't return, only exchange, I think!  Luckily, I saw it on eBay for much cheaper last Summer and I jumped at the chance to buy it.

I wore this to church on Sunday and to my orchestra rehearsal. The delight I got from fellow congregation members was so sweet!

I wore my Ugg boots with it.

Awful picture but I wore my Primark Dalmation beret and added a tiny dainty music brooch that was a present from my ex-deputy head teacher.

And my Tatty Devine music necklace (was also an eBay bargain!) 

 Even the white cuffs have a little piano pattern on them! So fun!

Hope all is good with you!x

TARDIS Tuesday - Under the Lake/Before the Flood

 Last worn in March 2022 on the blog from what I can see but worn at least a few times in the last year, I decided to share an old favourite TARDIS Tuesday outfit. It is one of my original Clara Oswald cosplays from my original TARDIS Tuesday posts.  It's also a brilliant 'School Teacher' outfit

Image borrowed from this pinterest

A Miss Patina pinafore, a Topshop mustard turtle neck, black tights, black socks and black Topshop boots- it's a great Autumn outfit.

Here is today's outfit:

I have not really changed this outfit for a long time except that I occasionally wear a different turtle neck. The dress is a good length and sometimes I wear it with different tops!

The lovely TA who helps me with choir (one of our few long-serving staff) saw me in the playground and said, "Is it Clara Oswald today then?!"  Ha, she recognised this outfit as a  stalwart Clara outfit. She's my main person to talk to about Doctor Who.

Today was a hard day for some lessons.  The children were definitely... talkative, distracted, listless in two of my lessons. One Year 1 class was really disheartening and a Year 3 class also really distracted. However, the other Year 3 class and the Year 2 class were good so I should take what I can get.

I was quite tired.  I went to my friend Izzie's house as we were rehearsing for a dear family friend's funeral next week. More on that soon.

CBC is away for a pair of days on a Geography field trip.  He's staying in the house which Constable painted, "Willy Lott's cottage!"  I miss him but I did eat some junk for dinner tonight!

Hope you are well.

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Under the Lake- Clara Oswald

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your kind comments on my clumsy, last post. It was reassuring to have your thoughts on it too and know that my decision at school was one you agreed with.  The news seems to get more awful each day but keep praying for Ukraine, Russia and the world.

I am posting my TARDIS Tuesday from this week. Still don't feel 100% on posting right now but if I can spread a little cheer and normality, then that would be good

This photo was taken yesterday on my birthday (grr, 41).  I decided it was time to wear one of my favourite Clara outfits again- one of her most teacherly of outfits from Under the Lake/Before the Flood, a brilliant, base-under-siege style Who adventure.  I've probably worn this one (in various iterations) around 5 times on the blog- the last time was December 2019, pre-Covid- remember that blissful time?

Image borrowed from this pinterest

The outfit features a cute Pinafore from Miss Patina, a Topshop mustard ribbed turtle neck, black tights and Topshop black ankle boots with socks.

Image borrowed from WornonTV.net

And here's my, almost-identical-to-the-last-time, outfit!

The pose below is from a moment in the episode where Clara expects a high-five from the Doctor but he doesn't oblige- the caption is, "Don't leave me hanging!"

This is a comfortable and practical outfit for school (I didn't wear the proper Clara boots as they are suedette and it was raining so I wore Clarks leather boots instead AND leggings- a must for cycling! My top is from Select instead and is the closest match to the real top except for slight colour difference.  The only slight problem is the top is cropped- it can sometimes ride-up which leads to a cold midriff!

Tonight, CBC and I were supposed to be at orchestra in West London but there was a Tube Strike which neither of us were aware of (I thought it was Wednesday and Thursday). Typically, I was running late, the one time where I'd need extra time.  The buses and such were absolutely mobbed.  We didn't think about using London overground to get to Shepherd's Bush until later but my lovely Flute 2, Bryony, told me that she was almost there (well ahead of me) and then there was a signal failure on that line so they all got turfed off at Wilsden Junction. Oh well, perhaps it was just as well we turned homewards. We feel dead guilty though but it would have been really frustrating to battle there and be hideously late and wet and then have to battle home again.

Lots of love,

xx

Travelling on Cat-ay Pacific!

I've shared a few cute items on this blog from a brand called Miss Patina.   They have a darling range of collared items, cute cat and musical themed items and their clothing has really adorable vintage-inspired details.

Recently, on their Instagram, they had a competition asking you to say what a new dress from their new collection reminded you of as we saw it wafting on a hanger in a breeze.
The winners were to win one of their Meowy-joy cat scarves.

My answer was:

It reminds me of those scenes in costume dramas where the maids are hanging out the washing and they shake a garment or sheet and it billows in a most beautiful and free fashion in the breeze and resembles a dove or bird soaring. Against the often drab backgrounds, it is a beautiful sight to behold. It represents freedom and the many possibilities of dreams!

To my delight, I was one of the three winners!

Today, I decided to wear it in an outfit for school.
I wore a spotty white blouse from white stuff with the scarf. On my bottom half, I wore my Miss Patina cat-culottes and my men's black shoes

CBC made lots of comments about me looking like an air-hostess, so here I am aboard Cat-ay Pacific

Yes, I'm sorry about that pun. Can you find me any other feline airlines? I'd love to hear your puns!

xxx

TARDIS TUESDAY - Clara Oswald- Before the Flood/Under the Lake

Hi there,
I should start this post by saying that I would love your prayers and thoughts.  We are trying to remortgage and our free legal care from Natwest are the biggest bunch of complete incompetent losers I have ever had the misfortune to have had to spend hours on the phone unsuccessfully trying to reach and have to send paperwork to.  I've just read reviews of them online and everyone has really put the knife in and feels exactly the same as us. If you are offered legal care from Involegal Hugh James, based in Cardiff- AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are pure evil.  We are now 2 weeks overdue on our remortgage and are currently on 5% interest which is costing us an additional £35 interest daily. If you are in the habit of praying, please, oh please, pray for a miracle that they will actually complete-we've already just paid them £400 to cover the now shortfall due to the interest and it will increase every day.  Please pray that I can speak to a human and that human will do their job!!!!!!!!!  I've actually got physical pains through the anxiety it is causing.


Anyway, onto something more pleasant:
Here is an outfit I've done for TARDIS Tuesday back in October 2018. 
It is Clara's outfit from a 2 parter story set in an underwater base.

Image borrowed from this pinterest

She wears a cute grid Pinafore from Miss Patina with a Topshop mustard ribbed turtle neck, black tights and Topshop black boots and socks.

Image borrowed from WornonTV.net

Here's my version.  It's very similar to last time except that I've obtained the screen accurate boots and I am wearing another alternative polo neck (charity shopped)

This is a very favourite dress of mine- I even found the brown tweed version of it because I loved the shape so much!  It's a fun look for Clara and practical for work.

Please hope and pray that next time you read my blog, my remortgage is completed.

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Under the Lake

Hi there,

Here we are again for TARDIS Tuesday.  Today I'm featuring an outfit worn by Clara that I probably wore for TARDIS Tuesday a year ago- not much has changed except for the addition of a jacket.

In one of the best episodes of Series 9, Clara wore this outfit.

It featured a leather jacket (from &Other Stories), a navy geometric Pinafore (from Miss Patina), a mustard ribbed turtle neck (from Topshop) and some black suede shoes.

Image borrowed from this pinterest

Image borrowed from The Supernatural fox sisters

I went with the pose from the above photo- Clara is overexuberant about success with something and says, "High Five, Doctor!". He just stares as at her and her face turns embarassed, "Come on Doctor, don't leave me hanging!"

I was a bit of a mess after school- these were taken at midnight last night! Can't find my tripod either.  

I am wearing the same Miss Patina pinafore which I purchased brand-new.  My top is from H&M, secondhand and my jacket was from a charity shop- it's one from another Clara costume.  I don't need a second-leather jacket!

Image borrowed from WornonTV.net

 You can see the pinafore and top in a bit more detail here.   This was and is the perfect Autumn-day work outfit for a teaching day.  Not surprising since Clara is a teacher!

It's fun to reexplore a look I have shared on here- wasn't quite expecting to share it so soon but I was wearing it anyway and figured I might as well share it again!

What do you think?

x

Style Imitating Art- Celestial skies

jghg
I have failed to be organised enough to come up with an outfit for Style Imitating Art for a good few weeks so I am pleased to have remembered this time!  Erin at Loop Looks chose this image for our inspiration this time.

Source by M.Caballero

Isn't it a beautiful sky!  I knew INSTANTLY what I was going to wear.  I have this Miss Patina unicorn-collared top with Constellation and starry print (with cute starry buttons!) so I knew that this was perfect! Bizarrely it looks blue in this picture whereas it is more purply in real life.

Black Merino wool thermal long johns from Aldi plus an old black skirt were included to represent the silhouette colours and I just added the brown boots because. Black would have been better but I was in a hurry on Sunday morning!

 Here's a close-up of the shirt. Alas, I had positioned the collar wrong so the Unicorn's face is obscured. Not to worry- he's not really necessary for this interpretation.

What do you think?  Head to Erin's blog to see how others interpreted this picture.

What would you have worn from your wardrobe for this?

xx

Pastels in September

Yay!  The computer is working! Thankfully just a weird blip or prayer worked!  I was worried then!

Just a quick post to share an outfit I wore for a Christening last week.  The wearing of pastels is a very strange thing for me as I rarely do it! You are more likely to find me in brighter colours but the beautiful collar and the rainbow pastels and simplicity of this vintage-inspired dress from my favourite, Miss Patina won me over!  It is still for sale at Miss Patina for lots of money but someone was selling a brand new one on eBay for less than half the price of the original, and I had totally loved it so went for it!

Typically, since September had turned- everyone else was in black florals, navy florals and dark shades. I stood out rather in my lighter hues. Not to worry, I am rather used to that!

The christening was rather nice. It was a long church service with loads of liturgy and a sung Gloria and all the Mass bits like the Kyrie.  Given that the church was an old stone church and we sang traditional hymns- it was a total contrast to what I have become used to at my 1960's built, no more than an hour and a quarter, mainly modern-song church! Still, it was lovely to get back to my traditional Anglican roots.  After all, I was a choir girl from the age of 5, singing Mass and choral evensong and singing in a choir who deputised for Cathedral choirs in Cathedrals around the UK, so it is where I came from originally.

It was all rather lovely to see CBC's friend, whose child was being christened. He got together with, got married and had a baby very recently- so it is nice to see how that relationship has developed. The funny thing was, they were best friends for about 10 years and we always wondered why they had never got together!! Even more funnily, they refuse to tell us how it was that they eventually decided to get together!  I must say, I am longing to know! I do love a good relationship story!! I've never told my relationship story of how CBC and I met and got together on here and I probably never will, but I am rather glad how ours unfolded! It was, a Summer romance of the sweetest kind, and I always remember the glow of suddenly realising we liked each other.  The type of feeling, where you decide to sit on a bench talking together in a beautiful arboretum and decide to sit there during the downpour of rain because the key to not feeling miserable in the rain is having, as Alexander McCall Smith, through the eyes of Isabel Dalhousie said, "The right attitude to rain."

Hope your day is delightful.

xxx

Meowsers

 Hello there!
Hope you are well! I don't have that much to say today but wanted to post something so I thought I'd share an outfit! A vintage blouse here- check out the collar on that thing! Confession: I get 'Vintage shop guilt. Anytime I go into a vintage shop, I always end up buying something because I often worry that the shopkeeper might not have sold anything all day. This one came from a shop in a town that is featured in that atrocious programme TOWIE and the shop is not on the main high street and it was raining!  Still, it is a darling colour and shape!

 The day today was both tiresome and good in some ways. Tiresome because frankly the children are just losing it at the moment. End of term tiredness, getting sick of each other, general rudeness etc and it is just annoying and disheartening. Also, I was putting together my programme for the Summer concert and I was sad to see that last year's choir had 10 more children in it in the Summer, recorders had at least 10 more, Drumming club had more and generally year 6 attitudes were better.  I miss last year's year 6.

Still, despite this gloom, I had a very successful Recorder club and drumming club practice today- these pieces are going to be good esp when the drumming club parade in playing Snare drums whilst the Recorder Club perform the British Grenadiers march! Also made it home in time for a 45 minute swim at the local pool because my friend L came to school to borrow my Alto flute so I walked back to the station with her. I even did some flute practice when I got home because I'm performing the Flute Concerto that L's husband composed as a wedding present for their 30th wedding anniversary!

 Yes, those are cats on my trousers. You look amused. Why?

I hope your days are bright and sunny and you don't have gloom!
Smile and be happy.
xx

Style Imitating Art- Mon mon cats

Monmon Cats painting of Kuazaki Horitomo.

Greetings!

Hope you are well!

All is fine here.  I have returned from a delightful weekend at my Dad's.  SO wonderful to spend time with him and my family, particularly lovely to have lots of time with him! He's so patient and kind, he inspires me!

As they dropped me back at the station, I found one of those old pianos you can play in the station and I sat playing tunes at it for 5 minutes. I played a song called 'Refiner's fire' or Purify my heart by Brian Doerkssen which I know from church and a minute or so later, one of the workers at that station came up to me and smiled and asked if I was playing 'Refiner's fire' - it made her happy to hear it. I departed on that train with a smile on my face.

Today, here is my outfit for the Style Imitating Art challenge with Salazar

Of course, when I saw that the picture featured a white cat with some black features, it was a no-brainer that I wear my Miss Patina cat collar blouse (errrrr, one of my 4 Miss Patina cat blouses...)

I decided to pair it with this black and white stripy River Island pinafore dress

 As I added my home-made shrink-plastic cat brooch (which I originally made for a Doctor Who cosplay), I felt that I was missing a splash of colour so I decided to add this red lady tie under the cat collar for a pop of colour and I'd already got on my red slingback pumps.

 Had it been a colder day, I might have added grey tights and I was going to wear my Erstwilder message in a bottle brooch as an allusion to the bottles in the background but forgot in the end.  Never mind, I was pleased with my look anyway.

How might you have interpreted this painting as an outfit?  Leave a comment and tell me what you'd wear from your wardrobe! And head over to Salazar for tomorrow's Round-up to see what everyone else did!

xxx