What Emmeline Wore In October - Day 10!

Today I'm working on a lot of exciting new commissions, and I have a few big discussions in the pipe-line, so today's look swings more to the business side of the spectrum. 

I've spoken about it a lot, but I really think there's something to be said for people who go out and start their own businesses. Freelancing is tough, and it takes a lot of guts to say to yourself "I know this is what I want to do!" and go out there and follow your dreams. Winning the Freelancer of the Year award back in June gave me the opportunity to meet so many amazing self-employed people, and I find myself constantly inspired by them! So today this is for them.

I'm wearing a lovely casual dress from Boohoo, with a necklace from Accessorize and a minimalist handbag from Radley - oddly enough all past presents from friends and family!

Keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.

What Emmeline Wore In October - Day 9

Nine days into the 'What Emmeline Wore In October' project and I'm definitely starting to feel both the benefits and burden of taking on a daily illustration challenge. 

I'm seeing my work and idea generation speed up, I'm learning new techniques, and I'm really enjoying the visual diary aspect of it - but I have to say on days like today (a Sunday) it can feel a bit tough to drag yourself away from fun plans to make time to illustrate. I know a lot of people are doing Inktober at the moment, which I took part in a couple of years ago, and that's a brilliant one for really pushing yourself as an illustrator, but I'm sure at some point you'll feel that nag of responsibility when it gets to 11pm and you haven't done your ink drawing!

I think a lot of it boils down to forcing yourself to stay motivated. For me I find that overcoming this for this project has such a hugely positive knock-on effect for the rest of my work - it pushes you to take that first step, and then that motivation is in overdrive for all the other commissions and personal projects for the rest of the day. 

Today I'm wearing some comfy jeans from FatFace and one of my favourite cardigans ever from Boden, which my parents' gave me as a Christmas present last year. After a busy weekend, it's all about snuggliness for me today!

Keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.

What Emmeline Wore In October - Day 8

Today I'm going house-hunting, eek! It's my first ever proper day looking to buy a house, so I'm really excited. I'm trying out wearing my hair in (as Andrew calls it..) a hair-pastry - it's long enough now that I can braid and twist it around quite happily. 

I'm wearing a vintage 'Keneth Too!' jumper I picked up in a Preston charity shop - it's a gorgeous shade of blue with a scalloped straight neckline and a really lovely knitted pattern. I don't wear it as often as I should, but that's one of the perks of this challenge - it encourages me to dig out some of the less-lazy options and wear something a bit different. The jeans were kindly given to me by Joules, and I'll properly feature the full yummy outfit from them soon!

Keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.

What Emmeline Wore In October - Day 7

Okay, I've gone mustard yellow and black again..and similarly to the tights, I've also had my fair share of ambiguously complimentary comments about my yellow coat. What is it about mustard yellow that gets people making comments? In London I actually had a guy come up to me whilst I wore this coat and ask if I was a detective! I'd like to say yes.

This coat is a bit of a classic of mine (you may have spotted it in my outfit series last year) which I picked up from Ness. The scarf, another classic, was a charity-shop treasure find and I'm fully in love with it's deep colours and snuggliness.

Tonight I'm heading out to Chorley (recently named least happy town in the UK, although I honestly don't know why - I think it's great!) for the annual Chorley Live weekend. It's brilliant - bands playing in every place you can imagine (last year we saw a few gigs in a chip shop, some in the library, and one in the bank!) and this year Andrew's playing his first ever proper gig, in, coincidentally...a mustard-yellow-walled café. 

Keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.

What Emmeline Wore In October - Day 6

I'm a fan of the mustard yellow and black combo in my outfits. Sure, maybe I look a bit like a bee - but bees are awesome and I'm confident enough to wear what I want. 

I wore a similar outfit (with the yellow tights) to teach an illustration workshop to some school students once, and I'll always remember when one kid turned to me and said "Miss, I really love your outfit, it's great how it just doesn't match at all." I think it was a compliment, or at the very least I'll take it as one. My boyfriend actually has a pair of yellow trousers in a similar shade, so we have to be very careful not to wear them both on the same day, as the chance of us looking like some kind of banana-legged team comes in at around 95%.

Now, I know dungarees have been causing a bit of a divide recently, but I for one am on board with them. I got this little pinafore from F&F after I left my favourite pair of jeans in Cornwall and realised I needed some kind of dark denim to keep me going. I'm not going to lie, it may well crop up again in this project, as it's just pretty much the best - pockets: yes, comfy: yes, ability to switch tops and wear it endlessly with different looks: oh yes.

I'll admit I slightly regretted the bright-legs as today we put into action a devious surprise-plan where stealth was key. Andrew's sister has been living in Australia for ten months, and today she came home two months early, without anyone but Andrew and I knowing. We sneakily lured her mum home expecting to head out on a shopping trip with me, and jumped out from an actual hedge to surprise her! Lots of tears, lots of hugs and a lot of confused faces. You might spot a video of it at some point!

Keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.

What Emmeline Wore In October - Day 5

I've had to post this illustration a little later than I'd have liked today as I've been cycling all over the place! It's been a little bit of a struggle to zip around on my bike as the wind is blowing fiercely and has been whipping up all the (gorgeous) Autumn leaves.

I've kept it a bit minimalist with my outfit today - all black with a splash of colour from my Wolf & Moon necklace and my favourite pair of green Next shoes (oh dear, I seem to be featuring these a lot this week, switch up your wardrobe, me!). 

I've been listening to a lot of the Lore podcast recently, and getting a bit excited for Halloween - so maybe that explains the dark clothes? Well, as gloomy as some people may think I look, I'm feeling chipper and excited to work on some fun new illustration projects today!

Keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.

What Emmeline Wore In October - Day 4 x Yumi

Ooh! Today's a bit of special one as I'm featuring this gorgeous dress sent to me courtesy of Yumi (a long time favourite of mine). I picked it out really quickly as I just fell in love with the folky neckline - I'm always one for a quirky tea dress! 

The dress is part of their Into-The-Woods collection, so it was pretty apt of me to spend some time in Anglezarke on an Autumnal walk between the trees. The colours are just starting to turn on the leaves, so this is always my favourite time of year!

The dress has a really lovely ditsy floral pattern, so I got to bust out my repeat-pattern skills for the illustration. If you're familiar with my work, you'll know I love drawing leaves and flowers, so I really enjoyed illustrating this one! I'm really seeing the benefits of the daily illustration challenge already as my inspiration has just gone into overdrive. Oddly enough, I think it takes a bit of structure sometimes to crack you out of any procrastination, and to unleash yourself creatively!



I'm so glad that Yumi wanted to take part in the project, I've been a fan of their dresses since first spotting one in St.Ives in my first year of uni (I actually remember that, but forget my own phone number sometimes - silly!). If you want to find out more you can have a look at their dresses here.

See you soon for Day 5! Keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.

Disclaimer note - Yumi let me choose a dress for free to include in the project, but I was not paid for this post. I love to collaborate and I'm really thrilled for Yumi to be involved in the project - ee!

What Emmeline Wore In October - Day 3

The leaves are officially changing colour, so it's time for me to bust out my Autumn colour stash. This time of year is my very favourite, and more often than not you'll find a lot of my illustrations have a very Autumnal colour palette (with a little splash of coral!). 

Mondays are always a bit bleak, but I'm making time to get outside today and take in some of the gorgeous colours and spend a bit of time away from screens. 

As a little update on yesterday's post - we did finally manage to see Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children after being turned away from one cinema as it was full, and then a second cinema blew its projector bulb as the showing was starting! We felt a bit cursed! If you happen to see it, keep an eye out for a blond chap juggling in the newspaper photo, that's my Andrew! We saw the film in Blackpool, so it was amazing to be able to go and walk around the locations in the film straight after watching it.

So today I'm keeping it casual and wearing a snuggly jumper from H&M* and a pair of pinkish-red jeans I bought from Primark years ago.

Keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'!

What Emmeline Wore In October - Day 2

It's day two of my 'What Emmeline Wore In October' project! If you missed the intro and first day yesterday, take a peek here. 

It's a gorgeously sunny day here in Lancashire today, and so, kind of counter-intuitively, I'm going to go to the cinema (hence the glasses, which I only use for films, gigs and driving!). I'm heading over to a nearby seaside town to watch the new Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children film, as my boyfriend was an extra in it whilst they filmed in Blackpool last year! We're meeting with some of the other extras who were in the film with him and hoping to spot them all. It's quite tempting to bring some sort of roll-up red rug so they can have a mini-premiere.

I've added in a little seagull here, as in my experience they're cheeky as anything around here and will probably be following me around trying to nab my cinema snacks.

I'm wearing a lot of my comfy clothes today! A floaty little top and black jeans, both from H&M* and my very favourite green shoes from Next*.

Keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'!

What Emmeline Wore - Autumn October Edition! Day 1

So, you might remember that last year I ran a project called 'What Emmeline Wore In July' (there's a little roundup here!), well, this year I'm bringing it back with an Autumn edition for each day in October! The project was inspired by the What I Wore photographs of so many of my favourite bloggers, and I wanted to give it a bit of a twist by creating an illustration of my outfit for each day in a month. 

I'm not going to lie, it's really hard work creating an illustration each day (no days off!), but, especially after last year, and with other challenges like Inktober and Illustrated Advent, I've seen the massive benefits that challenging yourself to push your work can have. It takes a bit of discipline, but getting in that daily practice can improve your illustration work, teach you new techniques, and give you a bit of insight into what you actually want to create with your work.  

Aside from encouraging me to mix up my wardrobe a bit and dust off some lesser-worn items (yay!), the project also acts as a visual diary - looking back at the July edition last year, it's amazing how much more I remember from that month after taking the time to illustrate my outfit and a little bit of my environment each day!

I love to collaborate with my work, so like last year (where I worked with the likes of Boden, Laura Ashley, Clarks etc) I have some of my very favourite companies on board to support the project - I can't wait to share them! 

So, without further ado, here's Day One! Today I'm officially house-hunting, so I'm getting snuggled up in one of my favourite coats (it's a bit of a grey day here) and a cosy scarf. The coat is from Monsoon*, and was a Christmas present from my family a couple of years ago, and it's gorgeous  - lots of yummy textures and plum colours. 

I'm going to be posting my outfit illustrations up on my blog and social media each day in October, so to keep track of them you can follow the hashtag #wewio on Twitter and Instagram, or keep up to date on Bloglovin. I'm excited! Here we go!

Breakfast of Illustrators

You might not be too surprised to hear that my flat is brimming with illustrated goodies. Even aside from the books, you'll find my closet stacked with unusual prints and patterns, framed pieces from my favourite illustrators on the walls, and a cupboard full of cute illustrated homeware.

This morning I treated myself to a rare, relaxed breakfast before settling in to work - sat with the sun streaming through the window, with tea, orange juice, and a croissant on one of my favourite plates. Yes, even my breakfasts are illustrated.This lovely plate is part of the fauna set by Magpie and Nicholas John Frith (a present from my friend Luisa!), the mug is part of a set from Cath Kidston* and the glass was a charity shop treasure (I think it was about 30p for two!).

My Best Friend's Wedding!

So, last month my best friend got married to the love of her life, Andrew. It was a gorgeous day and I worked my very hardest to be an A+ Maid of Honour! 

There were wildflowers, fairy lights, a tasty homemade wedding cake and a lot of brilliant dancing. Sticking with the home-made theme, I wanted to give Hannah and Andrew a really special extra wedding gift; so as a surprise, I illustrated this portrait of them!

I've known Hannah for years and years, so we've often drawn silly pictures of each other; but it felt lovely to sit down and properly illustrate a portrait of her and Andrew to commemorate their wedding day. The background colours are very 'classic Hannah', and I had to sneak in some conversations with her family to make sure I had the outfits illustrated perfectly! 

I had the illustration giclee printed at Yeti (probably favourite printers, review here!) as I could trust them to print the colours exactly as I wanted them and on really gorgeous paper stock. 

The whole day was incredibly emotional in the best way, and it meant so much that they both loved the illustration. Hannah and Andrew are two of the very best people in the world, and I know they're going to have an amazing life together ❤