Welcome back to the capsule wardrobe series, we are nearly there! We've had a think about what works well on your body, what colours you like and which clothes fit your lifestyle. Now it is time to take stock of what you've already got and figure out the gaps in your wardrobe.
Make a List
I have made a visual list of all the things that I consider part of my capsule wardrobe already. I had lots of fun making this collage of them for you too! But obviously you can achieve the same goal by just writing a list of what you have. It is probably a good idea when you do this to split your list into a few groups - it will make it easier to work out where your gaps are. Tops and bottoms should go into separate groups and have another group for dresses (and playsuits and jumpsuits can squeeze into this group too). Then you can have other groups of accessories, shoes, outer layers etc as necessary.
I have included 3 items that are not handmade, I don't see the point in excluding 'ready to wear' clothes that fit perfectly into your capsule wardrobe. We don't want to be wasteful just for the sake of it, plus most of these ideas apply to RTW clothes just as much as handmade ones. When they get to a stage where they don't fit, have too many holes or are unwearable for some other reason though I probably will replace them by making a new version. That said I can't knit (yet) so all my cardigans will be bought from the shop for the foreseeable future. This is what I have so far:
Tops
Stripey Plantain Tee*
Gingham Peplum Top
Mini Cherry Mimi Blouse
Chambray Shirt (RTW)*
Red Cardigan (RTW)*
Bottoms
Tartan Circle Skirt
Denim Delphine Skirt*
Red Circle Skirt
Jeans (RTW)*
Dresses (and a playsuit)
Tartan Lilou Dress
Tartan Holly Playsuit
Stripey Plantain Dress*
I have a couple of other handmade items I could add into the mix (i.e my chambray dress and my half circle skirt) but if I am truthful I don't wear these very often because they need ironing every 5 minutes. They're still in my wardrobe for now but mostly go unworn. This is something to think about when you choose your fabrics.
Pattern vs Plain
For a capsule wardrobe to work we need to have a good mix of pattern and plain. I have starred all the items on my list that I consider to be a basic, i.e they're made from a plain or relatively plain pattern. About half of my list is in this category so this works well for doing lot's of mixing and matching. Have a look at your list and see what you have, lots of pattern? All plain? Maybe only few 'basics'? Think about what you need more of.
What do you need more of?
Now that you have written your list, grouped them and figured out if you need more pattern or plain it is much easier to see where the gaps in your wardrobe are. My groups are fairly even (I've been working on this for a while) and I have quite a few basics and non-basics to add some interest. But I know for sure that I need some more tops. I normally only wear a top once before washing it but my bottoms I will wear a couple of times so they last much longer (this is normal right?). So for now I need to make a few more tops and then maybe a basic dress or two. What about you? What do you need to make next?
Next week I'll have a look at some ways to mix and match what you have got to make new outfits. See you then. Zoe
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