Sponsor this month: THREE patterns from Fostering Sewing Patterns – most adorable stuffed animal patterns! I love the owl and alligators the best. I hope they’ll make a raccoon pattern!
Catch up:
Jenny:
I’ve made two different color-blocked York Pinafores. These are the Helen’s Closet pattern that I make in a smaller size than would be correct for my body measurements per the size chart. With both, I made one half of the front in a contrast fabric. It’s been a great way to use up some fabric that I have large scraps of, but not enough to make a York (even though this is a very good pattern for using up a smaller length of fabric for me). I’m also enamored of the marsupial pouch pocket these days.
Beverly: I finished knitting a sweater that I started a few years ago. At the beginning of football season, I had just the sleeves to go. I finished the night of the first playoff game. For those interested, it is called “Breathing Space” by Veera Valimaki. It is a lovely pattern, very well written and probably easily finished in less than three years by others.
New Patterns Tauko Tuesday!
I’ve already printed Parabolic, Jordan, Marsupial, and Over-It.
Capsule wardrobe:
Beverly: I am going on a very big vacation this May and I want to make a new capsule wardrobe for it. AND, I’m going to NYC next weekend so I can shop for fabric!!!
Jenny:
This is so different than how I think about my wardrobe, and my clothing in general, that I hardly know how to think about it. Most of my garments are dresses withs sleeves, so I rarely wear two me-made things at the same time. With my new exploration of pinafores, overalls, etc – there’s some possibility here. I think my first step would be finding top patterns I’d like to use in multiple ways (shirts, wraps, jackets) that would coordinate with, over, under, overalls & pinafores.
But in the end, Beverly is gonna do the heavy lifting on this one.
Resources:
Jess – fat.bobbin.girl
Broad In The Seams (also Jess) wardrobe planning
Sew Liberated Mindful wardrobe planning
TomKat Stitchery You Tube series: The great module sew along – one topper, 2 bottoms and 3 tops
My ideas for what i need: May is warm but not hot in Portugal. I think that means we need to be prepared for chilly too. Not sure. I want to make shorts, tops and a couple of dresses.
Shorts: True Bias Dani Shorts and Pants smaller band, larger band (up to 62”) – although they sell the two bands separately with different sites for each size band, I do want to commend True Bias on the ease of finding size chart. For each pattern there is a “measurements” tab that drops open to show body measurements, final garment measurements and fabric requirements. So helpful!
I love these shorts. I own this pattern but have not made it. I have some textured cotton from Core Fabrics that would be awesome for these.
I also really love the Closet Core Pietra shorts (up to 63” hip) and the Sew House Seven Free Range slacks (up to 66” hip).
Tops:
Elisabeth Suzann Georgia Tee 62” hip
Helen’s Closet Reynolds Top. 62” hip
Dress:
Sauvie Sundress by Sew House 7 65.5”
Caramiya Yesterday Dress. 62” hip
Marseille Dress – Hey June Handmade – up to 63” hip Love this one!
Also want a hands and shoulder free option for a bag! Greenstyle Adventure Bag
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3 replies on “104 Capsule Wardrobe #pfHotStuff ”
Beverly is right, capsule wardrobes are a concept that came about in the 80s, which means that much of the good resources about them are not on instagram, and generally from people older than you. They’re not about only owning 6 things, that’s too much of a modern concept. But they are about “I do this thing, do I have a set of clothes suitable for it that work together well enough?” Now the thing could be work in an uptight place, travel to warm places, play with your roller derby friends, whatever it is that’s happening in your own life and requires something a bit different from your usual.
A long-standing mistress of capsules is the Vivienne files. Her recent blog has switched too much to buy this stuff so I can get a commission :-). But her earlier ideas were in fact quite interesting, and for instance I’ve applied her 4×4 wardrobe principles quite a bit myself with good success, it’s become a lot easier to throw a suitcase together. She’s got a ton of examples of what would be suitable for a weekend here or there, even though her own style is firmly conservative midwestern it’s easy to transpose to different settings.
There was a thing for a long while called SWAP, where seamstresses would do dozen+-pieces marathons that’d cover absolutely everything, but it’s now petered out. You can still see the occasional reference to it now. And https://sewing.patternreview.com/ for instance usually runs at least one contest a year on a smaller capsule theme, which are interesting to peruse.
My all-time favorite though is the theme month that the Curvy Sewing Collective did some years ago https://curvysewingcollective.com/category/theme-months/mini-capsule/ I loved it because they explained several approaches to the concept, and people chose their own and their interpretation. While we now have a whole lot more fat-accomodating patterns to chose from, I think you can still get some good ideas from there which would be easy to bring up to date.
My capsule wardrobe is a minimal wardrobe in shades of blue, black, grey and white. It’s easy to choose an outfit when everything goes together. I’ve followed this approach for the last six years and it’s really reduced my morning stress about what to wear to work that day.
I have been sewing more of my clothes and getting better at choosing the right combination of fabric and pattern. I find it fun and creative. This all makes me want to sew more clothes but I also don’t need any more clothes. It’s a maker’s conundrum. Right now, I’m voting for buying/consuming less.
I’m embarking on a capsule project for retirement dressing. My colors are whatever I could get in linen for a reasonable price, and my palette is mostly, “well, I wouldn’t wear that to work,” colors. Lots of red, orange, purple, and bright blue, and I don’t care what anyone else thinks post-work liberation. The hard part is going to be getting rid of the half of my wardrobe I don’t want to wear anymore, ‘cuz downsizing is always hard.