I'm feeling so crafty!

So I started knitting my fun fur bikini titled "Grassy Knolls" It's coming along swimmingly, I might add. I wish I could find my pompom maker so I can make the dandelion pompoms.

This week I've been taking pictures of my outfits as I leave the house in the morning, and can tell you already that it's enlightening, but not too enlightening(thankfully) I saw myself in a long sweater and wow, no more long sweaters for me unless it is a dress. Everything's gotta stop at the hip. My little belly pooch sticks out too much for my taste and cutting it across the hip breaks up the line a bit. It also keeps my legs looking long while adding a little bit of length to my short waist. Cutting straight across the waist is baaaaad for me, except in very rare outfits.

I went to the dinner dance on Friday and made my matching fascinator and work my crazy eyelashes. I'll have to take some pics today of all have been working on. Lastly, I went to Jo-Ann fabrics and got some 1/2 off linen blends for a summer skirt and top. I used Lion Cotton and wooden beads for the yoke of a cute print top I will sew as soon as I figure out the pattern. I'm also making two more t-shirt bags for grocery shopping. Signing off for now. Lots of stuff to do!

More obsessive wardrobe thoughts...

Still harping on this. Today I'm participating in the changing of the guards, winter/fall wardrobe to spring/summer wardrobe. I've been thinking about color palettes and have decided that organizing one based on my current items would be helpful to me when picking out new clothes and fabrics. Mainly, I hope to find a common color theme in all seasons to build my core wardrobe around and change accent colors as the seasons change. For example, I see that I wear pink, burgundy, brown, and tan pretty much all year long. In the spring, I can add aqua to the mix, in the winter, add olive green and in the fall add mustard. Something like that. In any case, I plan on doing some thrifting and reconstruction, too. I've seen lots of shirts on etsy that have inspired me to get some tees and bust out the machine.

I also have been thinking about the types of clothing I wear. In the summer, I wear a dress or a skirt with a cardigan almost every day. In spring, I wear pants and skirts with layered tops and cardigans/jackets. In fall, same as spring, and as of last winter, pants and sweaters with a shelf-bra camisole pretty much all the time, save for the occasional sweater dress.

It would be really cool to plan a wardrobe around unconventional accessory pieces, such as bustles, pockets, aprons, collars and sleeves, along with removable applique pins. I envision my a-line denim skirt being a backdrop for all kinds of crazy concoctions! Lastly, I'm thinking about my style. The way I dress depends on where I'm going and what mood I'm in. I have outfits based on different characters, like "the cowgirl" -a western shirt, frye boots and bootcut jeans for a going to the farm, or "the flirty romantic" -dripping with gauze, lace and ruffles, and puffy sleeves, or "goth girl" with black and burgundy and skulls. Finding a way to incorporate all these styles into one wardrobe is difficult. I think I may plan a mini-wardrobe around each of these styles so I can keep it interesting without having so many clothes that I don't wear.

The final thing I have been thinking about is what, exactly do I look like when I leave the house in the morning. Many days I don't even bother looking in the mirror, so I don't even notice until I get to work how rough I look. It's possible that I will run an experiment documenting what I look like for work for two weeks to a month. I want to become neat and put-together, and this will be the first step in assessing how long the road will be until I get there!

Back to the Wardrobe Business

I found a sewing blogger who has the same idea I have! Added to blogroll to keep up with progress. She had a few helpful ideas and linkys that I'd like to share :)

First it's the S.W.A.P. thing. Sewing with a plan. I guess the offshoot group I will start is K.W.A.P. Ha ha ha! It's the idea of planning fabrics and patterns to match your lifestyle and create a basic wardrobe. This is exactly what I was looking for!

This was borrowed from "The Sewing Journal" blog:
The plan recommends evaluating one’s lifesyle, then sewing 11 garments out of 2 basic colors and 1 complementary color.
2 pairs of pants
2 skirts, one solid, one print
6 tops, matching and coordinating
1 jacket

This website has more info on the concept and its implementation.

So I think I may go with olive and either taupe or steel(gray-blue) for my basic colors for summer work-wear. I'm excited to have a plan. There was a great idea to use paint chips when going fabric shopping so you can have a range of colors to coordinate with. Love it! It works for yarn, too! One woman carries a mini-swatch book of her basic wardrobe fabrics in her purse so when she is shopping, she can assess right away if something will match. I can't tell you how many times I have to carry a skirt or shirt around with me for days until I find something to go with it. I've got a garbage full of clothes ready to donate to the salvation army and I seriously hope that this year will be the last that I have to do these massive clean-outs. Parting with loved, hunted, but ill-fitting articles has become easier over time. After I clean out winter stuff and switch to spring/summer, I may take pics of all the saved clothes on me so I can get a better idea of what I actually look like. Also, I really do need good pants. I'm gaining weight and think I'm an 8 now, and I would like to exist without buttons and waists digging into my skin. Bye for now. Off to dream of matching clothes...(I really do need a life!)