What I Wore - Fourth of July

I had been longing for the perfect 50's style Wonder Woman inspired star print skirt for years. With the new movie coming out a couple months ago, I had hoped that I might have some more luck finding one, but the only skirts I could find were shortttt.

That is when it hit me, why not order a custom skirt from Mid-Century for Modern. About a year ago I was lucky enough to win a free custom skirt from her, and it was ah-maz-ing. Coincidentally, I had picked a Wonder Woman print fabric for that skirt (you can see photos of it here). I sent Christine a link to the fabric I had in mind, she ordered it, and made me a beautiful "Andrea" skirt out of it, complete with roomy pockets!

I wore the skirt today with a striped shirt for an over-the-top flag look for the Fourth of July. Unfortunately Timmy and I didn't feel like going anywhere today, so, it only got to see the light of day for a short time. On a some-what funny note, I had a cute bright yellow purse planned for this outfit, but I forgot it in our apartment, and I didn't want to go back up three flights of stairs in heels to get it, haha!

Plus size Lindy Bop review

You know that saying, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me"? That about covers my feelings on Lindy Bop.


Last June I ordered a couple things from Lindy Bop. The skirt fit as expected, however, the dress (the "Cordelia" in Venice print) fit straighter (less curvy) than most plus size brands I've tried, and than their size chart indicated. According to their size chart, a 3X dress is supposed to fit a 45" bust and a 38.25" waist. The dress measured 44" in the bust and 40" in the waist; so, while there was supposed to be almost a 7" difference between the bust and hips, there was only a 4" difference.

Earlier this month Lindy Bop had an amazing sale, so, I decided to place another order with them. This time, I decided to order a size up on the dresses, figuring that the bust would be sure to fit, and that the waist would just be even looser than it was on my previous order of the smaller size (fairly easy to fix/hide). Unfortunately I had issues with four of the six items I ordered.



"Casey" skirt in Vintage Circus print
Some of Lindy Bop's garments use a general size chart, and some provide "Actual Garment Measurements." Since this skirt had the actual measurements listed for it, I knew that at least I wouldn't have to worry about the chance of it not fitting. Or so I thought. I ordered this in a 3X which their "Actual Garment Measurements" chart said is 38.5" at the waist. The skirt I received only measured 37". While one expects a slight variance in garment measurements (because each item will be cut and sewn slightly different, and rounding is likely to be involved), an inch and a half is significantly too much leeway for "Actual Garment Measurements."


"Courtney" dress in Perfectly Plaid print
I ordered this dress in a size 4X. According to their size chart (this item didn't have "Actual Garment Measurements"), a 4X is meant to fit a 40.75" waist. The actual dress measured slightly smaller than 37" at the waist. While size charts are meant to be general size guidelines, a dress being four inches smaller than the size it is supposed to fit is unacceptable; there is no point of providing a size chart if your dresses don't fit close to what the chart says. Lindy Bop's 3X is supposed to fit a 38.25" waist, so, the waist on the 4X dress would only fit someone who was a 2X on the size chart.


"Tallulah" dress in Woodland Folk print
This dress is listed on their website as "95% Cotton 5% Elastane," however, the dress I received is actually 95% polyester 5% elastane. Polyester tends to stick to the skin in warm weather, so, I would not have bought the dress had I known I'd have to wear a cotton dress under it.


"Anoushka" top in Puffin print
I ordered this top in a 3X/4X. The shirt I received is tagged as an XL, not just in the attached paper tags, but in the tag sew into the back of the shirt, and the bag it came in. The shirt measures as a 46" bust and a 40" waist, which are both only an inch off from the "Actual Garment Measurements" for the size 3X/4X (not a big deal); so, it appears that I wasn't sent the wrong shirt, just a shirt labeled wrong. It seems unlikely that I would receive the correct size shirt without someone having realized that the shirt was labeled wrong; so, the question is, why would I have been sent a shirt that was essentially defective without it being disclosed to me? It may not seem like a big deal, but what if my shirt had been a gift? For me the issue is that international shipping is expensive, so, if a company doesn't offer free returns, I only buy from them if I am prepared to sell anything that I decide I do not like enough (on me) to keep; an item that is tagged wrong is going to be harder to sell.



The two items I didn't have any major issues with? The first was a petticoat; sizing is pretty forgiving on petticoats. The second was the "Audrey" dress in Russian Doll print. I ordered it in a 4X. It measured for me as a 48" bust and a 40" waist; that matches pretty closely with Lindy Bop's general size chart (47.5" bust and 40.75" waist for a 4X). Despite the bust of the dress being the right width for me, and the waist being loose, the dress still gaps at the armpits. I suspect that they are making the dresses wider armpit-to-armpit in plus sizes without appropriately increasing the depth of the bust darts (to accommodate a larger cup volume).

I emailed Lindy Bop about the issues with my order on April 22, and received a reply on April 25. The reply apologized that the "item arrived not quite fitting right" and asked for photos of "the particular dress." Since I emailed them about two dresses and a skirt, I thought it was a bit strange that they only mentioned one of the three items I wrote to them about. I replied to them the same day (April 25) with the photos of all three items I wrote to them about. As of today (May 2) I have not heard back from Lindy Bop. I am hoping that I will not have to go through PayPal for a resolution.



Updates

5/4- Lindy Bop offered store credit for three of the four items above; they stated that since the Anoushka top measures correctly, they are not going to offer anything for it being tagged wrong. I replied (same day) advising that I did not want store credit because I don't plan on ordering from Lindy Bop again. I asked if I could just return the whole order with a prepaid label, explaining why I didn't even like the two items that I didn't have major issues with (petticoat and Audrey dress mentioned above). I also mentioned that I was not happy about being sold the defective Anoushka top without disclosure.

5/10- They replied offering a refund for the three out of the four items I originally wrote to them about (Casey skirt, Courtney dress, and Tallulah dress). They requested images of the "additional items" that I found faults with. I am not sure which items they were requesting photos of because the petticoat and the Audrey dress were the only items I didn't send photos of, and I never said there was anything wrong with the petticoat (simply that it was of no use to me because I bought it to wear with the Tallulah dress). I doubt they would offer anything for the Audrey dress as it is just appears poorly pattern graded in plus size like most of their plus size dresses.


Since I've been dealing with this for two and a half weeks, I'm just going to accept the refund on the three items to be done with it. Hopefully I can alter some of the non-fitting items to make them wearable, and I'll see if I can find a full length cotton slip to wear with the polyester Tallulah dress.

My Lindy Bop sale order

Today Lindy Bop was having a great sale, so, I decided to use my birthday money. I bought three dresses, a skirt, a top, and a petticoat for only $125; they have free shipping to the US on orders of $125 or more, so, I made sure to take advantage of that.

I wasn't sure about the circus print skirt since I'm not for the use of animals in circuses; I eventually decided that I was probably thinking too much about a cute print on a skirt. I ended up getting the petticoat because one of the skirts I wanted ended up being sold out, and I needed $8 more for free shipping; since shipping is $7 for US orders under $125, it made sense. Here is what I bought:


"Casey" skirt in Vintage Circus print
$16, normally $33



"Tallulah" dress in Woodland Folk print
$27, normally $39



"Audrey" dress in Russian Doll print
$31, normally $39



"Anoushka" top in Puffin print
$20, normally $25



"Courtney" dress in Perfectly Plaid print
$23, normally $46



26" pink petticoat
$8, normally $33

Easy way to remove 2-3 inches from waistband

Last month someone on a Facebook group for Pinup Girl Clothing asked for recommendations on where to get her skirt altered to fit a slightly smaller waist. I posted my method of altering my skirts, and received such a positive reaction, that I decided I should post it here as well. It isn't as refined as the typical method that involves completely removing the waistband, but it is much less work, and I don't think anyone would notice the difference.

I am not an expert sewer, nor do I particularly love sewing. The method I use is really simple, and I can do it by hand if I don't feel like changing the thread on my sewing machine. This will not work on skirts that have a zipper in the side seam. I have used this method to remove up to three inches from a waistband, however, it may work up to four inches.


Two easy steps:
1) Turn your skirt inside out
2) Sew a diagonal dotted line on the waistband at the side seams, as illustrated below, on both sides of the skirt.
(The end of the line should always end at the side seam)



The hardest part of the whole process is the simple math equation to determine how wide the area should be where the arrow is pointing. To do that, decide how much smaller you want the skirt to be, and divide it by four.

For example, if the area the arrow is pointing at is 0.5" (half an inch), that will remove 2" total from the waistband. If the area is 0.75" (three-fourths of an inch), it will remove 3" total from the waistband.