Category Archives: Keeping What’s Working

What type of garment have you just always fought with?

Maybe it’s a type of item you’ve just never liked, no matter how hard you try.
Maybe you’ve had a hard time finding styles you like.
Or pieces that fit.
Or colors.
Or cuts.

For me it’s blouses.

I don’t really have blouses in my wardrobe.

I have tank tops and camis I wear everyday.
I have t shirts I never wear.
And I one or two draped tops I never wear either.

Whenever I’m out shopping or wandering down the rabbit hole of Internet shopping I always browse through the blouses and tops looking for something, anything that would begin to build my wardrobe’s selection of tops. But never really found anything I liked.

I though up this project and thought “great! I’ll finally have a wardrobe that involve blouses. I’ll find some great blouse patterns out there and it’ll be fantastic.” But I’m browsing through sewing patterns and still not finding tops I like. And I’m browsing through Pinterest, and blogs and the larger rabbit hole that is the web, and all the photos I like are super simple tank tops or long sleeve shirts paired with jeans, skirts, over shirts, sweaters, and jackets.

I’ve always been on the lookout for tops and blouses because I could never fine ones I liked and because I thought I was suppose to have them.

But what if, instead I accepted the face that blouses really aren’t my thing, embraced the tank top, and focused on making some amazing over shirts and jackets, because I love those, and find them so much more interesting.

Because making a bunch of blouses and then never wearing them would seriously suck.

I’ve been spending the past couple days writing furiously on the first chapter of the book that’ll accompany this project and I got to thinking about “wanting” and what specifically I want from my wardrobe.

One of the ways I think about what I want from a project is by specifying what I don’t want from the project.

I know for certain that I do not want this wardrobe to be a capsule wardrobe.*

*a capsule wardrobe is a very contained wardrobe, usually they have a small number of versatile pieces, and every piece works with every other piece.

I understand and appreciate why many people are drawn to the idea of having a very limited selection of clothes to choose from. If you have a limited options, you avoid the paradox of choice.**

**the paradox of choice is a term for what happens when you have so many choices you can’t make a decision or you make no decision at all. You can read more about it here.

You always know what you have, and you eventually find the looks and combinations that work best for you.

However, that’s not what I want from this project, and it’s not what I want my wardrobe to be. I love mixing and matching and combining clothes in different ways. I’ve never felt overwhelmed by my closet. I look at clothing as another medium to play with. Trying this and that. I want my wardrobe to be a place to play, but always with the option of coming back to something familiar and easy to throw on.

I know that I’ll have a rather limited wardrobe for awhile because making clothes takes time (shocking I know), but I know that my ultimate goal is not a limited wardrobe.

What do you know you DON’T want from your wardrobe?

I’ve been mulling over the idea of qualities.

As in… what qualities do I want to wear? What ideas do I want in my wardrobe? What’s the essence of my closet?

Right now I’d say my closet primarily contains ease & comfort.

Clothes I can throw on. Clothes I can move in. Clothes that are comfortable. As well as comforting. Clothes to wrap around me. Clothes to curl up in.

And I absolutely (absolutely!) want to keep those qualities.

But also throw in some delight & some play.

Treating getting dressed with lightheartedness.

What if getting dressed in the morning was more like playing dress up? Putting on a costume that enhances who we are, not hides it.

What if getting dressed in the morning was more like playing dress up? Putting on a costume that enhances who we are, not hides it.