My undefined wardrobe challenge
Are you like me? Waking up, doing Yoga, drinking excessive amounts of tea to postpone the decision what to wear and then grabbing the next best thing which you have already worn in some variation for several days? My ‘uniform’ during days which are not so hot that I melt when I leave the house is a black skirt and some kind of sweatshirt. Or a skater dress and a long cardigan.
Booooooring!!!! Or imagine the following even worse scenario: You are a board member of a NGO and are chosen to gift all female read employees with roses on woman’s day (yes this happened) and you should look dressy (nearly impossible challenge for me) and have to walk across the whole town to reach all of them…
For years now the idea of a curated wardrobe is germinating in my brain. I already played with the app Stylebook and read several blogposts about the ‘10 (or more) pieces closet challenge’. I pondered the 'make nine' challenge or even a complete handmade wardrobe. Perhaps you remember me whining about my unplanned and strange fabric purchases which do not harmonise with the things I knit and crochet.
Like, I only last Monday wrote about the bee dress which is not only in a color combination which does not fit to anything in my wardrobe, besides it looks very stuffy on me (so far it is sleeping in a cupboard despite your helpful recommendations).
It seems I simply cannot come up with stylish garments (for more than one day in a row) without planning. So, planning it is I will try – ahem – do… ok try.
The undefined wardrobe challenge
As I am a highly neurotic overthinker I was unable to come up with precise guidelines for a wardrobe challenge, no I had ideas about several disparate challenges which perhaps could each occupy me for month. (I can feel already that I am reaching to high … but fly high, fall deep… not sure how this shall help me… why am I speaking to myself right now…stooooop)
beautiful patterns from Asuka Hamada
I want to explore the following topics:
Plan what I want to sew
learning new techniques
Trying new garment styles for my body type. Especially clothes from Asuka Hamada.
Relaxation sewing (aka sewing easy sweatshirt, dresses etc)
color and fabric combination (I hear you laughing dear readers… I hear you 🤪)
Using up fabric stash
Planned fabric shopping
Finding my styles(s) and be more daring
Understanding in which clothes I feel good/well-dressed/extremely cool and artsy
Planning a x pieces closet for x days
Evaluating the x pieces closet
Did it safe time
How did I feel in the clothes (comfort, health, excitement)
Which combinations are working for me
Which garments are missing in my x pieces closet (what to buy or sew)
How many pieces of clothes do I need in my wardrobe when I wash them regularly (I seldom wear a shirt or blouse more than one time, skirts and trousers I wash less often) and have no clue if the weather will hot, cold, wet or dry or all this at once.
I plan to come up with a x piece closet for autumn with a black, green and mint theme. Here is my garment collection so far. I will work on this for next week and try to decide on what I could sew to make it more interesting. I have two fabrics I also bought last week (together with the bee fabric) which I originally wanted to use as a lining for jackets or skirts as it is smooth, silky and only 2 € per meter. But somehow I fell in love with the butterflys and now I ponder sewing either a wide thin coat, try some of Asuka Hamadas blouses or make one of these wide gathered dress which are still dominant in fashion.
Wow, this was a long and theoretical post. Thank you for bearing with me... but now I am curious. Did you ever plan a capsule wardrobe? Or do you plan your sewing/knitting/crochet projects? How do you navigate the world of craft and fashion?
Thank you @crosheille for initiating and @muscara, @shanibeer, @marblely for hosting the #needleworkmonday. If you want to see more beautiful projects with yarn, fabric and most of all needles, follow @needleworkmonday. Or even better grab your needles and keyboard and join the #needleworkmonday community.
Ohhh, if you don't have a hive account and want to comment then visit my Wordpressblog Bliss and Blisters and write me there.
Well, first of all, I love your bravura style! I hope you keep it alive and flourishing and it is not dimmed by trying to fit yourself into a small narrow space. I have really enjoyed reading your posts and learning from your experiments (I think to myself, "I would never [add those buttons/put bobbles there/play with colours that way]", followed by, "why not?").
I love Audrey Coyne, as you know, but sometimes I long to scream at her, "Put on a red dress, for goodness' sake!" Anything bright and fun and just because! I know it is not her personal style, so it is about me, not her, but while I like the idea of a curated wardrobe and all the benefits (well-being, finances, environment), I am also thrilled by the just-do-it approach as well.
I did, last year, go through my wardrobe and discovered that it is already curated! I have my everyday wear, a smart outfit in a cover for weddings and interviews, another for funerals and court appearances, coats, jackets, shoes, bags, jewellery (about six pieces), lots of layers to meet hot, cold and wet weather. All by accident.
But .... dun-de-dun-dun ... I have made a dramatic change to my appearance, just two days ago actually ... so ... we may be on the same journey ... hahaha :D
Ohhhh blushing!!!! Such a wonderful and flattering comment. You really know what to write to get my face like a tomato (and I mean a very ripe tomato, not such a green things like the ones growing in our garden :-DDD)
And no fear, the only narrow space is my wardrobe and honestly its not narrow, ist too full ... My motivation to plan a bit more is that I so often like the single garments when I look at them, but then I do not feel good while wearing. I know this has a lot do with my mindset, but the garment choice can enhance or better it. I have some outfits which I really love and many more which are more practical/boring.... As I have perhaps written too often, I still want to dare more fashionwise:-D
But more than anything your comment made me extremely curious about your dramatic appearance change: you do know that you are torturing me?
(Oh and yes to the red dress for Audrey Coyne, I even would opt for a neon pink one :-D)
Something completely different, have you made something from/with Tailornova? Or did you got feedback on the YouTube comment? I still read about others projects on the Tailornova facebook group and so far they often have problems with shoulders and sleeves (too narrow sleeves and to high armholes).
😁 I am still getting used to it myself. I have been talking about it for two years and now I have done it and I don't know yet how I feel about it (other than: is it me)? But I will reveal all soon!
Neon pink - she would look beautiful in that!
I understand completely about why you want to plan your wardrobe more; it does enhance how you feel, and also, I really like the "tidy" feeling - everything in order. I imagine that I have some control over something hahaha, as if we ever do. Inspired by you, I have started preparing a post for Monday with my journey, such as it is (I have bought one or two things this morning in the sales as well).
I read the other day that Tailornova had changed something and that had affected the fit of the sleeve at the shoulder, but that they had now righted it. I haven't tried anything yet myself, but it is useful to know in advance that it may be difficult around the sleeves and armholes.
Meanwhile, you may enjoy this (I really like her). The problems with the armholes on the top come in about 17:30 minutes:
This was in July, so maybe things have improved?
My crafting practice of late has been largely to use up my various stashes of supplies. Which works both because of poverty as well as trying to purge so many belongings, lol. I do want to figure out clothes that feel good on me though, because, well, most things do not. My next clothes-for-myself project is actually going to be finally making the warm liner for the tunic I made a few years ago. I like how the tunic turned out and I always rather wanted to put a warm liner in it but I wasn't sure what to use. Since I got a new winter coat last year, I decided I can use the liner of my old coat which would work well!
Here's the tunic as it is now:
No idea why you do not sew more clothes (or do you??) the tunic is amazing 😍 I am not sure if you intended it, but to my eyes it has a folkloristik / medieval touch which I really like. Besides I love the slight a-line form on you and it fits so well in the shoulders (AHHH fitting.... my nemesis)
I am curios how you will make the lining. I have not lined anything so far (or better I started a jacket in my first ever sewing course which was interrupted/cancels because of COVID. THis jacket will be lined ... if/when the cource will go on.
Thanks!! Yeah the look is intentional, that's actually way more my aesthetic than modern clothes, lol. Folklorish, historical.
If you can believe it, I lucked out on the fit. I wing my projects. I almost never follow a pattern. The way that I made the shape was I laid out my favorite sweater over the fabric, cut around it with a wide seam allowance since it was stretchy knit and this isn't, and went for it. I then experimented by making sleeves and seeing if I liked sleeves (I decided no) and the collar and seeing if I liked the collar (decided yes). For the collar I took a button down shirt and did the same thing - traced around it with a wide seam allowance and then to the width of the collar of the body of the tunic I had already made, and went for it.
I do everything like I am a mad scientist experimenting, and sometimes it really works out! LOL
I am thinking I might make the lining removeable? But again ...I'm winging it, so we'll see. Maybe not. XD
Oh, you started a nice and interesting subject!! I would like to say a few things about my wardrobe too, so my next post to needleworkmonday I think it could be that! As far as your wardrobe, I can send you a book that happens to have it twice, It's "The Beginners Guide to Dressmaking: Sewing techniques and patterns to make your own clothes". It has a variety of sizes from small to xxl and easy clothes with ideas on how to make a simple cloth more interesting!
THis would be amazing, to read about the garments you would like to sew for your wardrobe. I love to see others projects and to chat about them (and to learn... sewing is really hard to understand for me, crochet and knitting is so much easier...sigh)
Is this a book by Wendy Ward? Because I have a skirt book from her and love it. Although many techniques are beyond me. I am still in this sewing stage were I mostly sew knits as they are much more forgiving in the fit and size 😂😂
I would love the book, but I fear the package would be more expensive than the book as I live in Germany... But I am not sure... We could explore this (I have some organic wool dyed last summer which could find it way to you <3)
RIght now I am trying to sew a dress for this handmade wardrobe and perhaps i will write on Monday or next Monday about it. Annoyingly the fabric has sold out and I need two skirt parts more.... ahhhhhh.... now I am improvising (never good - I am really bad in sewing improvisation- they end mostly in something I could use for making a big fire)
Thank you so much for your lovely comment and offer <3
Yes, It's from Wendy :) I really adore the exchanging part of it, so just send me in my email [email protected] your address :) I accept anything you want to send, hehe!
And this book is full with knit fabric, so it would fit perfect to you sewing attempts!
will do <3 <3
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