My summer Ten Item Wardrobe.

'Liberate Yourself with The Ten-Item Wardrobe' is the title of one of the chapters in Lessons from Madame Chic, a lovely little book by Jennifer L Scott.  I have mentioned before on the blog, that I have been trying to have less 'stuff' in general and, in particular, been aiming for the capsule wardrobe over the past couple of years.

I have literally culled my wardrobe, cleared out the clutter, filled bin bags to go to charity and also sold some of the better things and she is so right - it is very liberating!

So with a bit of experimentation and trials (Me-Made-May helped a lot with this too) I have decided on my ten item wardrobe for summer 2014.  These are the core items of trousers, skirts, dresses and blouses.  This doesn't include extras like t-shirts, cardigans, jackets, coats, special dresses (for events or functions). They include a mixture of handmade and rtw items.  I would have liked to have had all hand made items, but time just didn't permit and we have to be realistic.

So without further ado:

Ten Core Items are:

1 skirt:  Handmade Deer and Doe Chardon (cotton print)
3 trousers:  MeandEm sand chinos
                  Toast sailor type trousers.
                  Handmade grey linen trousers Tessuti Laura pant.
3 blouses All handmade Simplicity pattern 1806 (in Nani Iro Peaceful Cooing fabric)
                                   Merchant & Mills Camber top (in Nani Iro double gauze fabric)
                                   Banksia top sewing pattern (in Liberty Travelling Threads tana lawn fabric)

3 dresses Handmade Lisette Portfolio Dress (in Amy Butler Cameo fabric)
                               Endless summer tunic (in red Brussels Washer fabric) Was wearing it so not                                  in photo.
                               MeandEm light denim shift dress.

As you can see, my colours are mostly blues with some beige and red.  I put all my winter clothes away and my wardrobe is so lovely and free.  I have actually been doing this since the beginning of June and it totally works.  The extras help in terms of flexibility and practicalities of getting laundry done.  I hope this wardrobe will carry me through until early September.

The extras

Beige merino cardigan (Meandem)
Blue merino Coco 'sweater' (Tilly & the buttons)
Pale blue cardigan (fatface)
Selection of tees and sleeveless tops (mostly handmade)

Also navy jacket (not photographed) ByHandLondon Victoria Blazer (seen in this post)

Lightweight water repellent coat (Matalan)

Merchant & Mills Landgate coat (work in progress)

Incidentally, this (the extras section) is where you might want to spend most of your budget, for example, a good coat (maybe more winter appropriate) which could potentially last several years, you could spend less on your ten core items as they are more likely to change from season to season, especially if you are trend conscious.

Like I say I have been doing this for a month now and I love it so far.  Will I be fed up with it all by September... time will tell.  It is still very much in the experimental phase.  Jennifer Scott advocates wearing your ten item wardrobe all the time, like even doing housework etc and protecting it all by wearing an apron.  As most of my housework is outside in the garden growing vegetables and plants, I am afraid I do change into my 'duds'  and I also have my exercise clothing.

So, at the risk of sounding smug (this may backfire on me), as I have decided on my summer wardrobe in June.... what now?  As someone who loves sewing and knitting will it just stop? I don't think so.

It gives me a reason to:
a.  Make clothes for other family members (Already do that a bit)
b.  Try my hand at bag making, there are so many great patterns out there.
c.  Do more knitting than I have been of late.
d.  Try my hand at more ambitious sewing projects, like coat-making, trousers and jackets.
e.  Plan the autumn winter wardrobe (too much?  Perhaps, but you got to start some time!)
f.  Apron making
g.  Have had one 'learn to crochet' class, can continue with that.

So plenty of scope.  Why not give it a try.  There is no doubt that if you decide to do this, you must love all your ten items, they must be great colours, style & fit and, of course, it must work for you and the way you live your life.  This is not the only way of looking at it, there are lots of blogs and ideas about downsizing and capsule wardrobes - I just happened to like this one.

You can read more on the 'Ten Item Wardrobe' way of thinking (amongst other things) on dailyconnoisseur.blogspot.co.uk Her way of showing her ten item wardrobe is much more professional than mine!

Also, at the beginning of the year I enjoyed doing the Wardrobe Architect series by Coletterie.  This helped me ascertain styles and shapes I like.

The ten item wardrobe and the Yasmin Yoke Skirt

Over the past couple of years I have been attempting to have less 'stuff' in general and certainly in the clothing area of my life.  I am afraid I will have to admit that I have been and still am excessive in the amount of clothes I have, but I like clothes and I like variety. However, I am not alone in desiring the perfect capsule wardrobe especially as people are becoming increasingly aware of being eco conscious and minimising harmful effects on the environment.  There are a lot of books, blogs and websites supporting and encouraging these ideals, some even going as far as getting rid of their cars and living in tiny houses.  Whilst this interests me, I don't know if I could really take it that far.  However, the more I read about minimalist living, the more I like the sound of it and I have come to the conclusion that more clothes perhaps equates to less style.

Liberate Yourself with the ten item wardrobe....10?  Yes 10!

One very motivating book is Lessons from Madame Chic by Jennifer L Scott.  Amongst a whole lot of other ideas one major part of her book is the 10 item wardrobe.  This is where every season you review your clothing and select 10 main items,  this consists of skirts, trousers, dresses, sweaters and blouses.  You are also 'allowed' outside of this 'extras' which are things like jersey tops, cardigans, jackets, fancier dresses and shoes.  I love the ideas and yet it's so simple, in fact, it's really how I remember my mum and her sisters dressing when I was young (in the 70's and 80's) when people had less stuff because that's how far the budget went.  However, the premise of Jennifer's idea is that, where possible, buy the best that you can afford.  So if you are to do this and have a ten item wardrobe (or even 20) you would want to be sure that you loved every item and it really suited you in both style and colour. The results are that there is no more wondering what to put on in the morning, every item in your wardrobe should go with all the other items and your wardrobe is neat and clutter free. Yea!

Whenever I decided to do all this, I also started sewing my own clothes mainly to try and get clothes that fit me better.  So minimalism is not easy when you sew, well there is so much lovely fabric out there.  However, I have sold nearly 50 items on ebay and given a lot away to charity so that's a good start.  I have also been doing the Wardrobe Architect exercises from the Colette patterns website which has been great.  So, on paper, this is my twelve item wardrobe for spring 2014 (well it doesn't have to be 10 exactly!)

2 skirts
Trousers 1 wide leg trousers, 1 cigarette trousers
Perfect fit jeans
2 sweaters
2 blouses
3 dresses

Will I be able to stick to this?  Honestly I doubt it, but I am going to really try.  I am pretty sure there are a lot of lovely spring/summer sewing patterns about to be released and I know I won't be able to resist.

So I think I may have made one of my items on my list now... one of the skirts.  It is the Yasmin Yoke skirt by Maria Denmark and I am very pleased with it.

It is a slightly A line skirt with two hip pockets and an invisible zip closure at the back.  I have had the pattern for ages, but only getting around to making it now.  It was a quick and straightforward make.  I used a darkish blue denim for this.

Yasmin Yoke skirt worn with Deer and Doe blouse.

It was only my second invisible zip and it went in very well.

Can you see the zip?  Ha ha.

So I guess if I am to have two skirts in my spring attire, they have to be a great style for me and suit my life and I think the Yasmin works for me.  Just have to get the rest of the items sorted now.