The biggest draw back to making your clothes instead of buying them is losing the chance to try something on before you buy. When I go clothes shopping I do a fair bit of trying before buying. I look at the item on the hanger a few times, check the price tag, hold it up to my face to see if the colour is right, try it on in two sizes for comparison, think about what else it goes with that I already own, recheck the price tag and then only buy it if I am happy it has met all my requirements.
This is clearly much harder to do when you don't have a garment in front of you. How do you know the style will be right? Is the colour something that will suit? How much will the finished garment cost? Which size will be best? All these questions are much harder to answer when you have to make the clothes and you can't see them right in front of you.
Sadly quite a few of my earlier makes now don't get worn. It isn't that my taste has changed or that they no longer fit. I just wasn't sewing the right clothes - I didn't have a clear idea of what I would to wear. During Me-Made-May last year I realised I needed to make a few changed and plan a little more if I wanted to make my own clothes rather than buy them. I needed to be a little more selective about the fabrics I bought and the patterns I sewed. I wanted to make clothes that I felt good in, looked good on and went with clothes I already owned. I decided to think of my new wardrobe as a 'capsule wardrobe'.
Now I know that a capsule wardrobe isn't a new concept. For those of your who are unfamiliar with the idea the aim is to have items in your wardrobe that can all mix and match together and that are all flattering to your body shape so that on any given day you can pick out a couple of items and they'll work together and make you look and feel good.
Over the next few weeks I am going to share some ideas for choosing your own colour palette and for working out some style rules for the types of items to sew. I'll be doing it particularly with a handmade wardrobe in mind but the principles will work for any one who is thinking of creating their own capsule wardrobe. Here are just a few reasons why you might like to start your own capsule wardrobe:
A Capsule Wardrobe Saves Space
I live in a house where I have room for one wardrobe and one chest of drawers. This is plenty of space to fit all the clothes one person needs. But if I want to maximise this space to its full potential I need all my clothes to work well with each other and for them all to be things that I would wear.
A Capsule Wardrobe Saves Time
If all your clothes go together with each other then you will save time dressing each day. Plus if you have a set of guidelines for what to add to your wardrobe then it saves time on shopping too, you know which items will work and which items simply won't go with anything.
A Capsule Wardrobe Saves Money
In a similar way to 'saving time' have a set of guidelines for what you should wear will help you save money too. You'll be much less likely to make something you would never wear or waste money on something that doesn't go with other things you own.
A Capsule Wardrobe looks Good
Whenever I have seen people with a capsule wardrobe before, it makes me think they have a 'signature style'. It certainly doesn't have to be boring either, lot's of people assume capsule wardrobe means lot's of neutrals and no colour but this couldn't be further form the truth. It just means you always wear clothes that work well together but we can talk more about this in the next post.
If you, like me, find you don't wear all the clothes you own but still don't know what to wear each day then maybe creating a capsule wardrobe it a good idea. Follow along with me over the next few weeks to pick up some ideas of where to start. Zoe x
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