Back to School = Back to Sewing!!! Vote Keep/Refashion/Donate

August turned out to be a very very busy month with the kids and the family. I only sewed ONE THING and it turned out to be a fail that needs fixing. Boooo! Anyway, now that the kids are back in school, I have a little breathing room for myself to sew again! Yay!

This month will be a busy month for sewing because there are a number of things that I MUST SEW for my kids. My daughter wants a new pencil case, the kids want t-shirts with their age applique on them for photo day, hubby wants me to alter his shirt, I have tonnes of things of my own that needs altering, etc. Not exactly the most fun or creative month for sewing but probably very productive.

I'm also cleaning out the different piles of 'things' on the floor of my sewing nook. I couldn't find my swimsuit fabric so I didn't make a new swimsuit as I had planned a month ago. I say 'pile of things' because there seems to be scrap fabrics mixed with made garments that require fixing/refashioning in the same pile.

First up, this sparkle knit cowl neck dress that I made years ago from a New Look Pattern. I thought I had donated it already! It fits fine except the cowl doesn't seem to drape right so I just wear it off 1 shoulder slightly. I don't have any fancy places to go so I don't know what I should do with it. What do you think: 1) keep as it; 2) refashion it to something else; or 3) donate it to a charity shop?

Wardrobe Cleanse - Goodbye self-made clothes!

I had not forgotten my rant late last year about the ridiculous amount of clothes I have in my wardrobe.  So last month I went through my wardrobe item by item, and took out the things that just weren't quite right. Many of them were self-made or self-refashioned clothing. I took pictures of the ones I really liked and then I put them into a big bag for donation. These are some of the items that are in the bag:

Refashioned Art Silk sari shirt - This is one of the first refashioning projects I did. I thrifted a length of art silk (faux silk) sari from a market in the UK and sewed a shirt with it. I used the gilded portion of the sari to make the cuffs and the covered buttons. I loved and wore it often and got loads of compliments for it. Alas, it just never fit right after having kids. It's too short and too tight around the chest. Too bad.....

Cotton gauze tunic - I made this very thin cotton gauze tunic from a Prima UK magazine pattern from 2001 (I think?). I loved it but it was a hassle to wear it because it's really almost transparent even with a white camisole under it. Not particularly practical to wear especially with kids.

Faux wrap knit top - I made 3 tops from the same New Look 6729 in different coloured knits. This is my least favourite. The fit is fine but the brownish pattern looks awful for my skin tone. It makes me look a bit dirty. So bye bye!

 Quilted Cotton shirt - I got this pinkish/salmon coloured quilted cotton off cuts from the cheapy bin and made a button down shirt with Butterick 4609. I quite like it but it's tight at the bust unfortunately. I should just do an FBA on the pattern and make some new shirts.

 2 Wool blend A-line skirts - I made 2 skirts for work with Simplicity 8550. They were well used before I had kids but now they fit strangely around the abdomen. Too bad! They were good quality wool too....

White linen drawstring shorts - I made these with the tried and true Butterick 5044. But white, see-through linen shorts with kids? Not a good idea really....

Silk floral top - I thrifted this silk floral dress that was too long and loose on me. I refashioned it into a dress that fit me. Then a year later I cut it off even more to make a top. However, every time I wore it, my hubby would comment on how matronly it looked on me. So bye!

Wool suit jacket - I made this Vogue 8137 jacket with a beautiful blue green tropical wool fabric. It's now too short and too tight around the chest. Also, the neckline is not flattering for my short neck. I could refashion it but I thought perhaps someone else can benefit from a fairly well-made wool blend jacket when I donate it. I also made matching straight leg pants that I am keeping.

So these are some of the items that I am donating. This is my little goodbye to each of the items. I hope they will go to a good home.....:-(

Wardrobe Stash Cleansing - the Plan

Since ranting about wanting to pare down my wardrobe to a sustainable level a few days ago, I decided to set a self-challenge: to cleanse something from my wardrobe stash every week between now and the end of the year. To accomplish this challenge, I need to put a plan in place.

First, I will deal with just the Fall/Winter garments and accessories. I will lay out all the wintry items, photograph them, and wear different items each day for the next month to test their wear-ability. I will then evaluate each items in with the following questions:

1. Does it fit?
2. Is it comfortable?
3. Is it warm?
4. Is it practical for day to day purpose (e.g. driving, grocery shopping, taking care of young children, running after children, carrying heavy loads, cooking, etc)?
5. Is it beautiful?
6. Does it have great sentimental value (e.g. given to me by a special person, me-made items that took lots of sweat and tears, etc)?

I think I'll probably falter at the last question regarding sentimentality since most of my wardrobe consists of me-made items. Perhaps I will end up purging all the store purchased stuff from my wardrobe once and for all! LOL!

Also, once I have catalogued all the items in the wardrobe, I will be shocked at the actual volume and be shamed into purging at least some of them.

I have called a couple of local charity shops and sadly they have confirmed that they would sometimes throw away donated items that didn't have tags on them. They said that the tagged items (especially the known brands like H&M, Gap, Zara, TopShop, etc) were the ones that sell well whereas the custom made stuff (no tags) stayed on the racks forever. So they would rather not receive them. How sad! I will need to find a good home for them somehow if I do decide to purge them.