#maxinethemaxi -Sarah from People Don't Eat Enough Fudge

When I commented on this post Five in Five on Ann's blog back in September and said ''I cant do maxi dresses for some reason, I love them on other people and, being tall, I always think they should suit me but I just end up looking like a pair of walking curtains. I really didn't think very much more about it.

Until!!!

Ann contacted me and asked me if I would like to take part in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Maxi Dress.

The idea was that Ann would send the dress to me, I would style it my way and write a post about it and then I would send the dress back.

Would I like to do that??

Hell YES!

A couple of weeks later the postman delivered a parcel and I was SO excited!

The dress was pretty, slinky and even long enough for ME which at 6ft is something of a rarity!

Now I'm famed for wearing most of my clothes far too short. It's probably my rebellious streak kicking against the god awful weather we have here in the UK for much of the year.

There's nothing I like better than wearing my shorts or little summer dresses and I've never even looked sideways at a maxi dress before (see reason above) and to be honest, I was stumped!

I had NO idea how to style this dress. I liked the look of it, I liked the feel of it. I loved the way it flowed and skimmed and was totally weightless. I also loved the fact that after travelling for 12000 miles it came out of that package without a single crease (I don't really do ironing ... or dusting .... or .... well, that's another post ...).

I turned to the internet for inspiration and found loads of different ways you can wear a maxi dress.

Belts, scarves, shoes, boots, safety pins - yep, safety pins - but don't worry, I didn't use any, I didn't want to poke holes in Ann's dress.

I had lots of fun trying out the different styles although I've got to admit I was REALLY bad at getting them to look the way they did on line and most were a complete disaster.

I roped Miss Mac in as my photographer and we took a few pics in the garden.

I take a TERRIBLE photo! Seriously! I pull weird faces nearly every time!

You know when you go out with a group of friends and they all start snapping away on their phones and post photos on FB about what a great time everyone's having?

Well, you hardly ever see any of me (unless they are really mean friends). They take the snaps but then I see them review them, frown and then silently hit delete no doubt inwardly berating me for ruining yet another great shot.

So anyway, Miss Mac (bless her) tried SO hard and took SO many photos (and laughed a LOT) and eventually we got a few photos that don't make me want to garrote myself with the twisted up dress (which would be a shame as it is a lovely dress).

First of all I wore the dress full length with just a belt slung low around my waist and (at Miss Mac's insistence) a scarf tied bandana style around my head and simple gladiator style sandals with turquoise beads.

The photo is a little blurry but it really was the best one we got!

Then I tried it (as shown on tinternet) with a belted vest top over it and long brown boots (see me looking all wistful and gardener like?)

Then I folded the top of the dress down (this was really easy as it's such a light fabric) and belted it at the waist so it became a long skirt and I wore it with a white vest top and a lightweight denim shirt dress worn open over the top.

I really wanted to show the way they had pinned the dress so the hem hung in a handkerchief way, all unevenly just above the knee but as I said, I didn't want to pin the dress so I've tried to show kind of how it should look by sitting down. I've teamed it this time with my favourite long line cable knit cardigan and the same brown boots turned down to show the sheepskin lining.

Finally I asked Miss Mac to style the dress her way for me.

She looked SO pretty! She's gone for a great young look with the dress folded and belted to make it above the knee borrowing my wide tan belt to hold it and the same gladiator sandals I wore and added a flower head band and an acid wash denim jacket for a really youthful hippy chick look.

I wish I could have done the dress more justice in these photos, I've really had my eyes opened to their versatility and practicality and, who knows, maybe I will buy one for myself next summer.

Thanks you SO much Ann for choosing me to style this dress for you, I'm really looking forward to seeing how everyone else wears it!

Sarah xx

I really want to thank Sarah and Miss Mac for their amazing contribution towards #maxinethemaxi or #thesisterhoodofthetravellingmaxi   You both have nailed it and I love love love your pictures 

Head on over and check out Sarah's hilariously funny blog People Don't Eat Enough Fudge and give her a like on Facebook

If you want to have Maxine pop over and visit you or if you want to see me and Maxine head on over to this post for all the goss!!