In case you didn’t know: I love fit and flare dresses. This shape is so appealing to me and I’m always on the lookout for these dresses in fun prints and beautiful fabrics. As I’m quite tall, 5.9½ ” or 1.76 m., I’m always having trouble finding well fitting dresses. I can live with a shorter hemline but usually the waist is placed way too high, which looks, to say the least, odd. This is the main reason why I own just a few vintage dresses. I love dresses from the fifties but those girls were a lot shorter back in the day (and have you noticed how tiny their waists were??). I can camouflage a high waist with a wide belt,  but it does change the aesthetic of the dress.

Best solution for this first world problem: having your dresses made to measure!

HeartsandFound

Last summer I discovered Heartsandfound on Etsy (here). The first dress I had made was a gorgeous yellow gingham summer dress. I listed my measurements, chose a fabric and about 3 weeks later a perfect fitting dress arrived in the mail.

The waist of this yellow gingham Grace dress fits perfectly and isn’t too high! You can shop and customize this particular dress here  but of course you can pick your own dress and fabric.

Heartsandfound then contracted me and asked if I wanted to have 2 more dresses made. Needless to say that I made a little dance of joy after reading that message.

These are the 2 dresses I had made:

The Bonnie dress in a beautiful rose print (dress can be found here, fabric is sold out but there are plenty of floral prints to choose from). I especially love the pussy bow on this one!

The Marianne dress in a fun paprika print. The sleeves make it perfect for winter. You can find this exact dress here or just the dress type (and choose your own fabric) here .

eShakti.com

A couple of months ago, I was contacted by eShakti.com, a site specialising in custom-made dresses. They asked me to pick a dress and to have it customised as much as possible. So I did.

The dress I picked was a sleeveless maxi dress and had a boat neckline. I added sleeves, changed the length to just below the knee and the neckline to a jewel neckline. I filled out my measurements on the site and 2 weeks later this dress was delivered:

The embroidery makes this dress so special. And of course it fits perfectly (sold out).

Needless to say I was addicted right away (good sales strategy, eShakti!). I ordered two more dresses in January. Once you fill out your measurement on the website and create an account, those measurement will automatically load when you order another item. Of course you can change them, especially handy after the holidays! Or, you know, in March, when all those workouts are starting to pay off.

The dress featured in the top picture was a prom dress, which I had shortened and changed the neckline from a boat to a jewel neckline. In the picture, I’m wearing it with a shirt underneath because of the freezing temperatures in Amsterdam. The dress can be found here. Here are the original dress and mine next to each other:

And then I found this gorgeous dress. I had it shortened and added sleeves. The print is so fresh and bright!

Spring is in the air! The dress can be found here.

Finally, one of the perks of being a blogger is that sometimes designers create an outfit especially for you. The very talented miss Jennifer Diederich of Suite by Jennifer created this dress for me. I was so honoured. It is one of my favourite dresses.

A print of clapboards and a black and white striped ribbon! Find this dress and more of Jennifer’s sweet designs here.

Chavah of Chavah Designs designed this outfit for me. It’s so fun and so me. The details are perfect: the pockets and waist of the skirt are lined in a fun floral fabric and the top is reversible: on side has a scoop neck and the other a boat neck.

 

The colour and fabric of the skirt are incredible! Shop this outfit and see more of Chavah’s designs here.

I have a feeling I will have to make a sequel to this post soon, I have been swooning over a lot more customisable dresses lately. I will keep you posted!