Wardrobe Architect Week 4 - Silhouettes

Wardrobe Architect Silhouettes by sewlittletime on polyvore.com

I had a lot of fun with this one!  I put together the above collages really quickly as I had already spent time thinking about my preferred shapes and had gathered quite a lot of inspiration on my Happy Wardrobe Pinterest board.

All of this thinking since starting Happy Wardrobe led me to the realisation that I really do love to wear dresses of all kinds.  There's a place in my wardrobe for casual knit dresses, long and short sleeved woven dresses and shirt dresses.  What they all have in common is a fitted bodice and a flared skirt.  I like the same overall shape when it comes to skirts - a fitted top and flared skirt (also a-line shapes).

For trousers, I am giving up the skinnies!  I feel much more comfortable in wide leg or bootcut/ flared trousers, again with a fitted top.  I do love slim cropped trousers in the summer though.

I love boat necks and peter pan collars, but I also wear scoop necks and v necks.  Slim fitting cardigans are an important part of my wardrobe - I have so many cardigans that I have a filing system for them!  Once my carpal tunnel improves I need to get knitting the Miette I have planned in my head.

The clothes that get the most wear in our generally fairly rainy and grey climate are ones that can be worn or without tights (and tights save on the fake tan for my pasty pins!), so unless it's a very summery item, i often steer clear of the lightest colours.

And definitely no heels!  I have heels but rarely wear them unless it's to a formal event.  I'm tall so don't need the extra height, and frankly can't be bothered.  They don't do well with my walking pace or lifestyle.  Flat boots, brogues, ballet pumps or flat sandals it is! (and based on the collages above I need a pair of red ballet flats - you can never have too many pairs of red shoes).

How did you find this week's exercise?  Was it easy or hard to distill your style into a few silhouettes?

Joining the Wardrobe Architect

Did you see the latest idea from Sarai at Colette - the Wardrobe Architect?

She introduced it in a blog post here.

I'm definitely going to join in as I think it fits really well with the Happy Wardrobe Project!

I'm working through my plan currently and finding it really interesting to reflect a bit more about the clothes I actually wear (rather than the clothes I sew!) and how they make me feel.  After only a week I think I'm getting a bit closer to an idea of my personal style.  I'll post some reflections in a week or so once I have considered them a bit more!

Seems like a popular time to be considering personal style and creating a wearable wardrobe. I've also seen blog posts recently from Rochelle at Lucky Lucille and Tasha at By Gum By Golly.

Will you be joining with the Colette plan?  Or are you doing the same yourself?

Goals for 2014

It's taken me a while to work out what my goals are and I think doing the other Top 5s first really helped me work things through in my head (which is probably the point - clever Gillian! )

1) The Happy Wardrobe Project - Getting a better idea of my personal style

I'm a bit of a schizophrenic dresser. There's no dress code at work so anything from jeans to dresses goes. I have a smallish child so unlikely to start wearing heels and smart clothes at the weekends. I love a vintage look (anywhere from 50s to 70s) but given my lack of interest in ironing I won't be wearing blouses everyday! But I want to look good and put together and to get back to a personal style. I used to have one before I had N and convenience/ low maintenance clothes become more important! 

So my plan is to snap a pic (probably a phone/mirror pic) each morning and consider how I felt and looked in the outfit. Was I happy to choose it or was it a desperation choice on an "I have no clothes" day?  I'm also going to note down if there's something I wanted to wear but had nothing to go with it - for example I know I have one navy tee and lots of bottoms I wear it with so if it's in the wash it stops me wearing other things.

I am planning to do this for a couple of months in colder weather (now) and again in the summer as I know I will find major differences.  I won't blog about it all the time, but will maybe do a monthly round up/ learnings.  I think it will really help plan my sewing which is another thing that worked well for me this year.

I really like my colour palettes so will continue to use those which will hopefully cut down the orphans. I am also intending to start some new pinboards with inspiration outfits - maybe I'll even make some copycat outfits!

As was writing this, I remembered a post that Tilly wrote about finding your personal style which I really liked and I guess some aspects of the plan above I have remembered and taken from this. If personal style is a consideration for you this year, you can read it here.

2) Find my TNTs

I love the speediness of sewing repeats - they really work for my time-strapped life!  I am hoping that the plan above will allow me to find what my happy clothes/ styles are and make more of them!  It will also allow me to evaluate new patterns and decide if they are right for me or destined to sit in the pattern box, and find fabrics that work for the sort of clothes I want to make and wear.  I made quite a few this year - loads of Cake (as documented on my hits post), 2 Kelly skirts (only 1 blogged so far!), and 2 Renfrews.

3) Learn new skills

Doesn't everyone have this on their list? I don't want to get stuck in a rut as an OK sewist who still makes loads of mistakes.  As I'm totally self/blog taught I'm sure I make loads of basic errors in sewing and fitting.   For example I can bind a seam but it just doesn't look as neat and pretty as it could (as you'll see if you look closely at the construction pics from my Blue Christmas dress!).  I really want to take an intermediate dressmaking class as I think it would really help me to improve. I'm going to look for a class and find the time to take it. If i can't I will take some Craftsy classes.

4) Use better fabrics

As a beginner sewist I was scared of spending money on fabric in case i messed it up, and as a result some earlier makes haven't stood the test of time - fabrics going bobbly, interfacing wrinkly, colours fading. I want to change this in 2014.

The Minerva Blogger Network allows me to try out fabrics that are perhaps more expensive than i would previously have chosen and I can really see the difference with these nicer fabrics (can't wait to show you my next few makes that I've just received my fabric picks for!). I'm never going to have an unlimited fabric budget but if I know a garment will be finished, will fit well and be worn, I can spend at least what a RTW garment would have cost.  So if a RTW high street dress costs £30-40 (not unreasonable) I could potentially spend £10-15 a metre on fabric plus notions (we all know factoring in a cost for our time spent making won't work!).  Also it's a hobby budget as well as a clothing budget.  Sounds like I can buy some more fabric then!

5) Make trousers

Source: Colette patterns, Butterick, Named

 If you have read my other top 5 posts this will come as no surprise at all. I planned to do it last year and am determined to conquer them this year! I'll be going back to my Juniper muslin and tracing out the bigger size probably in February.  I'd also like to make Named Jamie jeans and Gertie for Butterick capris.  Lena from the Sewing Space has been teasing us with sneak peeks of her new trouser pattern too and it looks great!  I'd really like to take the Seamless pledge but while there is still a big part of my wardrobe I don't make I don't see how it will work.


I do have a 6th thing (yes, I know it's supposed to be 5, but it's my blog, my rules, right?) and it's probably the most important thing of all. To be kind to myself.  I have a busy life, small child, full time job, long commute and a big hobby.  If I blog less often as a result, or take time off from sewing to do other things, I am not going to beat myself up about it.  As long as everyone is fed, wearing clean clothes and happy, the world won't end if I don't have anything to blog about for a week or two.  Or if I don't clean the kitchen floor (#sewdontclean).

Here's to 2014 and a great sewing, blogging and generally being healthy and having fun year for everyone, whether we fulfil all our goals or not!