Can anyone help me cure my fear of print?

[notquitenormal]

Having realised lately that my wardrobe is entirely devoid of print or pattern I've been looking to redress the balance with nice, knee length dress in a nice print. Something I can wear with a cardi to work.

But it's impossible to find!

I think I'm afraid of print...I don't know where to look. It totally alien to me.

Can anyone help me? I'm 30. Big boobs, small waist, bigger bum. I tend to wear creams and jewel colours - blue, green, purple, deep red.

I don't always like Jackpot's prints (or florals in general) but this is nice. They have 15% off everything at the moment, so it's actually £68.

p.s. I'm also on the lookout for prints, but a lot are totally alien to me, too - I don't like the very small florals, nor do I like geometric things. I do like checks, though. And knee-length dresses are hard to find at the moment

That print isn't too scary, but I think the shape would make me look dumpy. This has been my problem, if I find a print I like the shape is all wrong and vice versa.

I can't do small florals either, I've worked that out. I was brave and bought navy wrap dress that had a small floral print; it made me look like I was wearing a bank cashier or travel agent's uniform.

Dare I say Boden? Lots of print dresses and you'd probably find a cardigan to match.
www.boden.co.uk/en-GB/Womens-Dresses.html

The trick to making print look good on you is to match the size of the print to your body frame.
Place you thumb and middle finger around your wrist.
If your thumb and index finger over lap you need to wear small prints,ie small dots, small flowers etc
If your thumb and middle finger don't touch you need to wear large bold patterns..large dots etc
And if your thumb and middle finger meet neatly touch then you are best off buying medium sized prints.
Navy does seem to be used for a lot of uniforms, so you could break it up with a large red or white belt.

Hope this gives you some help

Don't touch the Boden!

I think if you're going to do print, do it well. Something like this or this is bold and confident without being brash or cheap looking.

Actually, Jaeger are the king of prints IMO.

also nice

Could always do classic dogtooth for a more 'worky' feel. Also lovely dogtooth checked dress here

I'm not sure I can do boden...brummies are surely banned? More seriously, This one is generally a good shape for me, but I only like the plain blue one! The prints are...interesting.

My fingers meet neatly, so that's medium prints. That makes sense, it's what I'm drawn to.

tethersend - that second Jaeger print is very nice...I could see myself in that. And a bit of a bargain. And they still have it my size. But I don't think I can do that neckline. I'll certainly keep an eye on that website though.

Not sure about the wrist thing Swan78. I have always had a small frame according to the wrist test. But I used to be size 8 when I was a teenager, am now size 16 and fingers still overlap. Surely the same sort of print can't be right?

Oh, second dogtooth nice too, perfect shape. I hadn't thought of dogtooth.

Have tried wrist test- wrists and ankles have always been tiny but rest of me is kind of plump, so not sure wrists are accurate! But generally agree small frame = small print, larger frame = larger print.

How about print but more pastel/black and white than colour? You could work up to colour

To Rebecca and WMOMP
Your body frame is about your bone structure, not your weight or body size, or all smaller sized women would only look good in small prints and all larger women would only look good in large prints. It's the same with jewellery. Have you ever noticed that delicate small jewellery suit you better, while big chunky jewellery swamps you?

You're right there, and I prefer it. This might help with current fabric choices for a dress actually as the smaller pattern might be best despite my size 14 frame after all!

I'm of your delicate frame WMOMP. I'd love to wear delicate jewellery, but i look better in Pat Butcher earrings!