Anna goes to Brighton

So my post title, which sounds like a Topsy and Tim book is actually my way of introducing my new Anna dress!  This amazing pattern from the By Hand London girls has been well documented all over the blogging world (apparently it's their most popular pattern) and I really have nothing new to add, just my version and love for this pattern.

I made version 1 out of a gorgeous navy, blue, purple and pink viscose fabric that I had picked up for super cheap in Simply Fabrics in Brixton.

Really not sure what I'm doing with my legs and feet in this photo, John Wayne in a dress style going on!!!

This dress was so easy to make up and relatively quick, even given the looooong lines of stitching for the maxi skirt.  I made this straight out of the pack with no alterations and it's pretty good for fit but when I make this again I will probably take a chunk out of the back as it gapes a little bit.  Sonja of ginger makes did a post about this which I will follow next time.  However, even with a little gapping, this dress is still wonderful and I'm completely smitten.  It's so nice to have an outfit that I've made that I like love, there have been a fair few duds recently, which have been incredibly frustrating and it's so nice to have put together something that should have been simple, and was, and that I should love and totally do!  Yay!  I love a maxi dress, it's an easy way to feel super elegant with limited effort. Also when the fabric is as soft and gorgeous as this viscose, it's perfect for summer as it kind of feels like I'm wrapped in a airy cloud!

The only problem with my wonderful but super cheap fabric is that it did not like going through my machine one little bit and I would get little lines of white thread running outward a from seams, not a look I was going for! Maybe I should have used a thinner needle, anyway, to minimise the weird white lines, I hemmed the dress and the thigh high split by hand! Lots of other bloggers have commented on how much nicer this looks but I'm lazy and had no intention of doing this could I have avoided it, however, accidentally my dress is not finished super neatly and invisibly!

This dress is my entry for the summer sundress sew along so it seemed appropriate to take it for a trip to the beach!

This boat was super cool and I thought an appropriate place to take beach photos but check out those seagulls behind, aren't they massive?  They attacked my friend's lunch (we were attempting to eat fish and chips on the beach), however she knows how to protect her lunch and with one swing of her handbag she reclaimed it from those crazy, greedy seagulls!

Having worn this all day to wander around in while wearing flat shoes, I realised I need to hack a few cm off the bottom of this.  Although it might be the perfect length while wearing heels, when I'm wearing flats the skirt collects all the dirt from the ground and rubs it over my legs (lovely, I know) and they end up FILTHY!  I really wish I'd taken a picture of them but sadly you'll have to use your imagination.