This, combined with a Martha Stewart book that I LOVED and made my husband buy me but haven't utilized yet (Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts), I've been inspired to start tailoring clothing on top of making my own clothing and "fabric crafts."
Anyway, the main thing that I wanted to address in this post is wardrobing. Most of us have issues with too much stuff, and possibly on top of it, nothing to wear. I have another book similarly titled.
I have this issue in part because I have gone through so many sizes and styles in the past 6 or so years. Six years ago, I was a size 4 or 6 in women's clothing as I was constantly doing extreme sports, working out, etc, and I had not yet had any children. I was 20 years old, for crying out loud! I hadn't even started DRINKING (for the most part), and I never drank soda or ate much junk food. Then, I started cracking down on schooling, moved into dorms with someone that ate lots of packaged foods (and indulged with them), etc, and I gained my "freshman 15" a couple of years late... It was my "junior 30." So, I have some 6's, 8's, and 10's. A couple more years go by, and I have my first kid. 10's, 12's, and 14's, not to mention the med-xlarge maternity clothes. Second kid, and I'm back down to the 10's and 12's. Wow, that's a lot of clothes, in a lot of styles, going through a lot of years and sizes! And I'm sure I didn't have any kind of color scheme going on, or put any thought into "basics," especially when I was keeping items for use later. So... What to wear? Well, I have 2 closets with clothes that no longer fit in half of them, my normal closet which has half maternity, half random clothes that fit, and some clothes that need to be pulled out of storage in the laundry room, laundered, and dug through to see what they are. That's a lot of clothes, and I have... well, NOTHING to WEAR!
So, posting on a combination of the books I've read about wardrobes:
The heart of a wardrobe is the activities that you will need clothes for, plus a category for "basics."
Thus:
- Get a piece of paper for each family member, and make a list of activities, adding a "basics" category.
- Inventory current items and list them in their appropriate category. Make sure to check the sizes of the clothing items, especially when there is weight loss/gain or when it is a child, and get anything that doesn't fit OUT of the closet/wardrobe. If necessary, try the items on. You can also make a list and just put the letter of the category next to the item, if that works better for you; also, if you're crazy like me, you can color-code the categories and highlight the items in correspondence.
- Check who in the family needs what NOW and make a 'running list.' This way, when you go shopping, you'll know what you're looking for, and you won't buy blindly, making for a wardrobe that doesn't work as well as spending more than you need to. You'll be happier in the longrun without the sweater that doesn't actually go with anything else in your closet, especially if you bought some shells or other basics that you needed instead.
- Streamline the colors in your wardrobe. Make a scheme for each person. Most pieces will fall into the color scheme so that you know your future buys will be useful; you'll know ahead of time that the aforementioned sweater really isn't you, or really won't have options to wear with it.
- Choose a neutral color for each family member's wardrobe that goes with the color scheme, and get matching accessories in this color, such as shoes, belts, etc. That doesn't mean you can't have other colors, but this way, you'll always have something that "goes" with what you pull out of the wardrobe. In fact, when the books talk about small items being what you should buy in bright or trendy colors, I include shoes, because I love colorful/patterned shoes. That's just me, and it's probably unnecessary and expensive, but that's what I love!
- Choose items that can multi-task into different categories or can double-duty seasons with different add-ons and accessories.
- Choose classics, especially with high price items like suits. A classic black, blue, or brown suit will take you far. No one will notice you wear the same suit every week to a meeting or to church, especially if you swap out colorful shirts, scarves, ties, hankies, etc, and it will look good for anything you need a suit for.
