The Yellow Caroline: Shades of Me

Oh my goodness. I am so excited to be kicking off 2 full weeks of colorful eye candy. Are you ready for all of the amazing bloggers who will be sharing their outfits based on a specific color for the Shades of me series? Can you guess that my color was yellow?

You guys, my friend Celina from Petit a Petit is the co-host of this series and I can’t say enough good things about her. She is one of the sweetest, most talented people I have ever met and I am so thankful that we have crossed paths in life. She is one of those people that somehow creates these amazing projects, takes wonderful photos, and still remains so humble and friendly.

Celina was the co-creator of the amazing emag Stylo that I had the pleasure of being in. In addition to that, she is a graphic designer, web developer, and also one of the pattern designers in our new business Willow and Co. Phew, she is busy!.

She was my partner-in-crime and fellow yellow…

go check out her beautiful outfit HERE.

So, when it was time to create a yellow outfit for myself, I decided to use my new Ladies Caroline Dress Pattern, which is the grown-up version of the Caroline Party Dress (release date set for next week!). It is a 50’s inspired dress with a fitted bodice, princess seams, pleated skirt or gathered skirt. There will be 5 sleeve length options and 4 skirt length options. It is going to be awesome.

But let’s cut to the chase. I don’t wear dresses or skirts. For those of you that have followed my blog from the beginning will know that I have a disability and I wear leg braces and it is pretty rare that I show them off. You will usually see me in pants, but one of my goals this year is to not worry about such silly things.

Things that I can’t change.

So, there I am. Do I love what I see? Not really, but I am learning to like it. One of the reasons we started this series was to get women out of their comfort zone. I want to see you, the real you. We all have something about ourselves that we dissect and criticize, but yet, others barely notice. My brace is probably one of those things that most people would hardly care about and I need to realize that. I need to love who I am.

So, there you have it.

My legs are not perfect and don’t work properly.

However, I feel better now that I have mentioned it.

So, now that we got my brace and insecurities out of the way, let’s talk clothing, ha! Sewing women’s clothing scares a lot of people, doesn’t it? I think once you find patterns from a reliable women’s pattern maker, you would be surprised at what you can make yourself!

Most women’s patterns will always require some adjustment because, let’s face it, we are all so differently shaped. However, any good pattern will walk you through it.

It has been a long time since I have worn a dress like this and I really felt the need to see how much it twirled. It felt so good.

Because I am fairly uncomfortable with a dress, I found a great compromise… thick stockings, lace up boots, and boot cuffs. I felt much more relaxed and “myself”.

I love how accessories can change the feel of an outfit.

I live down the road from the historical Daniel Boone Homestead and this place always gives me the creeps. Today, the door was rattling as I was standing on the porch , so I decided to lock the “ghosts” inside.

When Celina and I were setting up the sign up sheet for colors, we realized that no one would want yellow… which is why we took it. We were both so freaked out by the thought of yellow, but I am so happy that we took on the challenge.

Many thanks to my wonderful mother for taking my instruction and listening to me saying “Do you see the little red light? Make sure it is on the focal point!~” She is the best and is a very fast learner.