I recently purchased two dresses of the exact same style as a dress I already have. On my last trip to LA, my fiance convinced me to buy a Patagonia Bandha Dress in an indigo blue. It ended up being the dress of the summer; I wear it at least two or three times a week after work.
I had the spare clothes hangers in my closet, so I splurged recently and purchased the Bandha dress in black and teal. Unfortunately it's only available as an extra-small in pink on Patagonia's website, but you can find it in other sizes and colors around the web. I just know it's the kind of thing that I'll get a lot of use out of. I already plan on packing the black dress to Europe later this fall.
A lot of sewists use the same concept when they develop TNT, or tried-and-true, patterns. You put all of this work into getting a pattern to fit you just right that you have to capitalize on it somehow! If it looks great on you and fits perfectly, why not make a few in different colors? The only thing I've made that has become a TNT for me is Vogue's recent lingerie release (Vogue 8888); the bias-cut tap pants are delightful to lounge in. I love that you can make them using french seams, and with a little change to the elastic insertion, they are very ready-to-wear and fit me well out of the envelope.
Eventually I'd like to make all of my outfits "tried and true", where I love them and feel like a million bucks just to put them on. I think a big key in finding a TNT pattern is picking a classic style. I hope to find the right button-down shirt pattern, woven shell, wrap dress, sheath dress, jeans, and trouser patterns. It's going to take a lot of time for me - I don't sew very fast!
I'm making good progress on the white linen pants; hopefully I'll finish them up this weekend and do a review. They're not fitting as well as the muslin did, but I did learn some stuff about fitting pants and will be able to take that to the next pant project. My fiance says they show off my butt pretty good, and they're comfortable, so it's not a total loss. They definitely look better than a lot of the ready-to-wear pants I see out there! The facing is flipping out in the back, so I will probably tack it down and maybe insert some elastic to keep it snug against my body.
I'm also making progress on my Hello Kitty Pajamas; I'm hoping I'll have the top finished by the end of this weekend also. I'll attach the collar next, then sew up the sides and sleeves. Then buttonholes.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
Wardrobe Curation Thoughts
After three (three!) runs to Container Store over last weekend, I'd say my closet is about 90% purged and organized. I ended up buying a lot more blouse hangers than I anticipated, and will probably go back to get a few more coat/jacket hangers as I fill in the outerwear gaps in my wardrobe. The closet looks amazing though, and it's been so easy to find things and put them away.
There is some useful information out there that shows you how to put a wardrobe together, although the most common advice seems to be "think about what your wardrobe is missing, that fits into your style". I've read of bottom-to-top ratios of 1:2-4. I've read multitudes of articles on "finding your style". There's some color discussion and personality discussion in there as well.
My style, like most Americans, is a bit all over the place. I have a conservative corporate office job, but love to wear sundresses and flip flops on the weekends (it's the native Californian in me). I love dramatic outfits for when I go tango dancing and to the symphony/theater. Is there such a thing as a dramatic sundress?
It's something I'll have to think about. Even though I have a few pieces of clothing identified that I want to buy, I think I'm going to put a hold on buying new clothes for a while so I can collect my thoughts about where I want my wardrobe to go. When I was in high school one of my teachers had us do a writing exercise which involved envisioning where we saw ourselves at 30. I know one of the things I so desired and thought I would have was a lovely wardrobe (also nice perfume). I have the nice perfume now but (in my mind) an OK wardrobe. At the very least, I don't think it represents me just yet.
Janice from the Vivienne Files has some great posts on building wardrobes, Project 333 style. It's a neat philosophy, but trends towards having more separates and fewer dresses.
Redefining Normal - Besides showing how many outfits you can make with 33 pieces of clothing, she references Mother Jones in how our fast fashion culture has exponentially increased the amount of clothing we consume. Wouldn't it be great if we could get the number of new clothing items down to 10 a year (like what most people say the French consume?)?
Building a Wardrobe By Fours - Here she demonstrates her formula of creating a 33 item wardrobe
Some Examples of Building Wardrobes: My Clothes, Camel & Navy, Warm Colors
One specific example (over two blog posts) of integrating new pieces: Dream Specific Wardrobe Dreams, Dream Wardrobe
Going off of this philosophy, I'm going to try to take my list of french-inspired wardrobe pieces and break them down into the steps of building a wardrobe by fours:
Step 1: Core of 4 (Black)
I thought this was a really useful exercise; it definitely helped me to point out holes or gaps in my wardrobe. I ended up adding a few tops, which I had mentioned was a hole before. I also added a red skirt, which would be flashy and nice to wear with a lot of other things (namely black tops but I could see it working well with a lot of other things). I'm not sure I'll use this strategy again but it's certainly interesting.
There is some useful information out there that shows you how to put a wardrobe together, although the most common advice seems to be "think about what your wardrobe is missing, that fits into your style". I've read of bottom-to-top ratios of 1:2-4. I've read multitudes of articles on "finding your style". There's some color discussion and personality discussion in there as well.
My style, like most Americans, is a bit all over the place. I have a conservative corporate office job, but love to wear sundresses and flip flops on the weekends (it's the native Californian in me). I love dramatic outfits for when I go tango dancing and to the symphony/theater. Is there such a thing as a dramatic sundress?
It's something I'll have to think about. Even though I have a few pieces of clothing identified that I want to buy, I think I'm going to put a hold on buying new clothes for a while so I can collect my thoughts about where I want my wardrobe to go. When I was in high school one of my teachers had us do a writing exercise which involved envisioning where we saw ourselves at 30. I know one of the things I so desired and thought I would have was a lovely wardrobe (also nice perfume). I have the nice perfume now but (in my mind) an OK wardrobe. At the very least, I don't think it represents me just yet.
Janice from the Vivienne Files has some great posts on building wardrobes, Project 333 style. It's a neat philosophy, but trends towards having more separates and fewer dresses.
Redefining Normal - Besides showing how many outfits you can make with 33 pieces of clothing, she references Mother Jones in how our fast fashion culture has exponentially increased the amount of clothing we consume. Wouldn't it be great if we could get the number of new clothing items down to 10 a year (like what most people say the French consume?)?
Building a Wardrobe By Fours - Here she demonstrates her formula of creating a 33 item wardrobe
Some Examples of Building Wardrobes: My Clothes, Camel & Navy, Warm Colors
One specific example (over two blog posts) of integrating new pieces: Dream Specific Wardrobe Dreams, Dream Wardrobe
Going off of this philosophy, I'm going to try to take my list of french-inspired wardrobe pieces and break them down into the steps of building a wardrobe by fours:
Step 1: Core of 4 (Black)
- Wool Dress Pants
- Blazer
- Skirt
- Dress
- Linen Pants (White)
- Button-down Blouse (White)
- Silk Button-down Blouse (White)
- Skirt (Grey)
- Cocktail Dress (Red)
- Skirt* (Red)
- Bowtie Blouse (Ocean Blue)
- Polo Shirt (Dusky Plum)
- Jeans (Blue Denim)
- Wool Pencil Skirt (Navy)
- Denim Shirtdress (Navy Denim)
- Cashmere Sweater (Navy)
- T-shirt (Black)
- Long Sleeved Raglan Top (Navy)
- Chambray Top (Light Blue)
- Turtleneck* (Black)
- Breton Top (Blue & White Striped)
- Chanel-inspired Jacket (Black & White Boucle)
- Chanel-inspired Skirt (Black & White Boucle)
- Silk Chiffon Blouse (Navy Print)
- DVF Wrap Dress (Black, White, Teal, Brown Print)
- Sweater (Red)
- Cowl-neck lace top* (Black, something I have already)
- LBD (Black)
- Dressier Jeans (Navy Denim)
- Denim Skirt (Light Blue Denim)
- Leather Jacket (Black)
- Evening Top* (Red)
- Tank Top (Black)
I thought this was a really useful exercise; it definitely helped me to point out holes or gaps in my wardrobe. I ended up adding a few tops, which I had mentioned was a hole before. I also added a red skirt, which would be flashy and nice to wear with a lot of other things (namely black tops but I could see it working well with a lot of other things). I'm not sure I'll use this strategy again but it's certainly interesting.
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