Summer Spring-Clean | The Button Jar
Before the Sort-Out
It’s certainly been a minute since I last posted anything and, while I do plan to catch up on my monthly journals (yes, all eight months), right now, I’m deep in a spring-clean frame of mind. So before we dive back into the more distant past, let’s take a brief paddle in the shallows of this weekend just gone.
Spring Sort-Out
I’ve recently been in a bit of a sewing funk, which, I think is because I’ve fallen into a pattern of making the next NEWEXCITING thing, instead of being clear-minded about what I need. There’s nothing wrong with that type of excited impulse, but I think for me it has to be in balance. When that joyous impulsiveness isn’t teamed with the simpler satisfaction of having to hand the things that I actually need, it becomes a bit hollow.
So, this weekend I decided to do a proper sort out of my wardrobe. I’ve sequestered off my remaining everyday RTW bits (very old merinos and worn-out tees that are useful for gardening/camping, activewear, that sort of thing) and put them into a separate drawer. And I’ve given a hard look at the garments that I’ve been holding onto for too long, or for the wrong reasons, or because I overestimate my capacity and desire for refashioning.
My total wardrobe on Stylebook.
I’m not just, however, sorting out things that I want to keep and things that I want to pass on; I’m doing a full inventory of what I actually have and where are the holes that need filling. I’ve used the Stylebook app to do this, photographing each garment and loading it into the app. (For clarity, I’m recording just the garments that I can make outfits from, whether that’s day-to-day looks or more special, dressed-up outfits.) I’ve found that this process has been a very good way of getting a realistic account of what I actually have, instead of what I think I have.
The overview
I have 62 garments in my wardrobe, excluding shoes, intimates, activewear, shoes etc. At first blush this seems like a lot and, frankly, it is. It’s a real privilege to have a wardrobe so brim-full of options. And while this is true, there are also adjustments want to make. Breaking the 62 down a bit further, there are some weighting issues—too many things here, not enough there—that I’ll go into more depth shortly. So, this feels like a good place to be at for me. I want to add some more bits (see below) and, while I do have a lot already, it feels like a reasonable decision for to still do some adjusting.
Coats and Jackets
One very exciting thing to see is that of the 60ish garments in my wardrobe, only 10 are RTW. This feels super-cool. The RTW pieces that are there are really special pieces: my elopement dress; the coat I wore all through Europe when my husband and I did our OE in 2012; a beautiful silk tee-shirt, French-seamed throughout, that he gave me as a gift; a leather jacket I had on layby F-O-R-E-V-E-R while I paid it off and worn on the regular since 2011; a boiled-wool poncho bought in a vintage clothing shop in Lido. I think of these as receptacles of memories, treasures that will stay with me for a long while yet.
Here’s what else I found…
The full complement
I have a ridiculous amount of woven tees. Like, truly. I have enough woven tees to see me through to the end of time, for the stars to drift far apart, for the universe to collapse, and for everything to start again.. … Okay. I might be exaggerating a bit. I have nine woven tees, but this is aside from the five button-ups I also have. Of the tees, six are Scout Tees, there are two Kabuki Tees, and one RTW. Oh, and there’s a Willow Tank in there, too. That is e-n-o-u-g-h for now. So, if you see me making another woven tee in the near future, please, just slap the fabric out of my hands. You’ll be doing me a favour.
I’m also pretty good for dresses. I have ten dresses (including five special-occasion dresses) four of which will be good for daily summer wear. Buuut, dresses are always fair-game for impulse-makes so, while I don’t need any at the moment, I don’t intend to rule them out.
And, as for the coats and jackets department, while I have a healthy complement of nine, I live in a city that never fails to bring the chill, even in mid-summer. Also, I adore making coats and jackets. Love it. Given these circumstances, from the making to the wearing, a variety of coats and jackets is a real mood-lift, so, as with dresses, I’m not ruling further versions out.
(To spare me from overwhelm, I’m going to reassess my jumpers/sweaters/cardis department closer to next winter. For the record, though, I have 11 garments in that department.)
Wardrobe Holes and Summer Goals
While I’ve been making all these woven tees, I have let a few wardrobe holes develop, and particularly need some things for the approaching warm weather.
I have three cotton knit tees and, coming into summer, I would like a couple or few more.
I have four skirts, all of which are kind of floaty and/or dressy, but really miss having a casual, hard-wearing mini-skirt, so I plan to make a hacked Moss Skirt. I want to move the zip to the back, and I plan to straighten it so it’s less A-line.
I’ve got four pairs of pants: two jeans, one slacks, one pants. For the next few months, I’m going to be at my desk working on my PhD, a lot. To avoid falling into wearing leggings every day, I plan to make at least a couple of pairs of flat-front, elastic-back pants, like the Pietra Pants or the Emerson Pants.
I probably need a pair of shorts. I have one pair, but with summer theoretically approaching, I would like an extra. However, this is lower priority; I’m not a huge shorts-wearer.
Although not included in the above tally, while I’ve got enough pyjamas for now, they’re bordering on feral. So, I’d like to make a plan to replace the grosser bits.
While I do not need any woven tees, I do plan to make one or two light, cotton shirts that I can put over outfits to keep Aotearoa’s brutal summer sun off my skin.
And there’s always space for another jumpsuit. Agreed? Agreed.
Well, phew! That all looks quite aspirational. Time will tell how much of this list I actually get around to making. (Probably not a lot.) For now, though, it has given me a little more focus for the coming seasons.
But What Will I WEAR?!
The Stylebook calendar
Probably the most important piece to this puzzle, of course, is seeing how much I am wearing what’s now in my newly-refreshed wardrobe. I’m going to use the Stylebook app to track my outfits on the daily. In the app, you’re able to create looks and load them into a calendar; the app then keeps a tally of what and how often things are worn. At least at first, I want to make sure that I’m using what I have at a reasonable level and, at the end of autumn, reassess what I’m wearing, what I’m not, and why that might be the case. I might look at doing some capsule closet challenges at some point, but for now I’m going to keep it to making a record.
Thanks for reading along on this little journey into my wardrobe! Got any hot tips for best-practice wardrobe management? I’d love to hear them!
After the sort-out: clean, tidy and fabulous!
