What I Wore Sunday, Volume 3

I missed last week's "What I Wore Sunday" link-up with the stylish crowd over at Fine Linen and Purple because my best guy and I had just arrived at our oldest son's house in Colorado the night before, and we spent all of last Sunday playing with our 21-month-old twin granddaughters Bonny Babe and Cutie Pie and getting acquainted with newborn Little Gal, who came home from the hospital with her mommy that day.  By the time I got dressed to go to 5:30 p.m. Mass with my husband, the last thing on my mind was having my picture taken and putting together a blog post.

But I thought I'd join the fun again this week.

So hold onto your hats, because here's my killer ensemble:

TA-DA!

No wait, that's Sybil from "Downton Abbey," not me.  Not me at all.  Just kidding.  Here's the real outfit I wore to church today:

Nope.  Nope, that's not me either.  That's Cora.  And in case you're one of the few people out there who doesn't know who Cora is, she's Sybil's mother.  I wish I wore this outfit today (and boy, am I ever crazy about that hat!), but I did not.

What I actually wore today is this:

Breakdown of the outfit:
Wrinkle-free jersey dress: Dress Barn
Lace-trimmed cardigan: Spense Knits, from B.J.'s Wholesale Club (at 70% off retail price)
Flesh-toned opaque tights (great for hiding varicose veins): Wal-Mart
Comfy flats: Mootsies Tooties, from a shoe outlet
Clip-on flowers for shoes: Target

Dress detail (my favorite part!).

See how the clip-ons really dress up these flats?

Before I sign off, I just want to add that I think one of the things I enjoy most about watching "Downton Abbey" is drinking in all of the glamorous vintage fashions.  The elaborately beaded gowns, expertly tailored coats, and outrageously glamorous--or is it glamorously outrageous?--hats that the fashion mavens wear on the show are to die for, aren't they? Even the servants dress better than I do!  (They do--in their off-duty hours anyway.)

Oh, and one more quick thing: in my last WIWS post, I mentioned that these days I wear a lace mantilla (or sometimes a hat, but of a less conspicuous sort than the one Cora is wearing above) whenever I'm inside a Catholic church.  I tried to give my reasons for making this decision to veil, and I fear I did a very poor job of explaining myself.  Recently, I saw a wonderful post about the subject on Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary blog, wherein Jennifer explained the reasons for and the beauty of the practice so much better than I did. If you're interested, you can check out this post titled "Notes from beneath the veil."

Now don't forget to head over to Fine Linen and Purple, to see some much younger and much more fashionable ladies than yours truly sporting their Sunday best.