TARDIS Tuesday -Kerblam!

Ha, it's 2 years, practically, since I last featured this outfit on the blog- in fact, I mentioned the Albert Hall concert in the post.

I ended up throwing this sweater on for church on Sunday morning - not sure how it ended up being in a position for quick grabbing but it did! I was very late! I just had to throw on clothes as I got out of bed!

The outfit is worn by Yaz in my favourite series 11 episode, Kerblam.

It features her series 11 staple- a jumper  and jeans with her All Saints Jacket worn over the top

This outfit has one of the cosplay world's elusive items- the sweater from a brand called Maison De Nimes.

Here's me in it!

It's  a simple outfit - the sweater, which I am lucky enough to own the Screen Accurate version, is comfy and fits me well.  I wore my black ASOS trousers and my Ash Bowie trainers plus my charity-shopped leather jacket.

Confession- I didn't wear that jacket for church- I wore my Barbour jacket instead as it was warmer!

 When I got back, I ended up doing some housework, having some breakfast.

I have a funny story.

Yesterday, the door went and it was my neighbour Martyn.  He his opening comment was, "I'm going to pick up some Alpaca poo tomorrow...would you like me to get some also?"

I laughed a lot! This morning (Sunday, when I wrote this), I heard the intercom on my door go and I pressed the button and said, "Hello, Martyn, have you got poo for me??!?"

Luckily, when I opened the door, it WAS Martyn- would have been really embarrassing if it had been anyone else!?!?!  

I spread it over my raised bed along with some top soil and I'd already put a load of raked leaves on there too.  I need some more topsoil.

We've got this massive palm tree in the garden and it's getting to be a bit of a problem. I was cutting it back this afternoon and it's got these massive spikes and one of them is caught in my middle finger knuckle- I can't get it out!  

I bought some cornflour from the refill shop and we used it for the first time to crisp up some tofu- may need to figure out how to give it a bit more flavour but it was was ok for a first try!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Spyfall!

This week for TARDIS Tuesday, I decided to revisit a cosplay (last seen in May 2020) which was begging to make use of my parched garden as a backdrop since the original was set in South Africa!

It was an outfit worn for the party of a millionaire in a very James Bond episode. As you can see, all the characters donned their own version of James Bond's suave outfit.  I'm focusing on Yaz's one on the left:

Image borrowed from:
http://www.multiversitycomics.com/tv/doctor-who-spyfall-part-1/

Image borrowed fromL
https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2020/01/12/yasmin-khan-spyfall-pt-1-and-2-bow-necklace/

She wears:

• Sequin jacket with satin lapels and tie by Paul Smith
• Reiss white scallop neck top (IDed by me!!!!!!!!!!)
• Tiffany Bow necklace
• Black trousers
• Black boots

The first item I started with was the sequin jacket.  The real one is very expensive and it's an item that I am unlikely to search for as the one I've got is just as good! My one was from New Look and I found it on eBay for around £5-9 (can't remember what exactly!) 

My blazer had no tie but I still have the black silky dressing gown cord from my teenage dressing gown which worked well!

The top was relatively easy to identify. I looked for a white scalloped top on eBay and found the screen accurate one as the scallop lace detail about the neckline is quite distinctive.  It's quite a glamorous top and originally cost £125 originally- mine had the original price tags on. So. Much. Money.

That's the only parts of this outfit that were bought especially for the cosplay (and will be good concert items).  The black trousers are those ubiquitous Asos ones that get worn for any skinny jeans or black trousers that are needed and the boots are Clarks Mens desert boots.

I thought I'd make an honourable mention for the necklace. I am wearing a silver cross necklace from Edith May jewellery (made by my friend Annie).  It's not a bow but it has a similar sort of formation and shape. I actually own a Tiffany Cross which in retrospect, I could have worn but I like this one very much!

It was very hot wearing this jacket out in the sunshine but I survived! I ended up keeping my hair like this all day as it felt cool and also makes me feel like a squirrel when I have my ponytail all busy and bouncy!

Would you wear this outfit?  How would you change it to make it more you?!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Sleep no More and Series 9 promo Clara

Hi there!

I thought I'd take a break from my Summer spins on Classic Doctor outfits (mainly because I haven't thought about one!) 

Today, I am sharing a Clara outfit. Most of it was from an episode entitled "Sleep No More" but actually, the version I am doing here today was from the Series 9 promotional images featuring Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi.

I had a few previous goes at this outfit.  Back in May 2019, was the last time I wore it. 

Let's have a look at it!

https://troughtonismydoctor.com/2016/01/20/doctor-who-series-9-review/

It features an expensive outfit:

It had a skirt and a top from French brand, Claudie Pierlot, a Merino wool jumper from Gap (not featured in the Promo images), a necklace from River Island or H&M, some black tights and some very painful-looking black leather monk-style shoes from &Other Stories.

Here's my version of it:

I started with the top which the lovely Ang customised for me to look like the Screen accurate one.  Mine was a charity-shopped top from M&S with a pleated collar made from another charity-shopped top.  Ang was clever-enough to make it look really similar.

Ang also customised a skirt for me to look similar by adding scalloping!).  However, it's lost its colour in the wash (after my paintstaking painting job!) and looks very odd and patchy so needs a repaint. Quite a while back, I found a Claudie Pierlot dress in the same material for a reasonable price (and thanks to lovely Alison, Dormouse for sending it to me from France!) and  ended up buying it.  You can see it below- The scalloping is around the arms instead of the hem.

I wore it under the top and added my identical triangle necklace.

The final item is the Monk shoes. They are the same brand and almost identical to the Screen-accurate ones but for one difference.  The screen accurate ones are the most ridiculously high 

YUCK! However, they also made a flat version of the shoes and I was fortunate enough to get them back in late 2019.  They were a bit small so I had them stretched (before our lovely cobbler retired). They are super quality leather and I was lucky to get them for about £14compared to the RRP of over £100

I very much like this outfit.  The t-shirt is in a more practical material (i.e. cotton) than the screen accurate one which is in synthetics. Whilst the dress lacks the scalloping (which is round the sleeves instead...I suppose it might be possible to reposition it though I quite like the sleeeves), I do like it.

With the exception of the tights (which are light), it is quite a good Summer oufit.

What do you think?

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Sleep No More Clara...with a cameo from Ang Almond!

Today, I am excited to share a completely updated cosplay with you!
It is a particular favourite outfit of mine worn by my favourite Clara Oswald! It's a combination of things I love: a Peter Pan collar, navy blue, turquoise blue, a cute skirt and a pretty necklace! It is worn in a very weird and scary episode entitled, Sleep No More.

My photo from the Doctor Who Experience

You can see I have attempted this outfit twice before:
Here, I only showed the top half.
Here, I did the whole outfit.
It's quite an expensive outfit were one to have bought the elements new.  The collared top underneath and the skirt are from a French designer called Claudie Pierlot and they are quite pricey. The Merino wool jumper is from Gap and is fairly expensive. The shoes, not pictured, are from Other Stories which is, again, expensive and finally the necklace is the only relatively cheap part which is from various high-street shops including River Island, H&M, Topshop etc.

Image borrowed from Worn on TV

A lot of DIY has gone into my updated version of this outfit and I am grateful to another Cosplay, Katie, who bought the same skirt and did a DIY project on it which gave me the idea, other cosplayers who IDed items and then the wonderful Ang Almond who has customised two items from this outfit for me!

I am super proud of this outfit!  

Let's talk about the 'boring' elements of it first.
I've worn the same Screen-accurate necklace both times I have featured this outfit and I was fortunate to buy this one for £3 plus postage from someone second-hand.
The jumper is also Screen-accurate which I didn't have last time I did this. I happened to find it on eBay brand new in my size and I paid about £20 for it. It's a lovely warm jumper.
I don't have her shoes but I am wearing another pair of screen accurate shoes of Clara's in the picture.
Now onto the exciting bits which Ang helped with:

Both the top and the skirt are very hard to come by.
The top is distinctive for its pleated collar.
I found 2 M&S navy blue crew-neck t-shirts in the charity shop that were brand new with tags at least a year ago and I also found a Neck navy blue pleated vest top in the charity shop which was in a really similar pleated material so I bought it intending to try and fashion a collar out of it at some point. I mentioned in my sort of "Things I want to do this year post" and Ang, who had volunteered to embroider Question marks on my shirt for a previous cosplay offered to do this for me. I was so grateful!  I think that the top wasn't being as helpful as it could be, she told me in the card she sent along with the finished article.  She made me 2 of the t-shirts as I had bought 2 of them and it seemed a shame to cut the top up for just one collar so I have a spare.  Alas, I can't seem to get it to lie properly when I put it over the top of the jumper!

The second item which Ang helped with was the skirt. Trying to find a match for Clara's skirt is quite difficult. I wore a plain blue scallop skirt from ASOS but then I discovered a white skirt with black patterning by Missguided.  I managed to find a girl selling the skirt AND a matching jacket (donated to charity) for £4 and then I bought a Posca paint pen and then proceeded to colour the skirt in with it!  It was one of those tasks that you start and think, "WHY on earth did I think this would be a good idea?" but since I'd started, I had to finish! I made sure I was doing it at times that were otherwise dead times like when I was waiting for CBC at Snozone in Milton Keynes and on a journey in the car to Oxford and so that made it all more bearable. It was extremely irritating though as the nib kept catching on what was quite fibrous, fluffy material!  Eventually it was done though though, it took so long and I did have to keep going over it to try and make it less blotchy. It actually looks worse in pictures than it does in real life luckily. If I wanted to spend any more time and money on it, I could get another pen and touch it up but I don't really want to! My friend used 3 pens on hers and it looks the perfect colour!!
Ang, then amazingly, managed to add navy material to the bottom in slightly larger scallops to mimic the skirt of Clara. I'm not sure how she did it so neatly. My friend did her own one and it doesn't look nearly so neat!

You can see Ang's post, her own TARDIS Tuesday, where she writes about how she did it!
Thank you SO much Ang for being such a huge part of this cosplay!  The kindness of blog friends never ceases to astound me.

What do you think?

x

"A double portion of Scallops please!"

Blogging really has a lot to answer for!  I went out for lunch and a little mooch round the shops with my Canadian friend and work colleague and went out dressed as above (and below).  I noticed I was wearing two items with scallops on: the top is Henry Holland and is fairly new and the skirt is from Peacocks and is several years old. Where did my penchant for scallops come from?  Definitely, some sort of subliminal suggestion from a blogger or two (Scathingly Brilliant most notably)  who seem to like them!  And Peter-pan collars- definitely a love that grew through seeing them on blogs in the past (Laura Daisychain I am looking at you and Lauren at Someonelikeyou), Melissa Shoes- Roisin Dolly Clackett amongst others. Cute bow belts- yep, that's another subliminal blog thing.  Oh, and it's not really obvious in the shot above, but I'm wearing a Burt's Bees tinted lip-salve which I saw on Laura Daisychain's blog. I've been using the plain one for years but fancied giving it a try when I was in Debenhams yesterday.  So definitely, blogging has a lot to answer for! But of course, it's my own will-power and persuasiveness that is at fault, so I just have to learn to admire something and not buy it!


 Speaking of being in Debenhams.  My friend was off smelling the Cartier fragrance and asking about redeeming her Barclaycard rewards and so I was hovering round the Marc Jacobs perfumes having a little sniff and spraying a little bit of Dot onto a cute ladybird perfume card when I was pounced upon by a sales assistant. She started telling me about the prices, how the gift set was so much better value and told me to try it on my skin, which I did. I said I liked it and she said to wander around and see if I liked the smell on my skin.  She then plunged into a drawer and gave me a little mini 5ml bottle as a sample and then handed me another fragrance sample of the same size without my uttering more than about 2 words.  She then left me and I wandered to find my work colleague who had just got the answer to her question.  The sales assistant cooed over my shoes in delight and then we walked along to the Burts Bee section (where I picked up my tinted lip balm).  The cooing sales assistant then appeared and said, "Oh, you seem to be collecting perfume samples, wait there, I'll get you a little bag of them!" and came back with a mini Giorgio Armani bag filled with different perfume samples.  Not bad for no encouragement whatsoever and just hovering to wait for my friend!

The willpower thing went so well until I found a pair of silver/bronze/gold amalgamation small-heeled lace-ups.  They were £15 reduced from £50- size 9 and fitted perfectly.  When will I learn that all I need is a simple pair of good quality, versatile shoes, not a rainbow of novelties?? (I love my rainbow of novelties but I really mustn't buy anymore!!)

We had a nice lunch in a little Italian restaurant that I must have walked past a zillion times in the town but never noticed! It was very reasonable- only £4.95 for a huge Napolitana pizza which was beautifully cooked from scratch!

With shock at 5.30pm, realising how late it was, I jumped on the train home, CBC met me at the station and drove us back. He'd been out doing a Duke of Edinburgh expedition 9 mile walk with students from school.  Alas, he was too tired for Swing Dance so we had to give the Saturday Night Swing Club a miss and instead, headed over to his old housemate's to watch Eurovision!  We gathered a big pile of snacks (including leftover pizza from lunch) and headed over there.  It was hugely entertaining and we laughed lots and enjoyed sitting there scoring the acts.

Just for your entertainment, I noted down a few quotes from the evening which were uttered in the house:

"Playing the drums standing up?   That's so pretentious!"

"He can raise one eyebrow!"

"Mwa ah ah ha, she vanished!"

"Uhrgh, there's a material spider's web in the back ground! What's it for? Surely it's not the back of her dress??"

"Banjo? I hate it already!"

"Whistling! I hate it- it gets 2!"

"Look, it's Frank Butcher on the piano!"

"She's faking the flute!!!!"

"She looks a bit like Nicole Marie Story!!!" (she really reminded me of you Nicole!!!)

"How do you make your hair look wet like that?"

"Er, shower before you go on stage?"

"Hamster wheel!!!"

"What's that buxom wench doing?"

"That's a perve vote! This is SONG contest!"

"He looks like he needs a good sleep!"

"I give it 1.  Ooh, wait, it has a trampoline, I give it 2."

"Is that beard fake or real?"

"What does Comme-ci, comme-ca, mean?"

"Why are they holding that ruler?"

"She looks like Britney Spears!"

"Check out the bean pole on the left!"

"She's going for it with that accordion!"

"Why are you giving it 11 Kezzie?!?! He's saying, 'Scoo bi do bi do, I love you!'"

"Beethoven is turning in his grave!"

"It's David Bowie!"

"Hello, I'm a vampire! And I have blood in my earrings and I buy my clothes in a charity shop like Kezzie."


Good old Eurovision!! So much fun and randomness!!!


Linking up to Claire Justine's Creative Mondays with my ensemble!



and linking with Monday Mingle: