Category: Wardrobe Improvement Project

sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Making a Tiramisu

StephC over at SewingCake.com is hosting a sewalong for her first pattern release, the Tiramisu dress. I’d like to say I’m participating, but I think I’m more officially lurking. Maybe it’s different in Australia in early January, being all summery and so forth. Here, the second week of January is full already, since that’s when all the things that have been ignored for the two weeks of Christmas/Winter break come due. Or maybe I lack dedication and I’m looking for excuses. Either way, I’ve been watching the Flickr pool and the assorted discussions for the sewalong, but I haven’t uploaded …

sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Nerves

Back in March, I announced my intentions of a personal Wardrobe Improvement Project. I made myself a single shirt and then there were clothes for Caitlyn and garden things and summer and harvest and preserving. Nothing else for me. Which is not to say that I’ve abandoned the idea. This pile is all intended to end up in my closet: There is a pair of jeans, a pair of black twill pants, a skirt, a cardigan, three other tops, and a possible scarf in this pile. Of course, it’s all just potential at this point. I haven’t actually done anything. …

sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Picking through The 100

 

Since I’m thinking about wardrobe improvement these days, I checked out The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own. Coletterie had recently posted about this book, asking about what 100 pieces would be in readers’ personal essential collections. First off, what’s with the word “stylish”? Every person has a “style” – maybe it’s trendy or sloppy instead of classy or elegant, but it’s still a style. How did “stylish” come to mean “style worth copying”? Why is “stylish” associated with looking as though you have nothing better to do than drink cocktails and inspire people …

Seasons, sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Further experiments in knits

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Remember this top? The one I made in a knits class with unshrunk fabric? I sent it off to my sister (who reports that it works fine for her) and I’ve finally got around to trying again. Ta-da! I pre-washed the fabric this time and happily the finished shirt still has lovely long sleeves. I’m not 100% sure I’ve got the fit right, but at least this one is wearable. The armscye might not be totally right and there might be too much fabric in the back. It’s hard to tell when I’m twisting around in front of a mirror …

sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Everyone needs a Plan

 

I have a closet of clothes that are either showing their age or don’t fit me well. It’s already known that shopping and I are not friends. I thought I’d written up a more recent rant than this one or this one. The short version: I’m tall, I’m reasonably narrow, I tend toward classic/minimalist style with a touch of romantic/bohemian, I’m excessively practical. End result: very little ready-to-wear clothing actually fits me and I’m endlessly frustrated by poor quality and trends that assume I have nothing to do except look pretty. My clothing should not require special handling (no regular …

Introspection, sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Appearances Matter (news only to me)

I’m a freelancing, work-from-home techie mom, a crafter, and a gardener with small-scale urban homesteading tendencies. I cook, I clean, I do a lot of laundry. I’ll usually make the first attempt at various home maintenance tasks. I tend three gardens: the ornamental front yard, the edible backyard, the p-patch plot down the street. I can spend a large part of my day at my desk with my computer or at my other desk with my sewing machine. Most days, the farthest I travel is all the way across the street to the mailbox. When I travel further, I’m usually …