Walking with Dancers: The Perfect Staying In Clothes

You may remember me talking about getting my act together on some stuff a while ago.

One of them was getting dressed more regularly.

I was having a really hard time changing out of pajamas since well... there are many, many, many more days, than not, where I am in the house all day long with only my girls. (I was also having a hard time figuring out when to get dressed, since so often the girls are both clamoring for part of me.)

But I wasn't feeling so great about myself walking past my mirrors, sporting bed head, no make up and pjs.

*To be clear, even though I'm writing this post I am NOT declaring I have my act together. I'm actually typing this in my pajamas next to my sick two year old, while my teething, sick baby sleeps.

I still have a hard time figuring out when to change. But its getting easier as they get a bit older.

Anyway one thing I have figured out is:

Maxi Skirts!

Um, why did I not realize this before?

Maxi skirts feel like pajamas but count as clothes!

And...um postpartum...YES!

Nothing works easier than skirts through the post baby days!

They are magical in the way they can fit through so much change!

(Some of them might even make it through pregnancy and back with you!)

And...easy nursing. (Some dresses are great for these reasons too -- but skirts are a no brainer!)

And because Maxi Skirts are long,

you can do mommy maneuvers all day long

without exposing yourself.

What more could a young momma ask for?

Cuteness you say?

Yeah,

I know, I was worried.

I was thinking that when I put on these long skirts I'd be looking dowdy.

I wasn't sure I could look polished and stylish in them.

But guess what?

Maxi skirts are basically gorgeous when done right (which isn't too hard to pull off at all.)

In the summer -- no thought process involved at all! Throw it and some sandals on, and live blissfully.

But we are in the throws of winter...can it still be done?

OH YES!

{And, by the way, you can totally sneak some leggings on under there for extra warmth! Its not cheating, its smarts!}

via

In fact here is my Pinterest board where I have over 200 cute winter looks for Maxis!

I got little over excited pinning these -- it was addictively fun -- sorry to everyone following me I had you drowning in my pins!

Check them out -- I find them quite inspiring.

Actually,

I was so inspired...

I set up a hilariously goofy photography session

involving my iPad mini (THANK YOU BLAKE) set up on a TV Tray

staring at me, a girl who doesn't know how to pose,

wondering how many of my neighbors were laughing at me through their blinds,

all out in our back yard while the girls slept.

(Blake was inside, no worries!)

I came up with a few Pinterest-y type photos out of the group.

Phew!

If they

aren't actually Pinterest-y

and instead cause you to laugh,

please laugh with me.

Do you know I seriously fell down in the snow at one point?

Yeah...

the things I do for this blog.

And I'm not sure why.

So...

wanna know something else great about Maxi Skirts?

They can be attained on-the-cheap pretty easily!

There are always maxi skirts at the thrift store!

And since they are nearly timeless, you can get new or old and be totally on point!

Or if you sew...

these are crazy easy to whip up.

(Tutorials all over internet land! Or patterns at the store -- wait till they are on sale for $0.99)

And you can even upcycle dresses you don't like into skirts that you do,

pretty fast and easy.

Case in point:

I thirfted this dress while I was pregnant --- seeing some potential, but never figured out how to quite rock it right.

Same for this one:

No problem,

cut it off

(Let your toddler cut paper while you cut fabric)

steal the elastic from old shorts & leggings in the goodwill bag

*optional (great way to save a couple bucks!)

And

Whip up a waist band out of some knit fabric:

Those waist band pieces are the front and back,

and they fold down in half, wider part at the bottom, thinner at the top.

Then you can attach it to the skirt like I did in this post.

(I also had to taper in the skirt a bit between my hips and waist to get it to sit smoothly. It was more crucial on the striped skirt, since it was a sweater knit and showed more imperfections. I just wore it inside out and pinned it to fit, then sewed along the pins.)

I didn't really take photos along the way. Sorry.

But if you are really geared up, the internet is full of tutorials on maxi skirts!

And that's where I got these two: