203 days of handmade clothing – The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 29
The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made.
It’s sort of a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels.
DAY 197 – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13th
Deconstructed Sweater
Not-So-Straightforward Basic Purple Sweater
Black Tank Top
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings
I’m still chipping away at my second purple sweater perfect for layering. I’m into the second sleeve, and hoping to steal a little bit of time for it this weekend – but we’ll see how that goes.
DAY 198 – SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14th
Boring Black Sweater
Black Tank Top
Black Scarf
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings
Each time I wear this sweater I consider making a second lace weight black sweater – and then remember how boring it was to knit – before deciding that (for this year) I can live with only one thin black sweater.
DAY 199 – SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15th
Boring Black Sweater
Black Tank Top
Cascading Flowers Skirt
Black Tights
Robot Clock Necklace
Various Rings
Day 199!!!
DAY 200 – MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16th
Blue & Green Archer Button Up Shirt
Black Tank Top
Black Scarf
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings
Day 200!!!!!!!!!!
Fuck yes!
It’s like day 100, but twice as good.
DAY 201 – TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17th
Deconstructed Sweater
Not-So-Straightforward Basic Purple Sweater
Black Tank Top
Black Scarf
Khaki Scarf
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings
Yes, I’m wearing two scarves. Yes, I look a little bit crazy. But at least I’m warm.
DAY 202 – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18th
Deconstructed Sweater
Versio Sweater
Black Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings
(I wore two scarves this day too…)
DAY 203 – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19th
Deconstructed Sweater
Not-So-Straightforward Basic Purple Sweater
Black Tank Top
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Brown Boots
Various Rings
(and this one.)
(and I’ll probably wear two scarves today as well.)
Here’s to 203 days of handmade clothing!!
I also wrote December’s wrap up over on the old self-made wardrobe blog. It’s here, if you want to check that out.
knitting some sleeves and hiding from the weather
Each Wednesday, I post little snippets about what’s happening, and what I’m working on.
One big lump of knitting progress this week. Sleeves!
Over the weekend I finished one sleeve of my sweater and started the second sleeve of my second “Perfect for Layering Purple Sweater.”
Other than that all of my knitting time has been focused on knitting the sample for a project I won’t be able to show you for awhile. Sad panda.
I’m crossing my fingers that I can steal a couple hours to work on that second sleeve some more – maybe this weekend.
Meanwhile, I’ve spent most of my time hiding from the cold, wearing multiple pairs of tights, and plotting more sweater knitting.
A Black Maxi Skirt – super easy to wear, damn hard to photograph
At the beginning of the self-made wardrobe project there were a couple of days when I would make a new piece of clothing in the morning, and then wear it out that afternoon – this skirt was one of those projects, I made it on Day 12.
The projects that I often end up wearing the most are these sorts of straightforward, simple to sew and easy to wear projects – and were often made at the last minute (the graphic silk circle skirt, and the cascading flowers skirt.)
Fun fact about this skirt: If you look closely, you can see a bit of navy thread peeking out at the top of the slit. All of the internal finishing and inside seams are sewn with navy blue thread, because I was almost out of black – the only black thread in the skirt is the stitching on the hem and slit.
MATERIALS:
-An unknown quantity of an unknown fabric. I think it’s a rayon? Maybe?
-Black thread
-Navy thread
-1” wide elastic
PATTERN:
Super straightforward & improvised. It’s a very simple maxi skirt made of three rectangles of fabric and some elastic for the waistband. It has rolled hems, and a mid-thigh high slit to make walking possible.
I sewed the two rectangles together at the side seams for the main body of the skirt (leaving one side mostly open for the slit), attached an elastic waistband and hemmed the bottom hem & sides of the slit with a rolled hem.
WHAT WORKED WELL:
The simplicity of the project. It was fast to make, it’s easy to wear, and these are the types of projects I wear all the time.
WHAT I’D DO DIFFERENTLY:
Remember to buy black thread. Seriously.
Black thread is one of those things I use all the time, and never remember to buy, which is not the best state of affairs – especially for someone who does a lot of last minute and middle of the night sewing.
PS. Fun fact about this post: photographing a matte black skirt in any sort of potentially interesting manner is really damn hard. (Kind of like a boring black sweater.)
