The 'Leda'.

I'm sure most of you lovely ladies know about Lindy Bop by now but I still can't quite get over how amazing their dresses are.

This is my first ever review so be gentle but I really wanted to share this dress. I'm lucky to have a lovely photographer friend, Joanne, who has offered to help me out with photos and these were from the first time we decided to play with a camera together. I'm sure she can't wait for me to step up my posing game.

The Leda in Blue Swan Print is a dress I've admired on others for a while but would never ever think I'd have the confidence to wear it myself but then my lovely boyfriend went out on a whim and surprised me with it for Valentine's Day and I fell in love instantly.

Lindy Bop describe the Leda as "A vintage fifties style swing/jive dress with a beautiful swan print from Lindy Bop", it retails for £32.99 and can be found here: http://www.lindy-bop.com/leda.html.


One of my favourite things about Lindy Bop in general is that the measurements are spot on, if you follow their measurements guides on the website, you will get a dress that fits. I have the 14. I have a 33" waist but I size down rather than up out of personal preference and find it fine.
So here it is:

(Photos by Joanne - www.jlwphotographics.co.uk)

As you can see the back is a little tight on me but nothing a better bra/shapewear or a belt (which is my usual option) wouldn't hide or flatten out. The Leda is made from a medium-weight cotton, I find that it feels little lighter and softer than the Audrey dresses which makes me more inclined to pick this dress for an all-day event. The neckline is by far my favourite thing about the dress, its so flattering and manages to sit just above my cleavage line so I don't have to feel overexposed. The skirt is a wide flared skirt which I'll give a 7/10 for twirlibility (a very important 50's style dress feature, I'll have you know).

I have a petticoat on in these photos but I've worn it without and love it just as much.
I really love the little red bow on the front but it can be a bit of a pain to get this to sit flat as it gets a bit squished by my boobs. I've found that ironing it as flat as possible tends to work and can tease it into sitting how I want it too for the day. I like that it adds an accessory to the dress for me, I'm not so great at fussing with jewellry so it's nice for the bow to complete the outfit for me. 

I still can't fathom that I own a dress that is all over swan print but I don't feel self-conscious wearing it. My next little mission is to find the perfect shoes to go with it, I'm thinking I need some sparkly red beauties but do you have any suggestions for me? I'm not so great in heels for more than like... 10 minutes.
I'd love to know if you have this dress and what you think of it, or if you have any all-over print dresses that you never thought you'd wear but now love!
Grace Belly.

Thighs.

My thighs have been my main body hang up since I can remember.
My lovely, but brutally honest, Nanna used to tell me I had Williams legs (which apparently was some family curse that skipped a few generations because both my Nanna and my Mam have the skinniest little legs).

I wore skirts in school and I wear dresses pretty much every day. For a while, the only trousers I ever wore were pajama ones.
I then got my job as an Asbestos Analyst. Dresses weren't really appropriate wear for construction sites so my Mam offered to come shopping with me. Cue a 24 year old having a tantrum and crying in H&M because I couldn't wriggle any jeans over my knees, never mind my chunky thighs. Poor Mam, I think she was as traumatised as me; now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think she's offered to come on another shopping trip since.

Thanks to the lovely blogging community, I've learnt some little hacks to attempt to keep chub rub at bay, I probably wouldn't have survived my holiday last summer without bandelettes but I wanted to look at my own thighs and think that they were beautiful. (I bought mine on eBay from Mish_Outlet: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Bandelettes-Nude-Anti-Chafing-Lace-Thigh-Bands-21-32-/310971860322 but there are loads of sellers and websites out there).

It's taken me a while, and this probably isn't the most conventional way of learning to love something about you, but my tattoos really make me feel beautiful. HAVING CHUNKY THIGHS MEANS WAY MORE SKIN WHICH MEANS WAY MORE AVAILABLE PLACES TO COLOUR IN.

In case anyone is curious, the left is by Jody Dawber and the right by Paula Castle.

It begins.

I'm so convinced that everyone gives themselves a 'New Year, New Me' pep talk, even if we like to make fun of the people who insist on posting about it on social media every, single, year. This year mine was a little different to my usual 'I will get fitter, I will lose weight, I will fit back into THAT dress that I've held on to since 2012 insisting that one day it will fit me like it used to even though I know deep down that it never will'.

This year I want to be happy with myself, and not just the pretending to be happy so that it looks cool on Instagram but really happy. My feeds are filled of body confident ladies of all shapes who are embracing themselves and looking amazing so why can't I be one of them?

It has taken me until March to realise that the answer is simple: I CAN BE.

I will continue to spend hours lusting after those classic pin-up girls and vintage reproduction dresses but also realise that I can dress that way, I can look how I want to look, I am not limited by my body. I will love my belly (and admittedly learn to hide it away in shapewear and flattering dresses) but it is there, it's not going anywhere and I will love it anyway.

I wanted a place to document my journey and so, Grace Belly was born.