There are many challenges in fashion blogging. The biggest for me lately is leaving the house for pictures. For a long time I took pictures in my back alley, which is pretty secluded and I enjoy the safety and pretty look of my front porch. I've been getting to know my camera a little better too so I can take pictures indoors, even when the light is a bit limited.

 I don't know about you but I especially love to read blogs with beautiful places as the backdrop of these wonderful outfits. I like to see where people live, where they travel, how they spend their day and the clothes that they wear as they do those things. Lately, I've been challenging myself to get out more and explore town.



My neighborhood is one of the prettiest and most interesting in the county. I live in Historic St Charles, Missouri, near the Missouri river. There's so much history, beautiful old buildings, mossy cobblestone streets and paths, Victorian gardens, lush parks and forests, charming pavilions. Why stay on the porch? Just within sight of my pretty little porch is an old school house converted into a church with beautiful blooming trees, old stone walls and a spectacular metal staircase on the side. There's a small park with a pond and pavilion where native flowers will be blooming soon. There are  businesses with interesting windows and brightly painted brick and alleys with pretty wood garages.

I thought to myself this morning, I could go over there, across the street and take pictures of my new dress today. But my neighbor is home and if she looks out her front window and sees me twirling in front of a tripod, I'll look like a total lunatic. The mail lady came by as I was walking back home to grab my forgotten camera remote in pink heels and I may have looked a little crazy.  I thought for sure at any moment, someone would come out of the church and ask "What exactly are you doing?"

Well, I did it anyway! No one came out to ask questions, no one gawked and honestly, people are more busy and concerned about their own stuff than we like to realize so they probably didn't even notice. I definitely felt a little awkward at first but I have so much fun taking blog photos and exploring the neighborhood so once I loosened up and just focused on my project, I didn't feel weird at all.  I don't think that something as silly as that should keep anyone from having fun and doing their thing so I'm not going to let it keep me inside either. 




I wore one of my new me-made dresses. I cranked out 4 of this same dress last month, two in solids and two in prints. I took apart one of my favorite vintage dresses to make a pattern for this. The original was so old and threadbare that the fabric was shredding in several parts. It had been patched to death and I knew if I wore it one more time, it would fall right off of me so I watched a movie while picking the seams out one day and I made a pattern. Its a pretty simple dress and I can get by with 2 1/2- 3 yards, depending on the fabric width so its very affordable to make, even in fancy fabrics. It has one pocket and these decorative fabric tabs at the pocket and bodice. The original had a side zip but I can pull this over my head to put it on so I don't even use a closure on them, which makes it even more affordable and easy to sew! Simplicity's reprint of Jiffy #1252 is similar.  I'm not much of a sleeveless dress kind of girl but I love the 60s jumper over a turtle neck look. I'm also not much of a turtle neck kind of girl so I paired it with a little black knit top.  My kids call this my "bacon dress" due to the rust colored strips on the print.  I think I will hunt down a plain black turtle neck and give it a try. I haven't worn them since I was in 5th grade so maybe I'm just reliving the awful 90s turtle neck Christmas photos of my past when I see them. I think everything is worth trying on at the very least!

I also wore my new pink Bettie Page Darla platform shoes, which are much more comfortable than they look! I typically wear a 9 1/2- 10. These are in a 10 and I think pretty true to size. I found them on Amazon for quite a bit less than other websites so if you're in the market for cute shoes, check there first!
 

60s dress- made by me with Paneling in Pink fabric by Kim Knight, Homebody collection for Cotton and Steel
black top-thrifted
pink Darla shoe by Bettie Page shoes by Ellie- Amazon