frocksandfroufrou.com

It’s been really nice, but it’s made a big dent in my down-time. Which is particularly annoying, as most of the brick-and-mortar maternity shops don’t go any higher than a size 18 in some things – and the few that do seem to keep all the larger sizes squirreled out the back where they can’t pollute the normies, which means you have swallow your pride and ask the gorgeous (and they’re always gorgeous) young staff whether they could please check whether they had a particular item in size fat. The boutiques are spendy though, and I learned pretty quickly that most of what was on offer either didn’t come in my size or definitely wasn’t my style. The plus size range seemed a bit half-assed and very trend-based, and it just wasn’t my thing, so the fact they had a maternity range passed me by entirely until someone in Myer’s (pitiful) maternity section suggested I give them a try.

I’ve been keeping it for a while, but I hope you’ll forgive me; it’s felt too raw, too ephemeral to share online until now. – I’ve never made a secret of it, and it’s something that’s I’ve been a woman on the internet for over ten years now (holy moly) and in that time I’ve been called a lot of not terribly nice things, but nothing has ever hurt quite like being called infertile. She’s been by my side through some pretty tough times – crippling breakups, my sister’s cancer diagnosis, the whole horrible IVF process – and I hope I’ve been there for the ups and downs of her life, too.

I spent a lovely Christmas with the family, and the rest of my holiday catching up with friends, reading, relaxing, and doing just a little bit of sewing. It’s exactly the same comfy fit as the other skirts, complete with a half-elasticised waistband, generous pockets, braided belt, and (unfortunately) the same easily-snagged poly fabric. , then realised: it looks like the dress that Julia Roberts’ character wears to the races in Pretty Woman. It doesn’t look like the shop has this particular style available anymore, but luckily there’s plenty of other options available.

I’ve been feeling wildly uninspired by my wardrobe lately, and after a particularly annoying morning where I tried on and rejected at least seven outfits I went on a mini Modcloth binge that included this pretty pleated skirt. It’s been a while since I ordered anything from Modcloth (if I’m being honest it’s been a while since I even darkened their virtual doors) as I’ve been kind of going off the printed floral frocks and full skirts of five years ago, but I saw the combination of peacock blue and knife pleats during the brand’s Black Friday sales and for $40 couldn’t really resist. It’s part of Modcloth’s namesake label which goes up to a size 4X as standard, and this is just one of the things I love about the brand. There’s no stretch, but the size chart is pretty spot on (or, like I said before, chat to a ‘Modstylist’ and they should be able to give you exact measurements).