Wednesday Wish List

This week, I've mostly been lusting after all of Lindy Bop's latest arrivals, so it only seemed right that I dedicate this week's wish list entirely to my latest Lindy Bop crushes. Eighteen of them, to be precise. 

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Since we're heading in to Autumn, it seems like an odd time of year for the arrival of new gingham sun dresses, but these Corinna swing dresses are absolutely perfect, so who cares? I want one in every colour! A girl can never own too much gingham.

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The Bonnie gingham swing dresses are so classic, and remind me of primary school dresses. (Ours were red and pink, but as my sisters and I were tall kids, our Mum usually made ours herself, so I think I only had a 'proper' one once). Now I'm tempted to buy one in every colour and live the dream! Ha ha! 

I'm also loving the pink Brittany lipstick-print dress. I already own in it blue, but the pink is just so pretty I might need it, too. The dress is amazing! It isn't just made of the most awesome lipstick and lip print fabric, but it has sleeves, a heart-shaped cut out to the back, and pockets! Yes, pockets! Heart-shaped pockets, to be exact. It's basically the most perfect dress in creation.

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I'd quite like to own the two Bernadette lipstick print swing skirts, too.

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The Gilda Paris border swing dress is so beautiful, and I love the bright, quirky handbag-print of the Emily shirt dress. 

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The new border-print pieces are so eye-catching, and I'm particularly loving these gorgeous swing skirts. The Venice-bordered Contessa skirt is stunning, and the Carnaby Street Daniella looks so effortlessly cool and stylish.

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My favourite pieces out of all the latest arrivals, have to be these Brittany heart print frocks. Just look at them! The ditsy heart prints are a fun alternative to polka dots, and the heart-shaped pockets, and cut out to the back, are such a cute touch. They're absolute perfection in my eyes!

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These floral Dayton swing dresses have the most interesting floral prints, and I think I quite like them.

Annie red floral swing dress

And last but by no means least, is the Annie floral swing dress. I'm a little in love with it's gorgeous, bold floral print, and the style is so wearable.

If you'd like to see more of the pieces that catch my eye each week, check out my style wish list boards on Pinterest.

What's on your wish list this week?

What I Wore | Tartan Revival

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you; this is actually an outfit post! Yes, really! I don't know what happened either.

It's been far too long since I last blogged an outfit here on the blog. Aside from a couple of mirror shots, the last one I shared was back in March last year, which is crazy.

I used to share my outfits regularly until my health began to deteriorate a couple of years ago, but as the pain grew worse and became harder and harder to bear, the posts became less and less frequent until they fizzled out altogether.

For the record, I really hate using my health as an excuse, but the honest truth is it affects almost every part of my daily life, no matter how hard I try to fight against it or keep on powering through. The pain has become so intense that I've lost the strength to do normal stuff like shower, get dressed, put on make up, do my hair, and get outside to pose for a hundred plus photos to get one half-decent shot to blog, all in one go. I don't often have the strength or the pain tolerance for any of it, so if I've managed to shower, dry and brush my hair on the same day, it's been a good day.

I've basically spent most of the last couple of years living in my pyjamas, trying to stay as comfortable as possible, only really dressing in proper clothes when I've ventured out of the house, which hasn't been often. Combine that with the fact I've not had a lot of money to spend on clothes, I've just not had many outfits worth blogging about, so you really haven't missed out on much.

It does make me sad that my style has taken a back seat here because I always enjoyed sharing my outfits with you guys, and it was what I created Polka Spots and Freckle Dots for in the first place. Don't get me wrong; I love blogging about all of the other topics I do, but I miss talking about the outfits I wear. I want to get back to it. and I'm going to do my best to make it happen.

My aim for 2016 is to get out of my PJs more and in to proper clothes, make it outside regularly to soak up some vitamin D, and to share more outfits like I did in the olden days, and as you can see, I've made some progress already by combining all three!

I've actually taken outfit photos four times during the last couple of weeks, although I'm not sure if all four are blog-able yet. This one just about passes the test. It was grey, dreary, drizzly, and a little windy when I shot these photos, and the garden was a mess, so they're far from perfect. I also look a bit spaced-out because I was still feeling a little flu-ish when I took the photos, but the main thing is it's an outfit to share, which is one more than yesterday.

So, in these photos I'm wearing the tartan Audrey swing dress from Lindy Bop, which I bought over a year ago, but had never worn before. I'm not even sure why that is- looking at these photos, I really like the way it looks on me- and I don't often say that about what I wear! I felt great in it, too.

It's a beautiful dress with the most gorgeous tartan fabric, which is made up of yellow and white stripes and little green squares on a background of burgundy. The fabric is medium-weight cotton, and a little lighter than some of the other Audrey dresses I own- which is a good thing because I find the heavier ones too warm to wear unless it's freezing cold outside. (Though I am on fire pretty much 24/7). The tartan dress is still thick enough to keep you warm in the Winter, but I find it much more comfortable to wear and move around in. The skirt is lined, the fabric has a little stretch, and I'd say it's pretty true to size.



It's a little big on top on me, but that's a common problem since I'm only a c-cup, and it's nothing a cardigan or a jacket can't easily disguise. I'm not comfortable baring my upper arms in public anyway, so wearing one over it isn't a problem. I can deal with a little extra room around the girls. I love Lindy Bop's Audrey dresses too much to let that stop me! It's my favourite out of all of the dresses they make. I currently own five in different patterns and colours, but I'd own hundreds if I had more money to spend on clothes! (One day!) I love 'em! I just can't resist a good boat-neckline swing dress. Especially when they're fantastic quality and so affordable like Lindy Bop's are!

I decided not to go down the rockabilly route when I put this outfit together, and instead dressed it down with black pieces for a casual, every-day look. It's a simple outfit and only took me a minute to throw together, but I like the way it turned out, and I felt really confident in it.

What I Wore

Dress- Lindy Bop // Cardigan- New Look // Tights- Evans // Shoes- Fashion World* // Belt- Dorothy Perkins // Necklace- Maggie Angus // Black beaded bracelets- Dorothy Perkins // Silver and black bracelets- gifts from the bestie

I'll hopefully be back with another outfit post really soon!

How would you have styled this dress?

Wednesday Wish List: 50 Lindy Bop Dresses

This week I've mostly been lusting after dozens of Lindy Bop dresses. (Nothing new there, then! Ha ha!) So, I'm dedicating this week's wish list entirely to the brand, and have picked out fifty of my current favourites to share with you. 

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10

The colours of all of these dresses are stunning, and so are the prints. One of each, please!

11 // 12 // 13 // 14 // 15 // 16 // 17 // 18 // 19 // 20

Dresses 14, 18, and 19 are three of my absolute faves.

21 // 22 // 23 // 24 // 25 // 26 // 27 // 28 // 29 // 30

Yes, I do need all nine of these navy polka dot dresses... And a plaid one for luck.

31 // 32 // 33 // 34 // 35 // 36 // 37 // 38 // 39 // 40

These frocks prove black doesn't have to be boring. They're all so beautiful.

Wouldn't dress 31 make the perfect bowling dress? Not for practicality; but just because it has that "fifties bowlarama" look. 

41 // 42 // 43 // 44 // 45 // 46 // 47 // 48 // 49 // 50

And the last ten are a real mix of colours and patterns. I want need 48 and 49 so badly!

I could have easily added 150 more dresses to this wish list, but I think I'll stop at 50 to appear less crazy! Is it working? Probably not!

I can't help it! 

Lindy Bop have become one of my favourite brands over the last year, and I'm definitely hooked on their beautiful vintage reproduction clothes. They make the most amazing dresses, in a variety of gorgeous styles, colours, and prints, and the best part is that they're all so affordable. Most (if not all) of these dresses retail between £29.99 and £34.99! You'd think for that price band the quality would be awful, but the fabrics and the craftsmanship are actually high quality. I have five LB dresses so far and I can't fault any of them! They're so beautifully made.

They're a great brand to try if you want to dip your toe in to rockabilly or mid century style without spending a fortune. And the good news is, they're cater to a decent range of sizes- UK sizes 8-26! Fantastic, right? Hopefully one day they'll extend their sizes even further.

Are you a fan of Lindy Bop? Which are your favourites from these fifty?

Outfit | Cobalt Blue and Red Polka Dots

I'd like to introduce my new favourite dress; Matilda, the red polka dot swing-shirt-dress. She's the latest addition to my ever-growing collection of polka dot dresses, and don't tell the others, but she's quickly becoming one of my favourites.

She's one of those dresses that I fell in love with the moment I first saw her, and one I couldn't stop thinking about until I was able to snap her up. I don't know what it is, but there's just something about polka dot shirt dresses that I go crazy for, and this one tops them all. Matilda is the créme de la créme of polka dot shirt dresses, and since she's a Lindy Bop frock, I'm not surprised; their dresses are always so beautiful and high quality.

What sets Matilda apart from all the rest is that she is a swing shirt-dress, so she has an amazing full, flared skirt that gives a gorgeous silhouette, and also has plenty of room for a petticoat underneath, to make it even fuller. Unlike most shirt dresses, she is only buttoned to the waist, which I personally love because there's no worry of popping or losing a button and accidentally flashing your underwear to the world. She's made from good-quality cotton, but the fabric is still light enough to wear during the Summer. It's a sleeveless frock, too, so it's ideal for those hot sunny days. You can be sure that I'll be rocking this dress with pops of yellow when the weather gets warmer!

As it's still a bit early for wearing bright yellow, I've been wearing Matilda with bold cobalt blue, and a little bit of black. The colours of the dress and the blue pieces haven't been captured well in my photos, though. It was a cold and dull, grey day when I shot these photos, and the light kept changing from grey to dull yellow. I took over a hundred photos, but I'm not happy with how any of them came out. To be honest, I'm not pleased with the ones I'm sharing, but I decided to share them anyway, because I loved wearing this outfit and wanted to show you this dress before it sold out. So... just imagine that the dress is a really vibrant tomato red, and the blue shrug, belt, bracelet, and satchel are very bold shades of cobalt blue, because they are in real life.

I had so much fun wearing this outfit, which is just as well, as I had a nightmare with the sizing of the dress. I actually had to order Matilda three times, sizing up once more each time in determination to get the dress to fit! I  loved the dress too much to give up on it. I found my usual Lindy Bop size and the next size up too tight on the waist. They fitted nicely over the bust, but I still had problems with gaping buttons, as I always do with buttoned shirts. While I'm not very busty, I am naturally broad shouldered and chested, so I never get along with shirts. I almost always have to size up a few times to avoid gaping, so it's rare that I ever get to wear a properly fitted shirt. I'm wearing a dress three sizes larger than I generally wear here. It doesn't gape (hurray!), but it's not actually all that loose around the bust or waist. It isn't perfectly fitting, though; sizing up has meant the top button starts over the bust, and the waist is a little further down, but it's nothing that cinching in the fabric belt, and adding a stitch or two can't sort. Just bare that all in mind if you're broad shouldered or chested, and want to buy one. She really is worth persevering for, though!

She's a gem of a dress, comes in sizes 8-26 UK, and a bargain at just £29.99! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll be made in other colours; if she is, then I'd happily buy them all! I bloody love this dress!

Outfit Details

Dress- Lindy Bop // Shrug- M&Co (similar) // Satchel- ASOS // Brooch- Cath Kidston // 

Bracelet- Cath Kidston // Shoes- Fashion World* // Tights- Evans

Wednesday Wish List: Lindy Bop

This week's wish list is dedicated entirely to Lindy Bop. They've had so many beautiful new frocks in this week that I've practically forgotten about everything else I've had my eye on lately. Who needs anything else when there are dresses like these?

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I am completely obsessing over the red polka dot Matilda shirt dress (#1) and the Fab Fruity Berry Print Leda swing dress (#2). The fact I can't afford to buy them just yet is killing me, so it's definitely time I had another clear out on eBay. They both need to be in my dress collection. 

Last week, I shared the strawberry print Ophelia and said I wasn't convinced I could pull it off, so I'm pleased to see the print on another style of dress with a neckline I find much easier to wear. I definitely prefer the Leda, and it will almost certainly be my next frivolous purchase along with the Matilda. They'll be perfect for Summer!

 5 // 6 // 7 // 8

These four are all so different, but I love each print, and the shape and style of every one. I particularly love the scalloped neckline of the floral print Daria (#5).

 9 // 10 // 11 // 12

I'd be more than happy to welcome these Winter blues in to my life this February. (While we're on that, how is it already February?) These dresses are also so bright and cheerful, and one wear of these would definitely help banish those other Winter blues away. The Vintage Rose print Lily dress (#9) is particularly high up on my wish list, just behind Leda and Matilda. It's so elegant and would be perfect for Spring.

 13 // 14 // 15 // 16

I don't have a lot of purple or white in my wardrobe, but I'd happily add these four to my collection. Not that I'd have anywhere to wear the two Iris prom / party dresses, but a girl can dream.

 17 // 18

The fern green Iris dress is stunning, and the lily print Vanessa wiggle dress is so sexy. I doubt I could pull it off, but it's gorgeous.

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And finally, I also love these two 'Frenchy' polka dot tops. A girl can never have too many polka dots, and that is a fact!

What's on your wishlist this week? Are you coveting any of these beauties?

Wednesday Wish List: Lindy Bop Dresses

This week's wish list is dedicated entirely to Lindy Bop dresses. Twenty of them to be exact.

In the last week, there have been a couple of dozen new releases on the Lindy Bop website, and naturally, I have fallen in love with most of them. I think many of you will, too, which is why I've put this post together today.

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My main obsession right now is the Audrey Sumptuous Midnight Blue Velvet Party Dress (#2). It's absolutely gorgeous and I think it will make the perfect Christmas Day dress. If I manage to get my hands on the dress before it sells out, that's what I intend to wear it for. It would be great for Christmas parties, too. Just add a tulle petticoat, heels, and a lace shrug and you're ready to party!

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So, a little about Lindy Bop...

Lindy Bop are a brand who make the most beautiful vintage inspired dresses including swing, tea, and wiggle dresses, swing skirts, and petticoats. My personal favourite style is the 'Audrey' swing dress, of which I own four; a collection I started in July and have no intention of ending any time soon. I'm hooked!

The clothes are beautiful, and high-quality, and they're also extremely affordable. Probably the most affordable vintage inspired brand I've ever found, which is great if you're on a tight budget like I am, or want to dip your toe in to the rockabilly trend without spending a fortune.

Even better, Lindy Bop dresses come in UK sizes 6-26, which is a fantastic range of sizes. Yes, they don't yet cater to everybody, but it's a step in the right direction for plus sizes, right?

Which of these dresses do you like best?

Are you a fan of Lindy Bop?

OOTD: Brown and Yellow Polka Dots

Today's outfit is one I wore back at the beginning of September when the weather was still hot and it still seemed acceptable to wear pastel yellow. It seems so long ago now!

I had been playing dress up that day, trying different colours with my new Lindy Bop brown polka dot Audrey dress. I don't usually find it difficult to pair colours together, but my wardrobe is lacking in colours that compliment brown, like rust, mustard, chocolate, and dusky pink, so I started experimenting with other colours. That's how this unconventional brown and yellow combo came about. 

And... I look like I'm wearing the Brownies uniform from the early nineties! I'm just missing the sash! Does anybody remember how vile the colour of the culottes and trousers was? It looked like bile! I remember always hating them, especially since my Mum made me wear the culottes and not the trousers. What kid wants to wear bile coloured culottes? Seriously? None of them do!

I've not worn culottes since my Brownies days (thank God), and I hadn't worn brown and yellow together, either, until this outfit happened in September... but I actually liked the result! I think the colours look okay together, and it was fun to try out a new colour combination. It seems a waste to leave this beautiful dress hanging in my wardrobe unworn until I buy some pieces that compliment it better. It deserves as much wear as possible; even if the most exciting place it gets worn is the garden and the only person I'm dressing up for is myself!

Outfit Details

Dress and Belt- Lindy Bop // Cardigan- New Look // 

Shoes- New Look // Bag- ASOS // Necklace- Giveaway Win

Would you wear brown and yellow together?

It Must Have Been Love

For as long as I can remember, I've been dying to get my hands on a brown polka dot dress, just like the infamous frock Julia Roberts wore to the races in Pretty Woman. Show me a woman who didn't want that dress at one time or another!

This Summer I finally found my perfect brown polka dot dress; a swing dress by Lindy Bop, which I was able to snap up with some birthday money back in July. The fabric was far too thick and heavy for Summer, so I've had to wait until now to wear it, but it was definitely worth the wait.

The dress is beautiful, the quality is amazing, and it's so comfortable to wear. I feel great in it! The only way this dress could be better is if it was custom made to my measurements, but now I'm just being greedy!

I would have loved to have styled it like Vivian, but I don't own a boater hat, thick brown waist belt, or white shoes, and I've not owned a pair of white gloves since my first communion in 1992, so that was never going to happen. It also wouldn't have been very 'me'. This isn't the eighties anymore.

My first thought was to turn to some simple white pieces, since I'm lacking in colours which compliment brown. The dress came with the white belt, and I dug out an old cropped cardigan from New Look, which I think look okay together. Looking at these photos, I don't think the yellow polka dot ballet pumps or necklaces look great with the dress at all, but you win some, you lose some. I only chucked it together for a walk around the garden.

I need to invest in some black and tan shoes this Autumn (I have none!), and I'd like to hunt down some rust, mustard, and chocolate cardigans, jackets, and accessories to wear with this dress this Autumn and Winter. It's the perfect dress for AW because the fabric is about as thick as a medium-weight pair of jeans and it's lined, so it should keep me warm when it's freezing cold outside.

It's also wearable for every day, without looking ridiculously over-dressed, but it could be dressed up for a special occasion with a big tulle petticoat, heels, and some red lippy! I'd love to wear it with a petticoat every day, but I think I'd get a lot of odd glances in suburban Oxfordshire!

The Audrey dress comes in a huge selection of colours and patterns in sizes 8-26 for just £29.99! They are fantastically priced! I recently blogged about the red gingham and red polka dot Audreys in outfit posts, if you'd like to see them.

Outfit Details

Dress (inc. belt)- Lindy Bop // Cardigan- New Look // 

Shoes- New Look (Wide Fit) // Necklace- Rachel's giveaway