WT Wrap-Up

Ok, I know I’m the class dunce and got an F- for Wardrobe Therapy (evidence = I’m wearing my PJs as I type), but I’m going to do a wrap-up post anyway. In keeping with my class dunce status, I have copied the format from Mella, who herself copied it from Wende (see, I’m the class snitch, too).

My Look
I can’t quite define this yet, but I do know that, overall, what I have in my wardrobe is OK, but not quite there. I feel a bit dweeby in most of it, and want to dress a bit more… what is the word here?… not flamboyant, nor fun, nor sexy, but maybe a muted mix of all three. (Although you have to understand that I’m starting from the point of owning more than one ankle-length tweed skirt, a fact which, I believe, qualifies me for the nearest nunnery all by itself.)

Another factor to consider is that, throughout the WT period (I can’t say ‘process’, as I did not really proceed as such), I have had a growing yearning for all things vintage. In my heart, I would like the whole world to adopt 1940’s fashions so that I could, too, without standing out. The truth is that I have a vintage face and a vintage figure and crave a bit of the everyday glamour I associate with the 1930s and ’40s (my dream fashion book may well be Make Do and Mend). Being an historian, I could easily get away with going whole-heartedly vintage, and it wouldn’t do my career one bit of harm - it might even do it some good, as my client profile tends to veer towards the eccentric at times - but I don’t want to embrace it to that extent, because I’m just not a fanatical-enough type of person. Instead, I’m going to continue to work out how to adopt the best bits of ’30s and ’40s fashions without resorting to drawing lines up the backs of my legs with eyeliner pencil.

My Joyous Colours
Thanks to WT, I can now lump all these together in a single group. It may be impossibly romantic of me, but the colours I love are the colours you would find in an unspoilt corner of Merrie England on a typical mythical day in June - green rolling hills, muted purple heather, fluffy cream sheep, perhaps a little green pond buzzing with teal dragonflies, the red of a cricket ball… (if, at this point you’d like to join me in a rousing chorus of Jerusalem, do feel free)… the delicate apricot-pink of a cool glass of Pimm’s, slate grey thunder clouds approaching on yonder horizon, a rich brown cowpat, et cetera, et cetera…

My Shapes
My ideal shapes are more shapely than those currently in my wardrobe. Trinny and Susannah have recently extended their original definitions to include a lot more shapes. I have discovered I am a cello (sort of a pear-shape but with a bust, but not balanced enough to qualify as an hourglass), but have done nothing with the information. I only mention it because I am happier being a musical instrument than a grainy fruit. I need to do some more work on this, but I suspect my answers will involve waist-shaping, darts and knee-length skirts.

My Patterns and Textures
I’m more into textures than patterns, especially in winter. Patterns are good for summer skirts and dresses, but during the winter I want solid colours and great fabrics. I would like most of the interest in my clothes to be provided by texture. This is something I’m going to be playing with in my monthly outfits (and if I manage to pull it off, January’s outfit is going to be a doozy in this respect).

My Fibers
This one is easy. They’ve got to be as natural as possible. Pure wools, cottons and silks. I’m not ruling out synthetics completely, but I’d rather have the real thing. It feels more alive. And has a reasonable chance of biodegrading.

My Level of Maintenance
‘Very low’ at the moment, but I’m hoping to raise this to merely ‘low’ shortly and then maybe aim for ‘moderate’. Daily maintenance has got to be minimal, but I am willing to do a bit more on the weekly and other stuff. Yesterday, I painted my toenails (deep blood red, in a style known as “tart’s toes” in this house) and dyed my hair (slightly more blonde), so I am making more of an effort.

My Sources
Again, this is easy. My main source of clothing is me! I’m going to sew and knit for England until I get the wardrobe I want.

My Personal Classics (Colder Weather Version)
I’m not sure I can answer this right now, as I haven’t yet done enough wardrobe wrangling and analysing. Dresses come into it, though, along with thick woolly tights and knee-length boots. And perhaps a fabulous hat of some kind.

My Expectation of My Clothes
My biggest revelation in this area is that I don’t have to fit my clothes; they have to fit me. I’m in charge. There is nothing wrong with my figure, but there is plenty wrong (for me) with the clothes on offer in the high street in my price range. But by making my own, to my own measurements, I might actually be able to get through a day without cursing my body for not fitting the clothes I bought for it. Once I have got dressed and gazed adoringly at myself in the mirror in the mornings, I would like to then forget about what I’m wearing and just get on with things. That’s my goal, anyway.

And finally… a small speech-ette
I couldn’t sign off WT without thanking Wende for all the time and effort she put into making it happen. Her posts have hit exactly the right note (I also think that there’s a book in it somewhere and her writing style would be perfect for such a tome). And, of course, to everyone else, hasn’t it been fun? I’ve really enjoyed seeing everyone’s progress, especially SCB (with her mad dash at the finishing line in the form of a sudden and surprising raid on the shops), Mella’s well thought out Thoughts of an Intellectual Who Brunches, Alana’s quiet liberation (which made me well up once or twice) and Wende’s witty, take-no-prisoners approach to the whole thing. I’m looking forward to Round 2 in the spring. I promise I’ll try not to get hospitalised next time.

December’s Outfit

It’s finished! Getting decent photos was a pain, though. I tried modelling it myself, but couldn’t find a spot in the house where I could use the timer on my camera and get decent light. The light conditions are beyond my photography know-how today. So, here are my best efforts:

This is the dress I made. It’s a dark navy moleskin fabric, but the burgundy trim makes it look slightly purple, which is good. I used a free pattern from Prima magazine (August 2007), which was actually for a short-sleeved summer dress with a long skirt. I think it looks much better on me than on the hanger - it fits really well around the bust and skims over my lumpy bits around the tummy and hips. It’s surprisingly flattering!

This is the cardigan I found in a charity shop. It’s cotton and linen and is longer at the front than at the back. The colour doesn’t seem quite right in this photo, but I think it makes a good extra layer for the dress.

To finish off, the orphan boots which have only ever been worn underneath long skirts. They are stretch ones, so look quite a lot wider once my chunky calves are inside them!

I’ve already got January’s outfit planned - it involves sewing another dress (for which I already have the fabric) and knitting something to go with it.

With that, I’m signing off until after Christmas, as we’re off to visit my parents shortly. I hope you all have a great holiday!

Creativity Resolution No.3

I’ve been umming and ahhing about this last creativity resolution, wondering if it was a bit much to take on, but with a bit of tweaking, I’ve made it doable. My aim is to create a new outfit every month. Originally it was to “make” a new outfit every month, but by changing it to “create” gives me the option of making (sewing, knitting) or buying (or a combination of the two).

Even though I have not completed Wardrobe Therapy this time around, I have had enough of a rummage to know that the majority of my clothes are uninspiring to me, to the point that I think I have identified only two Stalwart Staples. Lack of funds and feeling tired had left me a bit overwhelmed as to how I was going to deal with it. So, the aim of this resolution is to slowly and steadily make things better.

My only rule (other than having to like the outfit) is that it must be a complete head-to-toe job, ready to walk out of the house in. That means shoes and accessories, too. I’ve got a head start on this one, and should be unveiling December’s outfit shortly. I’m just finishing off a dress made out of fabric I had lying around, using a free pattern from a magazine. I am trimming it with bias binding to match a pair of orphan boots which never get an outing. While I was out buying said bias binding, I popped into a charity shop and found the perfect cardigan to match. So, unless I really mess up trimming the sleeves and hem, I should have a whole new outfit for the princely sum of £5.25.

So, to sum up this resolution, you should expect a photo of a new outfit every month, starting very soon.

Wardrobe Therapy Mind Map

I have a wee gift for my fellow WT-ers. The mind map below is a summary of all Wende’s Wardrobe Therapy posts and is designed to provide an overview of the whole process. I’m a fanatical mind-mapper and use them all the time in my work, but if you don’t know what I’m talking about, Wikipedia has a good overview of the concept.

I originally did this mind map because I’m going to have to start from the beginning in the New Year, without Wende’s RSS feed popping up with the next task. I have no idea whether anyone will find this useful, but any feedback (corrections or anything else) would be most welcome.

(Click on the image to download the pdf - I haven’t tested this on a PC, only a Mac, so I hope it works!)

Creativity Resolution No.2

They’re coming thick and fast! This one was easy to come up with and, after much thought, I think it’s a goodie and will not interfere too much with my plans to sleep in 2008. In fact, it might help, because it involves fresh air and fresh veggies.

My second resolution is to get our allotment up and running and bursting with stuff to eat. A particularly good thing about this resolution is that it’s a joint project with my husband. We got our allotment last year, after some time on the waiting list, but it was a wash out in many ways. Firstly, we only took possession of it after the main sowing season, so were restricted in what we could grow. Secondly, I was really busy with rebuilding the kitchen and didn’t have much time to spare. Thirdly - and this is the literal wash-out - the whole site flooded really badly over the summer and drowned most of what we had grown. Hopefully this won’t be repeated this year. Last summer was a bit of a freak weather event here in the UK. Our area was much less hard hit with flooding than many others, but it was still very, very soggy.

This is what the allotment looked like when we took it over (we’re Plot 5):

Now, it looks a complete weed-strewn mess and needs a lot of work, but it is a good size - not so big as to be overwhelming, but big enough to be productive. I’ll have to start on the planting plan soon, though, so we don’t miss out on the spring season.

Creativity Resolution No.1

Not content with merely whipping our wardrobes into shape, Wende has now thrown down another gauntlet - Creativity Resolutions. So here I am, rising to the challenge. (It’s not that much of a challenge, really, as I have been pondering such things recently and have almost completed my annual Mind Map of things I would like to do over the coming year.)

I have an idea for three creativity resolutions, but need to think about the second and third ones a bit more, just to check I’m not trying to do too much. A lot of my thinking over the past few weeks has been about how I can learn to chill out a bit. I tend to be a bit over-ambitious; while it serves me well some of the time (vide my new kitchen), as a general way of life, it’s all a bit knackering. Next year, I would like to sleep more.

Anyway, without further ado, my first Creativity Resolution is that I am going to start keeping a scrapbook. I don’t mean the type of scrapbook Alana enjoys creating (and which I suspect may be popping up in her resolutions, now she has an organised space in which to do it, hmm?), but something more Old School. I’m more of a ’snip it out and slap it down’ person, anyway, and I thought it would be fun to fill a scrapbook with whatever takes my fancy - images, newspaper cuttings, sketches, squashed objects from nature, and what have you. It would serve no other purpose than allowing my magpie tendencies a little outing. Also, I like cutting things out wonkily with scissors and using glue sticks and, since leaving primary school, decent excuses for doing so have been few and far between.

One problem I have encountered, though, is that it seems virtually impossible to buy a scrapbook of the type I’m after. If you search for ’scrapbook’ in Google, it come up with all sorts of archival quality stuff. The whole scrapbooking industry is really big business, it seems. I just want an old-fashioned sugar paper one, mainly because I like the texture but also because the cheapness does away with Pristine Blank Page Syndrome. I don’t care that it’s acidic and will yellow my cuttings and eat away at my ink. Anyway, should my scrapbook, through some bizarre turn of fate, ever find it’s way into the vaults of the British Library, I want the archivists to work hard for their money. Enough of them have irritated the hell out of me over the years (as I have them) that it seems fitting to leave their profession an acidic, decaying (and, while I’m indulging this fantasy, may I add priceless) manuscript to deal with. So, the mission is on to hunt down the most non-archival scrapbook available. It’s out there somewhere.

Thank you

Many apologies - in my haste to return to the real world, I completely forgot to say a big thank you to everyone who posted ‘get well soon’ comments while I was under the duvet.  It was really lovely of you all. Thank you!

Hello, world!

My brain has slowly switched itself back on over the last couple of days. I’m still quite tired, but the pain is much better and I’m beginning to feel more like my usual self. So much so, in fact, that I’m having to fight off random urges to work, reupholster furniture, mitre bits of skirting board, climb hills and generally do things that Susies do when they are awake. Fortunately, various factors are stopping me from indulging in such craziness, such as the fact that I’m still liable to come over all wobbly at a moment’s notice, it’s very cold outside and my clients are refusing point blank to let me work until after Christmas (although they all say they have lots of work for me then, which is good). I’ve also got quite used to naps.

One thing I have been doing over the last couple of days is making a dress.This is about the only physical progress for Wardrobe Therapy that I’m likely to make this time around. I did attempt to do a bit on accessories earlier in the week, in that I got out my jewellery box, untangled everything, felt overwhelmed and then put it all away again. I really need to start from the beginning, but won’t be able to do that for a while, as in order to sort out the pile of stuff crammed in my wardrobe, I need to be able to bend down and my head is still not happy about being upside down.

Nevertheless, the past few weeks have brought a fair few insights. Spending three weeks in PJs and with greasy hair (due to stitches in head and no-going-upside-down and no-water-in-ear rules) is enough to get a girl thinking about upping her sartorial game. Having quiet, no-internet time has also given me space to reflect. My main conclusion was that I need to have more quiet, no-internet time even when I’m not poorly, but I also had an epiphany or two.

Epiphany No.1

I’m going to stop worrying about my weight. Two chance discoveries prompted this one. Both were old lists of my measurements and weight, one found in an old notebook and the other tucked inside my CMB colours wallet (I’m a Rebellious Light Spring for anyone interested - rebellious because I take no notice of it whatsoever). The thing that astonished me, but probably wouldn’t anyone who has known me for a while, was that both lists were nearly identical to the weight/measurements I am now. I’ve been secretly thinking I need to diet before I ‘deserve’ a good wardrobe (and a whole lot of other things), but now I’m throwing that to the wind. This is obviously the size and shape that genetics and my choice of baked goods have bestowed on me. OK, my BMI is a little high (but apparently BMI is a load of tosh), but my fat is in the right places (i.e. not around my waist, smothering my internal organs) and I’m healthy, so I’m going to learn to be happy with this and make/buy clothes that fit me now. Hence the dressmaking I started this week.

Epiphany No.2

I’m blonde, so must deal with it. I’ve always been uncomfortable being naturally blonde (the jokes, the stereotypes…) but recently I have been even more uncomfortable being naturally slightly less blonde. The bits of my hair that have seen brief spurts of summer sun over the last few years are still very blonde, but the rest of it has gone kind of mousey. I have resisted dyeing it, because then I would be unnaturally blonde (even more jokes, even more stereotypes…). However, my quiet time gave me space to look at it from a purely aesthetic point of view and realise that being artificially blonde is much better than having weird two-tone hair. So I have bought a packet of Nice’n'Easy dye and will be bleaching away as soon as my stitches and ear will allow.