A Zeeland Holiday (With Photos Of Me Made Clothes)

We had a much needed holiday – D booked a trip to Zeeland, which is the south western part of The Netherlands, and we traveled there by train and bus.

And my, what a treat it was to be away! It always creeps up on me just how exhausted I am, and after six months of hard work and staying on top of all things at home during D’s teaching term, I was really ready for this holiday.

So, let me share with you the joys of Zeeland, and the clothes I took with me – almost all were me made!

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog entry and you will not learn anything from reading this other than my thoughts and feelings, which will help you to know me better! 🙂

My Me-Made Holiday Wardrobe

I think this is the first trip where the majority of what I wore was me-made, including the Sunstar Swimsuit which got lots of use!

I do not like the way the inner wrap sits and squishes the bust – it often felt like one half was sitting lower than the other – but I intend to play with the pattern and get this to work better for me next time.

One thing I will need to do is take in the swimsuit bottoms. I had made them in a size 22 based on my hip measurement, but they were quite ‘saggy’ before I even made it into the water. And with the amount of walking and swimming we did, they were practically falling down on the last day!

Below is a look at the things I made that I packed and wore – excuse the creases, I unpacked but haven’t washed and ironed anything yet!

Proudly wearing my self drafted me made jeans and sleeveless denim style jacket.

Closer look at the me-made self-drafted sleeveless denim style jacket!

The bright pink rayon satin me-made self-drafted joggers.

The me-made and self-drafted pink refashioned shorts.

The me-made Ninni shorts in linen were so comfy!

My smarter me-made and self-drafted green twill shorts were great for evenings.

My me-made Linn Tee in striped rayon paired well with the jeans and the Ninni shorts!

I wore this me-made self-drafted ruffle dress every day when popping to the pool / wellness center.

A me-made Sunstar swimsuit in bright pink!

I also packed a couple of bits that have been in my wardrobe for some time:

Black Cos tank top (purchased to wear for Mum’s funeral in October 2021) paired nicely with the satin joggers and jeans.
Black M&S vest top (purchased to view our wedding venue in May 2023) was perfect on hot evenings with my green twill shorts
Blue and pink scarf from Frida Kahlo exhibition (a birthday gift from D in February 2022) was used as a shawl, for protection from the sun and the cooler evenings.

And these all worked well to supplement the me-made items above!

Things I made and packed but didn’t wear:

A me-made and self-drafted cotton ruffle top — My me-made and self-drafted cotton ruffle top was a little too much for my red shoulders and back.

This me-made self-drafted ⅔ circle skirt also came home unworn after getting sunburned.

My recently refashioned shirred top is still unworn.

If you want to make a circle skirt for yourself, I have these awesome circle skirt templates available!

Ok, now onto the places we saw, because judging by the tourists we saw (Dutch and German) Zeeland is not on anyone else’s radar, and it should be!

The Hotel

We spent the first full day in Goes, wandering around town and the harbour.

We stayed at a hotel in the center of Goes called Boutique Hotel Jersey. It had a wellness room, which included a pool, a sauna and a steam room (the last two I generally avoid as I don’t like too much heat, but D loves them) and the first two days we were there we had it mostly to ourselves, which was a real treat.

We kept joking that if we ever were able to have a home with a pool, it would be like that one.

The hotel was on the main square, but there was a lovely small harbour just 3 minutes away on legs!

The Day Trips

We didn’t go on day trips every day, because frankly that would have been too much. Our plan was to split it in half, and have some down time as well as exploring time.

Colijnsplaat

After chilling on the first full day, we decided we would go to Colijnsplaat for our first day trip. We had been worried about getting around after the check in chap told us the buses were dire, but we found the opposite to be true, and every bus turned up on time or early.

The trip to Colijnsplaat was a research trip for D, that ended up not working out, so we ended up walking to the gritty beach – I wore my jeans, black tank and Linn tee over top – and then along the sea front in gusty winds (there was no danger, we were far enough away from the waters edge) for about an hour each way.

We discovered that you could collect and take away up to 10kg of oysters per person (which is a LOT of oysters) which we found reassuring after I found (and we ate) a double oyster. I would never normally do this.. but as the oyster was a double, and D was keen to try fresh from the sea, I knew I would regret not being ‘brave’ and trying one too.

The Oysters were closed, had to be prised open with a key, and we had zero ill effects, so all worked out well!

Eve enjoying the sun in Colijnsplaat — Me enjoying the sun in Colijnsplaat!

Middleburg

Our second day trip of the holiday was to Middleburg, which we had been told was an ‘essential’ trip. Erm, nope!

Granted the Zeeuws Museum was fantastic, but in general the town felt a little too touristy and not as ‘old’ and ‘traditional’ as we were expecting it to be.

It was quite warm so I paired the linen Ninni shorts with the rayon Linn Tee, and was quite chuffed with how well they worked together!

Eve in her Middleburg outfit back in the hotel room!

I took many photos at the museum, to use for future reference material for drawing and design purposes, and then we found a spot for lunch before heading back to the hotel in Goes.

The museum was full of curiosities on one floor, like this butterfly cabinet.

Highlighting visible mending techniques were on the 'fashion' floor of the museum. — Highlighting visible mending techniques were on the ‘fashion’ floor of the museum.

Yerseke

Another ‘essential’ trip this was a short bus trip from Goes, and – discounting the extreme sunburn I suffered – the best day of our holiday!

I wore my refashioned pink shorts with my scrappy M&S vest top but as the weather wasn’t supposed to be hot, I left my Frida shawl behind in the hotel room – big mistake!

We went to try the oysters and mussels that Yerseke is famous for, but then discovered there was a beach. So of course we made a sand dragon – why would you not? – not realising the time of day or the lack of shade because we were so caught up in the creation of the dragon.

The most amazing fresh oysters in Yerseke.

And an awesome sand dragon on Yerseke beach!

We also saw plenty of jelly fish in Yerseke too!

Can you spot me amongst the Jelly fishes?

Blue jelly fish in seaweed on Yerseke's beach — Blue jelly fish in seaweed on Yerseke’s beach!

I has slathered factor 50 sun cream on (I’m blond and blue eyed so just glancing at the sun causes me to turn pink) but it was no match for the strong Yerseke rays, and we hobbled back to the harbour (our legs were burned almost as bad as my back) to enjoy some mussels before heading back to Goes.

One pot of mussels was plenty for the two of us!

I also got to do some drawing in the shade at the harbour, which was a nice distraction from the sunburn!

Domburg

Our final full day was spent in Domburg, though it was only a few hours really. The journey from Goes is simple – a train to Middleburg and then a bus – and the amount of beach there is bonkers.

It’s a shame neither of us could face being in the sun, so we ended up pottering around the town’s art museum which was showing a small selection of work by Jozef Posenaer.

De Molen van Domburg - Jozef Posenaer — De Molen van Domburg – Jozef Posenaer

And then we walked along the dunes in the shade, to find somewhere to sit inside. D read, and I of course drew! I’ve mentioned before that for me, drawing and painting is a way to be creative without it being ‘work’, which sewing and pattern making became.

An easel loitering in the Domburg dunes!

I did paddle my feet only in the water at Domburg beach!

For the most part I was sensible and stayed covered up whenever outside… probably looked a bit daft to all the sunbathing Dutchies and Germans!

And then it was a long day of travel back to where we live. Trainlines down. Defunct trains on tracks.. the usual stuff that goes wrong when you’re trying to get home from a holiday!

But we made it back, and our cat was very happy to see us, even though she had company the whole time we were away with our house sitter.

If you have any questions about any of the places we visited – other better yet, the clothes I made and wore! – let me know in the comments… and I’ll see you in my next blog post very soon!

Big love,

Eve