Shopping: Pepperberry

After the Balmoral yesterday, we headed along to the new Pepperberry store on George Street.

I've been a Bravissimo customer for years, loving not only the gorgeous undies for girls with more generous assets but also the clothes - fab dresses, shirts and jackets which actually fit, rather than straining over the boobs and fitting the waist, or fitting the boobs and flapping round the waist.

But I've always bought the clothes online, as there really isn't enough room for them in the Edinburgh Bravissimo store, and so they never have the full range of clothes or sizes.

Pepperberry solves this - a whole shop, albeit it not a huge one, just for the clothes. The range isn't enormous - a couple of dresses and jackets were hung up in two different places in the shop to fill it up - but it's a good start, with everyting from suits, to pretty going out dresses, to day dresses and a denim blazer. If you find shopping for a plain work shirt a nightmare, then I'd highly recommend them.

The sizing works using numbers and "curviness" - so you buy the clothes size you would need to fit the rest of you, and then select your curviness - curvy if your buttons just strain a bit, really curvy if you need to go up a dress size to cover your boobs, and super curvy if you need to go up two, or (as I have to) plan what styles you buy based on your boobs. So I'm an 18SC.

The size range is a bit limited compared to many places these days - 8-18 - but the sizes are generous, especially the floatier 50s style dresses.

My size is the one that always sells out fast on the website, but in the store they had it in stock in two of the four things I wanted to try on. For the other two, I tried on a different "curviness" size, so I could get an idea of how it would look and then, if I'd liked it, ordered in the size I actually wanted.

I tried on a blue maxi dress in the wrong curviness size, so I could at least see how it fitted elsewhere. It was fine, but I decided not to order it in - at the moment it felt all wrong, although I don't promise not to buy it when summer properly hits! I also tried on a colbolt blue shift in the wrong curviness size, but it wasn't for me.

But I tried and loved this denim blazer (picture from the Pepperberry site)

 I can see it's going to be very handy in the summer, as it can be dressed up or down - it'll look great with a maxi or as a cardigan alternative, and I've also worn it to work.

And I fell in love with this dress (picture from Pepperberry site again, sorry it's a bit small!)

Fifties styles - fitted on the bust and waist and then flowing outwards - suit me and I love the drama of them. I was very spoilt, and my friends bought it for me as a birthday present. I'm planning to wear it tomorrow on my actual birthday - fingers crossed the weather's nice enough. Once it gets properly warm I think I'll be living in this dress because it's so flexible - I can see myself wearing it for a Saturday shopping, for a wedding, or for work depending on the accessories I put with it. It's a cotton and silk blend, but can be machine washed.

As ever with Bravissimo, the styles in Pepperberry aren't exactly fashion forward. I'm not the most experimental dresser and even I find a few of the things there a bit too safe - I suspect because they go right across the age range. But for a pretty dress to wear to a wedding it's perfect and, like Bravissimo before it, I suspect will always be my first port of call when I need a smart dress that fits in a hurry. And it's very handy for basics. I don’t wear jackets from anywhere else any more now I've got used to jackets that actually fit me.

The staff are incredibly friendly and helpful (one of the reason The Husband loves Bravissimo is that they immediately swoop in and rescue lone male partners who haven't a clue what to buy), so if all my talk of curviness sizes has just confused you, I'd recommend popping in and asking them!

Sewing: giving a halterneck Vivien of Holloway dress straps

My best friend from school is getting married at the weekend.

She and her fabulous fiance are picking and choosing which traditions they like and ditching the rest. Rather then having traditional bridesmaids, she's decided to have two unofficial best women. We're helping her out, but we get to wear whatever we like.

So I took myself to the Vivien of Holloway website and bought myself this dress - a black polkadot halterneck circle dress. I love their dresses because they suit my shape - hourglass, and plenty of me - very well.

But there are two problems with their dresses. Although they're beautifully boned and perfectly capable of keeping even my ample assets under control, the wedding will feature a ceilidh. And an Orcadian Strip the Willow. And for that, I want to be able to wear a bra. A good one. Otherwise people might die.

The other issue, even if I could get strapless bras in my size, is that for the generously endowed lady halternecks HURT. Quite a lot of weight hanging from my neck? Sore.

I took scissors to my beautiful new dress, cutting halfway along the halterneck strap, and used the bolero that came with it, and did nothing for me, for spare material

I put a fold in the remaining half straps so they went straight up, rather than towards the neck.

Folded and pinned strap

I measured how long the gap between these and the top of the dress back, and cut into the bolero to make two new lengths of strap - both measuring (twice the width of the existing straps + seam allowance) x length of "gap" + seam allowance.

Strap extensions, inside out

I sewed along the lengths of these and then slid them along the existing strap stumps, inside out.

I then sewed the two together and then pulled the new section the right way round so all was visible of the join was a seam.

Then I attached the straps at the back, after trying out a couple of positions to make sure they covered my bra straps but were as far towards the centre as possible.

Ta-da! The finished article.

Obviously it'll look better with a person inside and a net petticoat underneath, but I'm really happy with the straps. I'll share a picture of me inside it when I've dolled myself up for the wedding.