Monday, April 25, 2016

My Wardrobe Architect Journey - Intro

Have you seen the Wardrobe Architect blog series?  It was originally from 2014, and those are the posts I'm following.  You can read all about it here:


I decided..."Oh hey...I may as well just go ahead and blog my way through it."  It will get me writing again, and there is so much in my head I've wanted to write about...the biggest of course, is Micah's birth.   It's been 9 weeks..and I haven't written a word.  I really regret not doing it when it was fresh...but I just couldn't...I couldn't organize my thoughts the whole thing was just. so. overwhelmingly amazing.  It was crazy, and pointed me straight to The Lord every step of the way.  So...that's for another day.  Hopefully my brain will organize itself enough to write something.  I really want it written down so I can look back at it in the future. 

Annnnnnnd.....on to The Wardrobe Architect.... Week 1....Edit:  Actually...INTRO....because I ramble so much I decided to make my week 1 homework a separate post.

I should also mention that I'm already ripping things out of my closet this morning, after reading about 4x4 wardrobes, and as far as capsules go...this seems to make the most sense to me.  I've always looked at capsule wardrobes before and not known HOW to do that.  If you google 4x4 wardrobe, you'll see what I mean, but here are two examples (and thankfully the source information is right there from the screen capture I grabbed from Pinterest...so I don't have to figure out how to source that!)


4 x 4 Wardrobe....fabulous in my eyes right now.  It's like a clothing "Aha!" moment.   I just found this yesterday.  While these styles and colours aren't for me, the top one is close...just close enough that I took a closer look and did a happy dance.  I feel like I can actually put together a wardrobe this way.   So...the 4x4 wardrobe will be my quick fix, that I can start on, while I work through the Wardrobe Architect series...and perhaps even do some sewing. 

So...this morning...right after feeding Micah, and while still drinking my coffee....with the kids sitting at the kitchen table eating Cheerios and Rice Krispies (judge me for that another day, OK?  ...today you can judge me for how bad I am at clothing myself), I pulled out everything hanging in my closet...and except for a few things in the wash (one pair of jeans, really...I think that's it other than lounging around home or sleeping clothes)  this is my wardrobe. 

You might not notice the biggest problem unless you're me.    

You see...I love, but rarely wear dresses....  I wear capris, or long shorts in summer...

Here's the picture I snapped of my clothes piled on my bed, and sorted into categories.

It's made me realize that I can't dress nicely, because I don't really have much of what I need.  Most of the long sleeve shirts are old and kind of ratty now,  or they're athletic wear....  I have a lot of dresses... far more than one who rarely wears them needs...I've got like....6 or 7!  and several skirts.  I have a lot of sweaters?!?!?!  why?!?!?    I have one pair of jeans in the washer that I don't love, but bought out of desperation, and the two pairs shown here on the right are both maternity, and they. must. go.   Too bad, because I loved them. 

And here's the clincher...    remember how I said I mostly wear things like capris in the summer....

Yep...ONE pair of old and poorly fitting capris that I don't really care for...but pulled them out of the donation bag (they're still in good shape), because I am still bigger post baby, and I had to go scrounging for something to put on when the weather suddenly turned hot 2 weeks ago. 

So...unless I want to only wear cardigans and dresses that don't match each other at all....I have some serious work to do. 

Where will I source my new clothes?  Well, my clothing budget right now is limited, but I did give myself a small one.    I plan on mixing it up between buying new, thrift store shopping, and sewing my own.  

I hope to stop shopping for quick fix junky clothes and spend a bit more on quality that will look nice and fit well.   When thrift store shopping, I'll be searching for those nuggets of gold, and I will not settle! (talking to myself here...repeat after me...do not settle).   And when sewing my own, which I'm SEW EXCITED about (snort), I hope to have some fun, learn some new skills, and experiment.

Well, that wraps up my enthusiastic explosion of excitement.  Let's do this!