Evaluating the mini-wardrobe

Now that I'm getting close to the end of my pregnancy, and in lieu of my participating in Me-Made-May this year, I thought it might be useful to take a look back at how I did with sewing for  myself in this transitional period. After all, I'd decided to make this more fun/interesting for myself by treating it as a capsule wardrobe, a la Wardrobe Architect. And I did learn some things about what worked/didn't work for me. Also, in case a second baby comes along down the road, it'll help me to have a reference of what I might want to consider adding!


Things I think went well:

• Overall, I'm quite pleased with how well various alterations I made to several non-maternity patterns worked. Especially since pattern hacking is not my strongest skill, and one I'd like to keep working to improve. I would further tweak my Renfrew hack, but the dresses and maxi-skirt went quite well. As did the actual maternity alteration to the Manila leggings, even if the rest of it was a fail. So maybe there's hope for me yet!
• I also think I did pretty well at sticking with a cohesive color palette. 
• I was able to surprise myself with occasionally being able to pull out non-maternity clothes to fill in some gaps. Namely my Plantain top and a couple of buttondowns worn over tank tops.
• Also, aside from the first trimester, I think I did a pretty good job of sucking it up and plowing through sewing to fulfill needs that I had, even though I've still been nauseous at some point(s) every single day of this pregnancy. So go me.

Things I wish I'd done differently:

• More vivid colors! Even though I did stick with the palette pretty well, I felt like things ended up being a lot heavier on the neutrals--the black, navy and grey in particular, just due to what I was able to find in thrift stores or what I had on hand that was working. By the time winter was wrapping up, I was sooooooo bored and wishing for cheerier, brighter things. (Ok, so I do that every year. But it was definitely worse with the much more limited choices I had.)
• More prints! Especially tops. Because even with the things I found/made that were in brighter colors, I just haven't felt quite like myself while wearing so many outfits that were just solids. I've tried livening it up with accessories, but a necklace can only take you so far on that, and I was honestly afraid to wear scarves for the first half of the pregnancy because of all the sickness. (Plus, having things close around my neck during the worst of that was really, really uncomfortable for me.) The couple of print things that I've made near the end are helping. A lot of this was really just me trying to work mostly with the stash that I had, but I think that, once I make some space on the shelves/if I need maternity wear again, I may specifically treat myself to some new fabric to expand this wardrobe.

Things I'll need if this ever happens again:

• More bottomwear. Especially of the pants variety. I refashioned 3 pairs of pants, outgrew one of them by about mid-March (which had been a little small around the waist/hips to begin with anyway, so I could only make it expand so much), and had to pretty much give up wearing the other two by mid-April because they were corduroy and therefore getting uncomfortably hot when spring weather actually arrived. Which has left me with only 2 pairs of jeans to get through the last 2 months, and I will admit that I do feel a little unprofessional when doing music lessons in jeans. I wouldn't mind another knit maxi-skirt or two either, because the tie-dye one is sooooo comfortable. (I've tried wearing some of my older elastic-waist ones over the bump here and there, and they kind of dig into my ribs and gather weirdly under my tops. So it hasn't been helpful.)
• Pajamas. I got through the latter part of the winter with an older pair of PJ pants and an oversized thrifted top--but those got worn so much that the top has several holes in it now. Once things started warming up is when things got really tough--I had to resort to buying a shorts and tank set from Target, because I didn't have anything that fit. (Note to self: Tofino pants do not make good maternity pants. Though I love them as a non-maternity PJs pattern.) 
• Another pair of leggings or two wouldn't hurt, if I have another cold-weather pregnancy. Or at least some more stylish knit pants (and casual tops) to wear around the house that aren't fleece sweatpants that I used to wear under other clothes to keep warm on backpacking trips. That's what I ended up resorting to on Saturdays/weekdays when I didn't have to go out to save my jeans for nicer wear, and I felt so frumpy. Which is not the feeling you want when you're already feeling like a nauseated whale.

Biggest hits: 
Honestly, aside from the refashioned corduroys (so useful) I feel like the best things I made were the ones that I'm hoping to continue wearing after this is over-- particularly the black maxi-dress and the tie-dyed skirt. I may need to do a follow-up post later this summer on how well they actually work for post-pregnancy/nursing.























Biggest misses: 
1. The Manila leggings. Though I'm still hopeful that I can successfully revisit this pattern, now that I know that I really need to check the stretch before diving in. And probably add at least 4" to the legs. But I really just didn't feel comfortable wearing them very often--the color meant it didn't work as a tights layer under the two shorter skirts I had (one black and one denim), and I really only wore them twice. One of those was to keep warm under the black dress for a cooler-day music performance at church, and the other was just around the house. And I have to confess that I threw the denim skirt on over it anyway, because even when alone in the house, I just didn't feel fully clothed when wearing leggings as pants! I'll probably keep these as a layering piece, but definitely not as a stand-alone.

(I still have to try out my Cake Espresso pattern sometime, too. If that one works out better, I might just transfer the belly alterations to that pattern if I ever need to sew maternity leggings again.)

2. The Ariel skirt. I actually only wore this one once, aside from the photos--I didn't want to wear it over the winter because of the cold, and when I finally pulled it out in the spring, it just didn't work well. I had to tie the drawstrings under the bust, which made the length kind of strange, and left a lot of weird wrinkles under the belly of the maternity top that I paired it with. Fortunately, it didn't take me that long to cut and sew. And since it's essentially two big rectangles and I still have almost 3 yards of the fabric left, I think this will be a good candidate for a refashion. Or at least a wearable muslin of some other pattern.

On the other hand, I did wear the top quite a bit. Though, as I stated before, I think the pattern hacks would need some tweaking for this to work well in later pregnancy. It fit fine for well over the first half, though.




Other things I won't be keeping/need to rework: 
1. This isn't one I made, but I bought this cream-colored maternity sweater at Target. I'm blaming this on poor fabric choice on their part--the structure itself is fine, but before the winter even ended, the color of the sweater just looked dingy and sad. I may just try to overdye it to extend the life.

2.This top. Though it wasn't a maternity top, it actually worked well to get me through the winter, since it was roomier in the waist than a lot of my usual tops. And it's not a complaint about the pattern, since I used the same one to make my sparkly knit top from earlier this year. It's just that since this one was already several years old, the fabric was starting to pill to begin with. And with all the extra wears and washes it got this winter, given that I was pulling it out at least once a week (if not more), it's just unsalvageable now. I do hate to just throw clothes away, even the worn-out ones, so I'm thinking I might just cut this one up and use it to stuff a toy or something. Stuffing is expensive, anyway.

So, that's my little wrap up of how my me-mades have been working for me during a period of major physical changes. I already have a mental list of patterns I want to tackle once this baby comes! Now if only I could figure out a way to predict my bust size so I could start tracing or cutting...

maternity wardrobe building

I really have been feeling lately like I have nothing to wear! But now that I'm finally feeling up to some sewing again (yaaaaay!), I thought it might be fun to do a little mini-series about trying to put together a cohesive wardrobe to get me through the next several months.

The big challenges so far:

• When going through the Wardrobe Architect series last year, I was reminded that the silhouettes I'm most drawn to involve a fitted waist. Which means that, despite actually losing weight overall due to being sick all the time and barely eating, most of the clothes I already had stopped fitting there before my first trimester was even over! On the plus side, I've long liked the look of empire waists, but not on me, because I thought they made me look pregnant. So I guess I have an excuse to rock those for a few months!
• I've mentioned this on Twitter here and there, but finding maternity clothes in the stores has mostly sucked so far. It seems like everything is either black, grey, red, or taupe. While black is a wardrobe necessity for any classically-trained musician, and I do wear grey, I don't really do red, and I loathe taupe. Also, I was having trouble bringing myself to spend money on clothes that didn't even fit right in my shoulders or left my wrists hanging out of the sleeves oddly. It's not like those are getting bigger.
• Also, almost everything I've been able to find are solids. Which are fine and actually very important for a real mix-and-match wardrobe, but I've missed my prints. I haven't had great luck finding clothes at Goodwill either, sadly, but I did find one ITY print top recently that will work as a maternity top. The first day I wore that was the first day I really felt like myself again, style-wise.
• It's winter. And while I'm trying not to do all long-sleeved tops/make sure I have layerable things, since this will go through the spring, I legitimately do need a few more long-sleeved tops. 

I have found that I do have a pretty solid color palette emerging, at least. So to wrap up this post, I'm going to show what I have managed to assemble so far as a capsule wardrobe.


So here's what I've got, top to bottom:
2 dresses: 1 thrifted, 1 purchased new on clearance rack
5 long sleeved tops. The Simplicity top and my Plantain aren't maternity, but are fitting ok so far. Hoping the length will stay ok until it's warmer. Also my maternity Ariel top, a thrifted empire-waist shirt I already had, and a purchased lightweight pullover maternity sweater from Target.
4 3/4-sleeved tops. The black and coral were purchased new on the clearance rack, the blue print is one of my previous refashions that I'm hoping will adjust for the bump, and the other print top is thrifted, and may also not fit the entire time since it's not specifically maternity either.
3 skirts: 2 thrifted, in denim and black, plus my Ariel maxi-skirt (not pictured).
3 pairs of "work" pants, all refashions, 1 in navy and 2 in black. (One not pictured, because I think it's in the laundry.)
1 thrifted embellished tank that I already had, but it's very flowy, so it should have plenty of room.
2 short sleeved tops: 1 teal purchased new on clearance, 1 thrifted tie-dyed in navy/gold/maroon.
3 maternity/long tank tops for layering. Showing the navy, but I also have black and teal.
2 pairs of jeans, 1 bootcut and 1 skinny. Both purchased.
Cardigans/sweaters: Camille shrug, thrifted green 3/4 cardigan, purchased black, refashioned turquoise, and my Roheline.
I also have 1 pair of maternity leggings in black, purchased, not shown. And that is all of it!

Next time: My sewing plan, as it stands so far.

Me-Made-May final thoughts

I sat down with my Flickr photostream and did a quick run-through of the month. And here's what I found:

• For silhouettes, the ones I figured out were pretty close to what I actually wore. The top 3 were some variation of the fitted top/flowy or A-line skirt, semi-fitted top with pants, and fitted to semi-fitted top with jeans. There were only a couple of outliers from my original silhouette post, mostly a couple of looser tops with more fitted/straightish skirts, and fitted tops with looser pants.
• My color palette was also really close to what I actually wore. Since I was counting colors that were part of prints, and jeans mostly as navy, black and navy were definitely the most-worn colors, with chocolate and grey not far behind. For the more statement colors, (not surprisingly) teal and (surprisingly) sunflower yellow popped up the most, with the latter being due to prints and accessories. 
• If you don't count various other shades of blue and green that are close to, but not quite, what I marked for my palette, I only had a few instances of colors that weren't in it.
• I was surprised to see that there was just as much white as there was ivory. But I think that's more due to what I already had. I know now to try to steer away from the stark white for future fabric purchases, with the possible exception of mixed into prints, because I do think ivory looks better on me.

So in terms of practical application, I guess I thought through the exercises pretty well, overall!

Other related thoughts:

• Trying to pick an outfit to wear after my job, without the benefit of time to check it in the mirror/know what the weather is doing is challenging. Working 3 out of the 5 Saturdays was challenging, too.
• I need more royal blue in my life. And some coral, since I really only had the one shirt.
• I actually got more comments on my accessories than I did on my clothes! It made me miss making jewelry. So I sat down on Saturday, pulled the beads out, and made some more. I'll probably post about that later.
• I need to branch out into some accessories that aren't jewelry, maybe. 
• I did have fewer outfits this year that I just wasn't happy with, so that's good. When I wasn't happy, it seemed to be a proportion issue. So that's something I'll need to work on.
• I was surprised at how many things didn't get worn this month. Mostly in the realms of skirts, dresses, and summer tops. It felt like an unusually chilly May overall here, though we did have some warm days, and I was tending to err on the side of dressing warmer (meaning lots more pants). I have been wearing some of the things that didn't make the cut since the month ended, though, since it has finally started to stay consistently warmer.
• That being said, I only had two repeats the entire month! The charcoal Thurlows, and my jeans. Also, Pantsapalooza was a good move, because I would have been in serious trouble without all of those pants to choose from!
• Going the Instagram route was a good move, too. The daily pictures still got tedious by the end, but a lot less so than if I'd been trying to force my SLR on people.
• With a couple exceptions, namely my convertible dress, I found that the outfits I was more likely to feel bored about when I really looked at them consisted of all solids. I was less bored when there was more textural interest in the fabric, or instances like on day 4 when I had a printed scarf. I know solids have their place, but clearly, I am a printaholic.
• I'm also a bit of a clotheshorse, apparently-- I was reading some discussion on the Coletterie about how people found they found they were happier with fewer clothes. Me, I like having lots of options!

So how did your Me-Made-May go, overall? Any wardrobe revelations? 

Aside from that, here's May in a nutshell:

• Total fabric used up: about 3.6 yards.
• Total fabric purchased: 7 yards. Though two of the three pieces are for specific DragonCon-related projects, and therefore have to be used up by the end of August. (The third was just a piece of denim-looking knit that was on sale, from Mood, for a very good price!) So not so great on the Stash Diet end of things, even though I can technically count the DC stuff as part of my exception rules.
• No new patterns purchased, and I did try one new one (the Tofino pjs.)
• Total sewing projects completed: 4--two refashions that I will post about soon, the Plantain cardigan, and the Tofino pjs. I also made a couple pairs of earrings, about 3 necklaces, and a bracelet.
• In the UFO realm, I also made some good progress on the Tauriel costume since my last post about it, though the first piece of it still isn't done. I'm also still knitting away at my grey cardigan, though it's been very stop and start as of late due to both cramming in sewing time instead, not being home, and the intermittent carpal tunnel issues that always flare up for me in spring.

Me-Made-May, part 3

Moving along...trying to get a bit caught up before I fall too far behind and have to do a monster post. This one is monster enough.

Day 12: I had teaching and then a rehearsal, and it was actually a warmer day! So I wore my new Plantain cardigan with the same capris I had worn to the garden shop earlier that day and a tank top that I swapped the beading out on. Also a funky beaded necklace that I strung.

WA analysis:  I was pleasantly surprised by the cardigan colors--I'd originally brought khaki pants to wear, but it was too warm, and the lighter tan strips were just the right shade to somehow tie the tan and grey together. Good thing, since those tan sandals were the only shoes I'd brought that weren't my crappy work sneakers. The cardigan makes my hips look a bit wide in the photo, but I felt pretty good about the silhouette overall while it was on.


Day 13: Another victim of my method of grabbing things out of the closet that look like they'll go without having the ability to actually get dressed and look in the mirror first.  I thought the refashioned dress-to-top would go well with the peasant skirt that had been out of rotation for awhile-- I finally just cut the torn lining out and decided to wear a slip with it. Way easier than taking off and sewing on an elastic waistband just to add a lining.

WA analysis:  The colors were good, but the proportions were off, and tucking it in just made it worse. In the picture, it looks like a fairly decent silhouette, but I think it would have been better if the top was shorter or the skirt was longer.

Day 14: I dressed up for teaching, but the one lesson I had got cancelled at the last minute. Oh well. This is the charcoal Thurlows, the "Time for Tea(L)" top, and the infinity scarf I made out of my leftovers from the teal Plantain.

WA analysis: Of course I'm happy with the colors, since teal is practically my favorite! I'm trying to be braver about mixing prints, and I think it worked pretty well here since the top is a subtle one. I thought I did a pretty good job of looking polished but comfortable.






Day 15: More teaching, but with a student whose mom is friends with my mom and they don't care how casual I dress. So I just threw the "spring fever" blouse on with the jeans I'd already worn to work.

WA analysis: I'm happy with the colors, they feel really fresh, and the brown jewelry went really nicely without being too matchy-matchy, which I am definitely prone to. (It's hard to see in this picture, but there is brown in the print.) Very basic silhouette, but it works.






Day 16: See day 15 for the day's activities, but with nicer jeans. I wasn't sure how warm it would be, so I wore my Ayden shirt because I knew I could easily adjust the sleeves for the weather. There is a subtle yellow stripe in the plaid, so it was a good enough excuse to pull out these earrings.

WA analysis: With the definite reddish-peach tones in this top, it's not exactly in my palette. But I still like it! Besides, they're more like guidelines than actual rules, right?






Day 17: I had to work in the morning (a Saturday), and didn't want to bother dressing up too much after. The only thing we did, aside from me doing some sewing at home afterwards, was go to the Waffle House for dinner. So rather than a complete outfit, I wore my painted TARDIS shoes along with this super-fun T-shirt, and counted the Tofino pj pants as my garment for the day. I'm skipping the Wardrobe Architect analysis because, you know, pajamas. Though I definitely proudly let my geek colors show with everything else.






Day 18: I had to go with something fairly versatile and quick-change today, because I was going from church to lunch at my parents' to playing in a concert! So I pulled out a basic black skirt, a blouse handed down to me from my mom (it looks more coral in real life than the hot pink it looks like here), and the same jewelry I wore on an earlier day this month. I later swapped the boots for sandals and the coral blouse for a black top for the concert. Which was so fun.

WA analysis: It's a nice outfit, but I've noticed that I feel like I'm being boring whenever I wear all solids! This is the only coral thing I currently own, though, and since I have it in my palette, I wanted to pull it out and test it. I guess maybe this means I need some kind of skirt with coral in the print? Or a funky scarf or something?

 Day 19: A very me-made outfit for teaching! This was the grey Thurlows, my "Puzzle Pieces" blouse, a refashioned sweater, and jewelry that I made for myself and the other bridesmaids for my friend Julie's wedding several years ago. With all those neutrals, I wanted a pop of color!

WA analysis: That pop of color was a good idea, I think. Otherwise, I probably would have been bored again.

Side note: I noticed this time that the armholes felt a little tight on the blouse. Not enough that I'm going to get rid of it at this point, just enough to be noticeable. But I'm thinking it's a result of trying to do an FBA, because I had the same problem with that Pendrell blouse that I don't have anymore.


Day 20: Went casual for this teaching day with my Happy Camper blouse, navy denim Thurlows, and a little leaf jewelry set I made back in college.

WA analysis: The colors are good. Also, denim trousers are the best. They're basically sneaky jeans!

Side note: The jewelry is also secretly geeky, because I made this during the era of the Lord of the Rings movies. And I purposely put 9 seed beads between every green bead--one for every member of the Fellowship. Yes, I'm a dork. And proud of it.



Day 21: More teaching! So I wore my brown Thurlows (I guess this was the unintentional week of Thurlows), my Sea Flowers top, a purchased cardigan, and--if I may say so--possibly some of my best-crafted pieces of jewelry ever.

WA analysis: I was a pretty big fan of this outfit overall, both in terms of silhouette and color.








Day 22 (yesterday): In the interest of keeping it real, this outfit is called "it got warm on the day where I hadn't bothered to shave my legs because it had been oddly cold all week." I'm pretty sure that's one of the reasons maxi-skirts are so popular! Anyway, I made the earrings, and embroidered the skirt back in college. The shirt is from ModCloth.

WA analysis: Definitely a better take on the peplum top and skirt look than Day 13! I still think it would have looked better with a shorter top, but I'm pretty sure I did that outfit last year. And I'm not sorry about wearing sleeveless when it was suddenly 80 degrees and humid, vs. the 60s and rainy that it had been the day before! Oh, Mid-Atlantic weather....


And I'm going to stop there, since I haven't actually had a chance to get my picture for today yet. Hopefully I can bribe Doug to snap that picture with some homemade pizza....which I actually need to start making.

Me-Made-May, part 2

I'm in the opposite boat that I was last week, when I had nothing new to show-- I managed to finish 2 projects and my first real refashion in awhile last week! Just need to take some pics and write up the details. For now, it's time to continue with my me-made wardrobe analysis. (And lots of doggy photobombing.)

This outfit was a lot of fun to put together! Worn for teaching. I wasn't 100% sold on the boots with it, but the weather was right on the borderline of too cold for sandals, too warm for shoes. So I decided to err on the side of warmer feet. I was also excited to find a way to wear this thrifted moto jacket and my me-made mahjong bracelet, because I hadn't found a way to wear the jacket in particular yet at all.

WA analysis: The grey boots and TARDIS skirt fit right in, color-wise. The jacket is this strange hybrid color between brown, plum, and maroon, so it's close enough to my palette, I think. (Besides, it reminds me of Martha Jones and Emma Swan, and neither is a bad association. The silhouette isn't quite one I'd called out--both pieces fitted, cropped top, high-waisted skirt--but I like it. Definitely geek-casual!
Day 7-- I didn't have teaching, but I did have a rehearsal, so I wanted to be comfortable. So I wore thrifted jeans, an H&M cardigan, and my Hummingbird top, along with a me-made bracelet and the Etsy-bought jewelry I wore for my wedding. I like these beads, they remind me of shields.

WA analysis: The cardigan isn't the ideal length for the peplum top, IMO, but the knit is casual enough that it works all right. The colors are definitely in my palette! I'd call this one cozy/casual/colorful.







Day 8: Another teaching day. I was hoping to get 2 wears out of these pants, since I only wore them for a few hours and they're a pain to iron, but then one of the goldies drooled all over them when I got home...oh well. Everything was me-made except the shoes (pants, top, and earrings. And wow, I'm wearing more or less the exact same outfit in that post with the top.)

WA analysis: I felt like the more fitted top and looser pants silhouette was working better for actual wearing than they are in this picture. Maybe it's the shoes? Or that my hair is pulled back? I'd say cozy/casual, and the green/camel/black, again, are very much in my palette.

My day 9 outfit was worn for a bit of teaching and grocery shopping-- I'd brought different pants, but then decided that my student wouldn't care, and stuck with the same thrifted jeans I'd worn to work. This is one of my Anthropologie-inspired refashioned tops, and I made the necklace and earrings as well.

WA analysis: Blue is definitely good, and the fitted jeans/top silhouette is one that I'm comfortable in. I do wish that the top had been just a little longer, though.






Day 10: I had to work in the morning, and we took my in-laws out to lunch afterwards for Mother's Day. So I took the chance of wearing my me-made jeans and earrings to work, and kept my Harry Potter tee on under my work tee so I could quick-change afterwards. I was a little warm at the time, but I'm glad I did jeans and sandals, because then some rain came through and cooled things down.

WA analysis: Moar blue!! This would definitely fall under casual-geeky, and I still love the jeans and t-shirt look. Especially for weekends. I'm also thrilled that even though they're tight, the me-made jeans fit again! Especially since I haven't been able to exercise for about 3 weeks straight now. I need to get back on that. (And make more jeans. With stretch, next time.)

Today: I asked Doug which dress I should wear between this and another one, and so he picked my outfit today! It was a good pick, as the Reeses'-inspired Tiramisu was comfortable and cute enough to easily go from church to a casual lunch at my parents' to grabbing some water ice and doing some cooking when I got home. This is also one of my favorite jewelry sets that I've made!

WA analysis: Finally, a different section of my palette! I like that this dress has a touch of yellow in it, as it's not a color that I have a ton of. I like the silhouette of the dress as well, and I definitely need to revisit this pattern sometime as well. I found myself wishing that I had some different accessories to go with this, especially to bring out the yellow more. (I'm definitely going to want to play with some beads again before the month is out, I think!)

Me-made-May, part 1

As much as I wish I could be posting fabulous new clothing items, I've still been very short on sewing time. Although I'm pretty close to finishing some much-needed PJ pants! And I've made progress on the costume from Shieldmaiden March (ha!), but nothing is actually finished yet. And that deserves a separate post. So I'm going to use this one to evaluate my outfits so far in light of the Wardrobe Architect component of my self-challenge.

I also have to say, I'm actually really enjoying doing the pictures with Instagram. I know they're not the best quality photos, but it's working for me!   Also, any close-up pics of jewelry are things I've made, I just don't necessarily have specific posts for them, depending on when I've made them. On with the show, shall we?

Day 1 was a teaching day, so I tried to dress the part. 
Me-mades: the top (Simplicity 5555, pre-blog), the Olive Thurlows, and the jewelry.

WA analysis: The core words I think of for this one are "casual" and "artsy". The colors are definitely in my palette, the print on the top adds some interest to the all-neutral outfit, and the silhouette is definitely within the range of what I called out (semi-fitted top & pants).

On a side note, I keep thinking I should revisit this pattern. I love the funky sleeves.
Day 2 was another teaching day, along with going to see a local school play (they did Sound of Music, and borrowed one of my mom's German shepherds to be the SS officer's dog.)
Me mades: the "Silk Road" refashioned top, the jewelry, and a skirt passed on from a friend, which I altered to fit me better.  

WA analysis: This strikes me most as a skirt riff on the "fitted pants, looser top" silhouette, and I think it works. It was pretty hard to get a picture of the skirt that didn't make it look like pants, though! Again, with all the blues, this fits right into the palette. Style is probably more "casual, colorful".

Day 3: This was the day that I didn't think would happen--if I look like I'm really forcing that smile, it's because this was shortly after spending over 10 hours at a retail job on a Saturday! In fact, the only reason I managed this outfit at all was because I'd asked Doug to figure out dinner, and he decided to just drive us to the Waffle House. So these horribly faded jeans are the same ones I wore to work--I only bothered to change my top and threw on the "Junior Mints" jacket.
WA analysis: The layered jeans and t-shirt look is definitely one I'd wear--just not these jeans, as I prefer darker ones. (My "work" jeans are all ones that I got at the thrift store, they fit well enough, and I don't care about the style because they usually end up covered in dirt and occasionally paint.) The red t-shirt isn't really my palette, but I love the design on it--they had shirts in colors I like better at this particular concert, but I liked this design the best.  Overall, I'd call this "casual, colorful, geeky."

I really wanted to wear something Star Wars yesterday (May the Fourth!!), but realized I don't own a SW shirt at the moment. Oops. I was running from church to a rehearsal to an orchestral concert, along with killing some time at the library, so I figured I should try to go with a more versatile outfit anyway. So I wore my navy denim Thurlows, and a me-made scarf. I'm really glad I also had my Smauglock coat, because it was a lot colder than it was supposed to be!

WA analysis: Definitely a "Casual, colorful, cozy" look. The white isn't quite the palette, but it's close enough to ivory. Also, it was surprisingly hard to find something to go with this particular scarf, which surprised me, because turquoise and royal blue are definitely colors I gravitate towards! This will have to be remedied, I think.


Today's outfit was worn for teaching again. Me-mades: the Eva Equestrian jacket and the "Zeros and Ones" blouse.

WA analysis: I feel like it worked better in my head than it does in the photograph. I think it's the pants. They're just a little too wide and too short for the boots, and the silhouette strikes me as dumpy. But that could also be me being angry that it's Cinco de Mayo and I'm still having to break out corduroy jackets--it's usually a lot warmer than this by now! Aside from the silhouette fail, the colors are definitely me. I definitely need to consider whether these pants should stay, though. 

Overall, I think that days 1 and 4 were the most successful looks for me so far. How's your MMM going?

The Wardrobe Architect Project, Week 12: Accessories!

First of all, thank you all for the kind comments on my tea dress! I'm a little overwhelmed, in a good way, at how much love it got. This seriously might be one of my most-commented-on projects ever. Including the wedding dress.

Normally, I'd do a monthly roundup here, but to be honest, my crafting has been very slow this month, and the tea dress is my only finished project. I do have two other sewing projects in the works, and am hoping to have a little more to show for them soon. Knitting has ground to a complete halt for now, particularly since I had a whopping 5 rehearsals in the span of a week last week, plus my retail job that is very office work-heavy (read: computer-intensive) for me this time of year, and consciously taking some time off of that was the best thing I could do for my hands. It worked--my carpal tunnel has been surprisingly well-behaved! Though I do hope to get back to that soon as well. In the meantime, since my MMM pledge is built to include handmade accessories, I figured it was high time I dealt with that particular Wardrobe Architect assignment.

Sarai divides them into functional vs. decorative accessories, so I'll do the same.
Functional Accessories:
Shoes: I have to admit, I'm not much of a shoe girl. Mostly by necessity. I've lamented about how hard it is to find shoes in my extra-wide size many times on here before, thanks to a bony protrusion below my big toes that I've had my whole life. And when you're looking at easily spending at least $80-120 a pop just to find functional shoes that fit, it definitely curbs your enthusiasm for buying them! (I get really excited on the rare occasions that I find shoes I like at the thrift store that fit!)

In fact, I can quite easily fit my entire shoe collection into one picture. And that's including my slippers and my wedding/reception shoes!

I tend to gravitate mostly towards sandals in the summer, except for the garden center job (closed-toe shoes are required, so I just wear my sneakers). During the cold weather, I mostly wear either my boots, or if it's not too cold and/or wet, a couple pairs of basic flat casual shoes. As you can see, the majority of my shoes are either black or brown, so they can go with as many things as possible. I also have a tendency to wear them to death. Those brown boots are the newest addition, and that was because the brown boots I've had since partway through college were finally starting to kick the bucket--we're talking multiple tears in the shaft lining and an actual hole through the soles on top of the heel. (It was sobering to realize that the boots were over a decade old, but at least I got my money's worth out of them! Hopefully the new ones will last just as long.)

So in short, my general requirements are neutral, well-made, fairly reasonably priced, and comfortable. (Did I mention my feet are also ridiculously blister-prone?) You have no idea how many times I've been tempted to look into shoe-making as a hobby. At least then I could have some shoes in fun colors.

Bags: I tend to just carry one purse around, usually ones that my mom has made from fun print fabrics. I usually switch it up every 6 months or so, and do brighter colors in the spring/summer and more neutral/earthtone in the fall/winter. She's perfected one particular pattern for me that fits all three of my requirements: cross-body strap, plenty of pockets, and big enough to carry a book or my Kindle. For the retail job, I'll just stuff the entire purse into a tote bag to keep it from getting dirty/give me extra space for my lunch and drinks. My flute bag is also frequently a factor, though it's a backpack style one. (Which is why I like the cross-body straps, because then I don't have to worry about balancing them.) Sometimes I'll downsize to a smaller purse for day trips to reduce the weight, though I still like them to be large enough for my SLR camera.

Hats: I mostly wear these in the winter to keep my head warm, and my only requirement is not wool, due to the allergy issues. I probably should wear hats more in the summer to keep the sun from burning my face, but I honestly think they make me look pretty dorky.

Gloves/handwarmers: Again, mostly a cold-weather thing, and I'm sure I will continue to knit lots of these, since my hands are generally the first thing to get cold.

Scarves: I rarely leave the house without the functional knitted ones when it's cold.

Belts: When I wear them for functional reasons, it's generally to keep my jeans in place.

Sunglasses: I have one pair, which I keep in my purse and mostly use for driving or walking around outside on a sunny summer day.

Decorative Accessories: 
Jewelry: Love me some jewelry. Aside from clothes, this is what I've been DIYing the longest. I've got 4 jewelry displays in this picture, and that's not even all of it! I have another full rack on the other side of the mirror, as well as a box for bracelets and such.

I mostly like chunky or beaded necklaces, dangly earrings, Celtic knot designs, stuff like that. Most of my chain-type necklaces are silver, though I do have a few things in a more matte/antique gold or copper. I also almost always wear simple silver studs in my second ear piercing. I used to wear a lot of rings, like almost every finger, but have slowly gotten away from that in the years since college and now just wear my wedding/engagement rings. I'm also getting more into bracelets, though I'll only wear them on my left arm because I'm right-handed and they're less in the way there.



Even though I obviously have a lot of jewelry, I'm kind of missing making it now. I really should bust into the bead stash and make some new earrings or something. I might need something to help me get through my pledge this month!

Belts: I have a few that I wear more for waist-cinching looser tops, like those wide elastic-type ones. I'd like to get a few more decorative belts in different widths and colors.

Scarves: It's really only been in the last year or so that I've started playing around with the more fashionable ones. My go-to was always necklaces, and I was worried about them getting caught on my flute. Which they sometimes do, tbh. But I'm also starting to like the extra warmth on my neck, and I've learned a way or two to tie them that makes them shorter and less prone to snagging on my instrument. Plus I'm kind of loving that infinity scarf I made from the Plantain leftovers.

Honestly, I'd like to try out some of those little knitted shawl/scarf things, too. The small ones that don't look granny. But I need to finish a few knitting projects first.

So I guess that pretty much sums things up for now! As far as things to add go, I know I could use a few more pairs of earrings in my palette colors--black and the warmer tones in particular--and a few more scarves and decorative belts. I'd also like to dye my wedding shoes, since it's my one shot to have a fun color! Though I wonder if the crystal embellishment bit makes them too fancy regardless...

Wardrobe Architect, weeks 9-11: The Capsule Wardrobe

I'm combining the last few weeks, since it makes sense to put them all together anyway. Plus I got kind of stuck on the silhouette thing for a bit. I came to the definite conclusion to not worry about spring in my wardrobe plan. Honestly, I'm still wearing a lot of my winter clothes, and it's April! What's up with that?! Plus I know I have limited sewing time for awhile, so I'd rather work with what I have now and sew for the next season. I also thought it best to try to work with fabrics and patterns that I have as much as possible. Because, you know, stashbusting.

So with a focus of summer into early fall, here's what I have in mind for my capsule wardrobe:
Silhouettes:
1. Fitted to semi-fitted top, knee-length flared/A-line skirt. I figure this can be either dresses or separates, and I'm thinking along the lines of this, minus the seasonal transition half on the right side:


2. Maxi-dress! This one shows with a denim jacket, which is probably good for summer layering as needed. Alternately, a maxi-skirt with a fitted top would work well. I do love me a flowy skirt in the summer.



3. Fitted top with fitted to semi-fitted pants/jeans. I may have to throw shorts into this category-- I avoid wearing them when I can, but sometimes you really do need a pair or two for situations where a skirt is overdoing it. Like hanging out at the park. Or my retail job where I'm sitting outside in 90-100+ degree temperatures for hours. Ugh. And I really don't have many shorts at all by this point.




Color palette: 
Like I said, I wanted to go with things that are in my stash as much as possible. And I already had several projects in mind. Mainly involving these 3 fabrics:

Fun, right?















So this is the palette that I pulled from here:

The yellow is mostly going to come through in the prints, but I do need some warm colors in my wardrobe! And no green this time (aside from what's in that one print), surprisingly, but I do have quite a few green things by now, and I've been feeling a need to have more purple in my closet for awhile now. And royal blue, because I don't have a ton of that at the moment either.

The pieces:
Sarai suggested going through your closet and seeing what you already have that fits the palette and silhouettes first, so I'm going to start with that, and then make my sewing wishlist.

What I have:
Tops: my purple Sadie tank, my French Vanilla knit top, black and ivory camisoles, a basic black v-neck tee and tank, a longer/flowier black tank with ivory trim, a drapier cowl-neck ivory tank, a black semi-fitted pullover blouse, my knitted Odyssey tank, a thrifted plum-colored short-sleeve knit top, a couple of graphic t-shirts
Bottoms: A basic black a-line skirt, a shorter dark denim skirt, my TARDIS skirt, my charcoal and navy Thurlows. (Charcoal's close enough to black for this purpose.) Also a couple pairs of jeans. I'll throw my sunflower skirt into this as well, because it does have the blue and purple.
Dresses:  None that fit the palette. Honestly, I had to recently get rid of the majority of my dresses due to some weight gain/fitting issues. (No, I'm not pregnant, I just gained a little weight after the wedding, probably from basically eating out at fancy restaurants for every meal during our resort honeymoon--and maybe a few too many strawberry daquiris--and I'm having trouble getting it to go away again.) So this is an area of my wardrobe that could use a few things for sure.
Layering pieces: a plum 3/4 sleeve jacket, my reconstructed black short-sleeved cardigan

What I hope/plan to make: (all from stash unless otherwise noted)

Pile o' stash!!

Tops:

1. A navy daisy-print tank, most likely a slightly modified Sorbetto.
2. A royal blue button-down blouse, from a Burda mag. I've had the idea for awhile now, but I'm too lazy to look up the pattern.
3. A navy Archer blouse, which will probably be closer to the fall.
4. A striped ivory knit tee--hoping to use the Plantain but we'll see if I have enough fabric. Done, cardigan-style.

Bottoms:

1. Fitted/skinny-ish jeans. I think I'm going to attempt to use up the denim from the TARDIS skirt to figure this out, because I have an idea for how I can make it a design feature if I need to make them a bit roomier, thanks to the shiny side.
2. Thurlow shorts. I think I might have just enough of the navy and charcoal denims from the pants to squeeze some out. And it's not like I don't know how to fit this pattern by now, am I right?
3. Solid black Thurlow pants, which I do not currently have fabric for.
4. Possibly some black Clover pants-- I have fabric that will work, but have not tested this pattern yet. So we'll see if I get to it.
5. If I have time, a Pavlova skirt. The fabric I have is currently white with black polka dots, but I'm planning to dye it. 
6. I also have a plum skirt that I can do a quick refashion of to make it a better skirt.

Dresses:

1. A navy/ivory Cambie (which is actually going to be one of my next projects) Done!
2.  A plum/yellow/royal/white Darling Ranges. This may be closer to fall, it depends on whether I decide to stick with the elbow-length sleeves or make them shorter.
3. A yellow/white/turquoise Reglisse dress. I'm planning on fully underlining this in gold Bemberg, both for opacity and in hopes that it gives the white a little more of an ivory tone.
4. A plum/green/white/ knit Tiramisu maxi-dress Done!
5. A black tank knit maxidress, from McCall's 6559. (I know, it looks a lot like the Mission Maxi, and normally I'd be all about supporting the indie designers, but I got the pattern from less than $1.)

Layering pieces:

1. a 3/4 sleeve jacket, from the ivory/black embroidered twill I got at Mood and Simplicity 4491 (which I'll modify to shorten and cuff the sleeves.)
2. An ivory Carmine shrug. I wanted to make the jacket, but I only have a yard of the knit. Oh well.
3.  a yellow knitted cardigan, which I already have yarn and a pattern for, but starting it will have to wait until I finish my grey cardigan.

I'm hoping this isn't horribly over-ambitious of me. Especially since I still have some costume sewing to do (or start-- I just finished cutting the one part of my Tauriel costume out on Tuesday), some refashion projects I'd love to get to on the side, I do need some summer pajamas, and I also would love to get a Cooper bag made up before the end of the summer. And I do have a winter coat that will need replacing, which I really should try to start by the beginning of September. I figure the knits will go fast, especially since they're mostly patterns I've used before. So we'll see how this goes.

Wardrobe Architect, Week 8: Hair and Beauty

I was happy for the big Colette announcement last week, but I'm glad to have another Wardrobe Architect post this week! My Thursday seemed a little incomplete without it. This week's post was all about hair and beauty. I had a bit of a hard time finding a good picture to throw in here that typified my beauty "routine", such as it is, and couldn't find a recent one that was just me. (Except for a few of me modeling recent winter hats, and the best one of those had sunglasses marks on my nose. So here's a throwback to last summer when I was in Jamaica. Partly because I look pretty good in this closeup, and partly because yesterday was warmish, and today is 30 degrees colder, and I'm missing it already.)

Anyway. For this one, I figured I'd just go through Sarai's questions a little more interview-style.

Questions to ask yourself:

1. What hair style has been most flattering and comfortable for you? How did it make you feel about yourself? Did it invoke any of the words you came up with in our core style exercise?
   
   I'm definitely a long hair person. Aside from when I was a bald baby, I have never, ever had short hair in my life. The shortest cut I've ever had was shoulder-length when I was in third grade, and it's been pretty long since then. I also had bangs until I was about 15, when I grew them out and never looked back. I also started dyeing my hair red when I was a teenager--it started with the dyes that would wash out after so many shampoos, because I didn't want to commit to touching up roots. When I was in my 20s, it naturally went more red, so I'd just boost the color from time to time. Then in my later 20s, I discovered henna dye. I experimented with the powder and the blocks from Lush, but now I love these henna dyes that I get off of Amazon--the application is just like what you'd get in the drugstores, but without all of the chemicals. (And no more leaving mud on my hair overnight. Which is great, since I live with a guy now and our dogs would probably eat whatever flaked off.) I'll probably have to go back to the chemical dyes at some point, when my hair goes more grey, but for now I'm quite happy with this system. If left to its own devices, my hair has gone back to what would naturally be that awful shade of mousy brown that it was when I was a kid, and I just feel better about myself when it's red.
   
   As a refresher, my core style words were Casual, Colorful, Artsy, Geeky, Cozy. I guess this would fall under casual and colorful. Maybe cozy, too, since long hair means my neck and ears stay warmer when it's cold!
   
2. How much makeup are you comfortable with? It could be no makeup, or a full face with contouring (and all that jazz I could never figure out). Or it could vary day to day.
   It does vary slightly from day to day, but for the most part, I keep my makeup minimalistic. I have a mild but persistent case of rosacea, and I tend to sunburn easily. So my daily must-haves are a moisturizer with sunscreen, under-eye concealer, mineral powder foundation, and some kind of lip balm (usually Burt's Bees). Most days, that's it. I'll sometimes add in a lip gloss, if I know I won't be playing my flute until later in the day, or if I want to dress it up a little, I'll add a little bit of eyeshadow and mascara.
   
   Two side notes:
   1. Except for my wedding day, I haven't worn an actual lipstick in years. I experimented with it as a teenager, but discovered that lipstick and woodwind instruments don't mix. Since I still pull out my flute on an almost daily basis for teaching, it's just easier not to deal with it. And it actually feels really heavy to me now. If I want a hint of color, I always go with a gloss.
   2. Confession time: the other trademark thing I always did as a teenager was glitter gel, which I'd wear on my eyelids every single day. It was much faster than eyeshadow, and I liked the sparkle. I drifted away from that in college when I was busy dragging myself out of the house to catch the bus for 8 AM classes, but I do still find that I like eyeshadows that have a bit of shimmer to them.
   
   
3. How does your makeup and hair reflect your personal style? What do you feel they say about you and your aesthetics?
   
   I think the keyword to both is "casual". I just don't want to spend a lot of time putting my face together, so to speak, and like my hair to be as low-maintenance as possible. My hair is just wavy enough that if it were much shorter, I would have to style it every single day, and most days, I can't even be bothered to blow-dry it. So I like that I can just brush it out and leave it mostly straight, or pull it into a ponytail or braid, or play around with it in other ways. I do still wish I was better at styling my own hair, and occasionally play around with ideas I find on Pinterest to find some new ways that I can actually manage to style it. I have accepted my limits on my makeup skills by this point, though, and would rather put the effort into clothes and accessories.
   
   I guess this would fall under makeup--the one exception is that once it's warm enough for sandals, I usually have my toenails polished. And I definitely gravitate towards greens, blues, purples, things like that, pretty much anything that's not the standard red and pink shades. Colorful!! (Maybe I should spring for a coral, though....hmm.)
   
   
4. How much product do you want to own? Do you like collecting products, or would you rather just have a few essentials? How much bathroom clutter are you ok with?
   
   I'd say a few essentials, with a few added treats for when I want to amp it up. I do have things fairly consolidated, but I could probably go through and get rid of things like some of my older nail polishes and eyeshadows and things. The eyeshadows I've had have lasted me for years and aren't even close to running out.
   
   
5. What requirements do you have for the products you buy? Do you stick with all natural products? Are there ingredients you avoid?
   
   I wear contacts, so I have to make sure the products I use are safe for them. Due to my rosacea, I also have to stick with things that are labeled oil-free and non-comedogenic. I've seen lots of things about how great oil cleansing is for your face, and am kind of jealous and afraid to try it, because I do like to keep things as natural as I can. (Thus the henna dyes.) Like I said earlier, sunscreen is also a non-negotiable for me. Thanks, pale northern European ancestors.
   
6. What colors feel best near your face? How do they relate to the color palette you created?
   
   As you can see in the picture above, my eyes are a pretty dark brown, with no flecks of other colors. My makeup colors tend to be more earth-toned, for the most part. A lot of shades of browns, and the occasional olive-toned green. I sometimes play with purple, too--I once bought an eyeshadow pack that was supposed to be specifically for brown eyes, and I thought it looked pretty good. All of those are very firmly in my palette. When I do use lip gloss, it's usually either clear, or a coppery tint.
(I have to put the picture here, because if I try to wrap the text, this one keeps jumping to the top. Ugh. But this is the bulk of my eyeshadow/lip gloss collection.)


7. What colors never look right near your face? What colors have you tried and given up on before?
   
   I keep seeing that cobalt blue is supposed to look great for brown eyes, and I do have one pack of that. But only because I used it for my punk fairy costume. I guess if I were to be completely honest, the silver-toned eyeshadows that I've played with for a long time don't look the best on me either--gold/copper tones seem to work better with my eyes and skin. (But I am NOT giving up my silver jewelry!) In real life, I guess I usually feel like I don't really want to look like I'm wearing a lot of makeup, and try to keep it as non-obvious as possible.
   
8. How much time do you realistically want to spend getting ready in the morning?
   
   As little as possible, especially on days that I work my garden center job. For one thing, my commute to there is three times what it was before I moved last summer. For another thing, especially in the summer when I have to sit outside, there's no point because I'm just going to sweat it all off. Also, I like having time to eat breakfast.
   
   
9. What types of scents do you gravitate towards? Do you wear perfume? Other scented products? What do you feel the scents you like communicate about your personality?
   
   I do not wear perfume. When I do wear scented products, it's exclusively body wash and lotion, when I'm not completely forgetting to put lotion on in the first place. I really should, because I'd really like to use up all of the more commercial lotions that I have, like from Bath & Body Works, and then just buy some natural homemade stuff off of Etsy when I need it. But I'm too cheap frugal to just throw out nearly-full bottles of lotion in the meantime.
   
   The scented products I do have usually end up being scented with vanilla or some kind of citrus. I like the playfulness of the fresher, fruity scents, and the vanilla is cozy. Also, I've learned that floral scents give me a headache! One of my all-time favorite scented products was this body wash they used to have at Bath & Body Works, called Red Currant Thyme Tea. Sadly, it was discontinued awhile back, and now you can only get it by spending ridiculous amounts of money on Amazon or eBay. (But I just looked on Etsy, and at least one shop has a similar thing....ooh.) 

I wrote this post on Thursday, and just as an experiment, I decided to take the extra 2 minutes to add a little eye makeup to my usual minimal routine. It actually did make a difference in the way I felt-- even though my outfit for the day was pretty casual (jeans and a sweater, since it was thirty degrees colder than the day before--UGH), I felt a little more put-together. Even while my hair was still wet. So maybe this is something I should make a little more effort on. 

Wardrobe Architect, Week 7: Prints vs. Solids

Hi, my name is Becky, and I'm a printoholic.

At least, that's how I usually think of myself. When it comes to shopping, both for fabrics and when I'm at the thrift store, the print is what generally draws my eye first. I have to make a much more conscious effort to think of wardrobe staples in solids, and get way more excited about sewing the prints. I dream of someday having the guts and print-mixing savvy of people like Oona, because then I can wear more prints at once! So this exercise was an interesting one for me.

If you take a look at my closet, yes, there's solids. The most prominent ones at the moment are my jackets. But there's quite a few prints hanging out there, too. Sarai's suggested homework was to pull out my 10-20 most worn items and see what's prints vs what's solids, but I didn't feel that would give an accurate assessment of my particular tastes. Especially this time of year, when I rely so heavily on pants and layering pieces, and pretty much all of my jackets/sweaters and all of the Thurlows I made recently are solids. So I did things a little differently...

I went through my closet and took a look at 3 different categories of things--tops, skirts and dresses. (I left out pants, jackets and sweaters, since as I said, they're all pretty much solid at this point, aside from a few subtle stripes in purchased pants and one Anthropologie cardigan.) I further divided tops into things I'm more likely to wear when it's warmer vs cooler, because I suspected that my print preferences could change with the seasons. So here's what I found--I even made pie charts, just because I could!

This one surprised me, actually. I wasn't expecting so many of my warmer tops to be solid. But I guess it makes a little sense, because I'm also more likely to wear print skirts in the warmer weather, and I generally wear a solid top with those. (For the record, this did not include graphic t-shirts, camisoles, or other knit basic tank tops.)

This one was a little more balanced out overall, though there were also more things that I wasn't sure how to categorize.

I'm not really surprised that nearly half of my skirts were solid. "Other" tended to lean more towards novelty prints here.

I didn't count more formal-type dresses in here, or that would have upped the solid count. As it was, I tend to think of dresses more as a one-and-done wardrobe option, which is why prints so solidly dominate here.



To take a closer look at what I actually own, I pulled out several typical print garments for me, depending on the season.

 The majority of things in both rows are things I've made, but there are a few purchased things in there as well.

I also took a look at what's actually in my stash right now and easily accessible. (So not things that I already have bagged up for specific projects, and not things that are more of a texture-print.)

A few stripes, a few paisleys, lots of big graphic floral-type things, though I honestly have to say that the one I'm most excited about using is that Japanese teacup print in the center top row!

So, to summarize:

• "Floral prints", for me, tend to be more stylized or even geometric in nature. They also more often lean towards a medium-to-large scale. It's also pretty common for them to actually be leaves.
• A lot of my "other" fell under the categories of paisley, or a hand-dyed look, or more pictoral prints, like the day 13 skirt here. I do love a good novelty print, but in practice, am more likely to use them as bags. (Or jacket linings.) However, some of my florals could also be considered a novelty print. Lonsdale dress, I'm looking at you. 
• I like swirly prints, apparently. A lot of them have curving lines.
• Yes, my taste in prints are somewhat seasonal! I'm much more likely to wear stripes or plaid in the colder months, for instance. And florals when it's warmer. How novel.
• For the most part, things like dots and animal prints, which were two of the examples given in the post, didn't even rank. I think I have two dotted prints total, and you see them both in this post.
• Overall, it looks like the way I should rank my taste in prints is the following:
• 1. stylized/bold florals
•  2. Abstract/geometric, often with a swirly motif
• 3. Stripes or plaid
• 4. Novelty prints

So I made this, using prints I already have, either in my finished clothes or in my stash. Photoshop is magic.

muslin making and palette play

Same pattern company, different type of garment... I'm making a Robson Coat next!

I've learned from experience that Sewaholic Patterns need more tweaking on my top half than my bottom half. (Incidentally, I really hope I still have that wedding dress muslin around somewhere, because I'd like to make a "real" Cambie sometime and don't want to muslin the top 3 times again!) So I figured I'd better actually suck it up and make a muslin on this one. Since it looked like the finished garment measurements for the bust and waist were about the same, and my bust isn't quite that...um...flat, I decided to experiment with cutting a size 10 for the top and sleeves, grading to an 8 at the waist, and leaving it a size 8 for the hips.

Here's my result.

The front of the coat. I didn't cut the muslin the full length, because fitting over the hips was not the issue I was worried about. I'm also not entirely sure I pinned the coat closed in the places marked on the pattern, or on the correct side for that matter, but you get the idea. I do think my grading worked pretty well, though there is a bit of a diagonal wrinkle going towards that first pin that makes me wonder if I need to do a slight FBA after all. I also doubt I'm going to be doing airplane impressions much in this, but I wanted to test the range of movement in the arms. They feel pretty comfortable over a long-sleeved shirt, which is probably the most I'd be wearing under this, so even though it pulls when I do that, I think I'll be good.



And then here's the back. I know I've got a bit of a swayback going here, though I don't want to overfit this one since it's meant to be worn over other things. I might just leave it. The one tweak I'm thinking I may want to seriously consider is adding just a little more room across the upper back--this was me raising my arms to the level I would need to, say, drive my car. It's not like I'm about to do my impression of the Hulk, but adding just a tiny bit more room, say 1/8" in the center back on each side, might do a lot for avoiding strain on the seam. Any thoughts from you fitting gurus out there?

It looks like the sleeve length is pretty good here, but I think I'll have to check the hem depth and probably add a little to the final pattern--I'm probably not going to want it much shorter than what it's showing up as here.

I think I'm going to like the style of this coat! And though I am going for the full length for the real version, because I like longer coats, this muslin makes me think that it could be a cute shorter coat as well. 


I'm throwing the most recent Wardrobe Architect assignment in this post too, because it's more or less an extension of last week's color assignment. All we were asked to do was organize our palettes into three categories: neutrals, near-neutrals, and statement colors.

So I took last week's palette and did a little rearranging. No surprise, over half of my colors fall into the "statement" category. Unless teal is now a neutral, because I wear it a lot these days. It's the perfect compromise color between blue and green. So teal is totally a neutral, right?

Even though I wasn't sure how to make metallic swatches on Photoshop, I'm adding metallic silver, gold and copper to my near neutrals, because the majority of my jewelry incorporates some kind of metallic. I do mostly lean towards silvers, but have discovered the value of having gold, especially the more antique color, and copper to mix things up over the last few years.

Of course, the problem with statement colors being your main thing is that there's so many different shades of the same thing. Like that purple-- I categorized it as plum, but it could also be eggplant, or maybe a darker radiant orchid, since that's the color of the year. The darker green could be emerald, or kelly, or grass, or whatever. There's probably at least 5 shades that could fall under the umbrella of "teal". So I'm looking at this more as a guideline than a rule.