Waking up the the lovely start of Sunday morning. Thank you all for the comments and taking time to share your thoughts.
Jeanne :: the shirt over this dress would not work, the dress is too thick for what i like as underlayer. But, I'll keep the idea at the back of my mind, thank you.
lyn67 :: the skirt is from Dorothy Perkins. They stock Tall range, so I bought a few things last Christmas when I was in the UK - part of the fun then was revisiting familiar brands. It is not ideal (DP still is mostly a bit off in terms of reliability and quality for my liking, but they can get it right too), I prefer both thicker fabrics for skirts and the stripes are not aligned on the side hems, but It was an inexpensive experiment which gave me free skirt pattern and is just the right waist height and skirt length for me. This is a very simple 2-hems down the sides skirt which I plan to replicate.
deb :: I took 1.5 inch from each side hem, raised shoulder hem by 2 inches and shortened the shirt by 2.5 inches front ant back so there's no bulk when it's tucked in. I also cut off the fabric which keeps the tabs rolled up - it was too sporty. This is how I mostly want to wear the shirt, tucked in, so less bulk was my ultimate goal. The original style of the shirt is not perfect for my bodytype mostly because of the dropey shoulders, but I think I rescued that as much as I could. I'm happy with the learning and it was all worth it because the shirt would end up being a loungewear, which is a shame as I'd not realise how versatile it can be for me.
Lisa :: the skirt is bodycon with very little give. When I buy pencil skirts I look for those that do not pull over my widest part, so that it's not stretched and the bit that's left hanging down does not narrow steeply. Does it ring a bell what I mean - I don't know how to explain otherwise? I also like the skirts which are a little tapered at the bottom, because when they are cut too straight it looks bad to me and the curve does not look intentional. I've learnt the importance of this small taper with one dress I altered after Aida's suggestion a while ago. This is also why I find that tulip-style skirts work for me. I have one which is actually part of the dress, but it's quite obvious that the more you make it look like the style is what creates that lower-body curve, the less it looks like you're fixing a proportion iykwim
