The Self-Made Wardrobe Month 2
A checked-in with the experiment of getting dressed without clothing labels.
How Often Did I wear What?
Black tank top: 29 days
Black maxi skirt with a slit: 8 days
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt: 8 days
The easiest jersey vest ever: 8 days
Cascading flowers maxi skirt: 6 days
Red & white striped pirate skirt: 4 days
Blue kimono: 3 days
The birds & bicycle flare skirt: 2 days
Moonstruck sweater: 1 day
Jersey wrap dress: 1 day
Gingham skirt: 1 day
Why Did I Wear What When I Did?
Black tank top – my default always. I have a couple of them that I rotate. Next I think I’m going to try perfecting a camisole.
Black maxi skirt with a slit – I always feel a little lost for what to say about this skirt. It’s a black maxi skirt with a slit. It’s easy to wear, it was easy to make, it’s easy to style, it’s easy to run around it. It wins this month for ease.
Graphic silk circle skirt – part of what I love so much about this skirt is that it’s easy to throw on and very comfortable, but since it’s a silk, it looks more put together than it would if the same skirt were made in a cotton. (Now, I sort of want a version of this skirt in cotton, and one in wool.)
The easiest jersey vest ever – no seriously. the easiest vest ever. 1 yard of light weight jersey with two slits cut in it. That’s it.
Cascading flowers maxi skirt – I think it’s interesting that this skirt dominated August, but September had more balance between my black maxi skirt, my graphic silk circle skirt, and this skirt.
Red & white striped pirate skirt – arrrggghhh!
Blue kimono – sometimes the quickest projects and cheapest makes turn out the best. This kimono gets complements almost every single time I walk out the door in it. I think it’s the fabric.
The birds & bicycle flare skirt – It’s interesting to think about how frequently we wear certain garments, and how that changes over time. A couple summers ago I absolutely *lived* in this skirt, now I only pull it out every once in a while.
Moonstruck sweater – (I figured out the name! and it turns out I guessed correctly!) This was one of the first successful sweaters I knit. The pattern is the “Moonstruck Sweater” from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, and the yarn is Dream in Color “Classy.” I don’t wear it often, because I keep meaning to add a hook & eye to keep the bottom from gaping. Even though it’s a 15 minute alteration, I just keep putting it off, so for now I’m using a safety pin.
Jersey wrap dress – I forgot about this dress a little bit this month.
Gingham skirt – maybe this skirt has a superpower that means I can only wear it once a month? But probably not, it’s more I have a couple alterations that I want to do to it, and I keep putting them off in favor of making new pieces.
This Month In Blog Posts:
: Week 5
: Week 6 – I just want a pair of damn pants
: Week 7
: Week 8 – sweater weather is here
: 8 clothing related reminders from Month 1 of the Self-Made Wardrobe. Because reinventing the wheel every time sucks.
: The Versio Sweater – a body, sleeves, and a change of plans.
: Some thoughts on selfies and self-portraits.
: The Perfect Transitional Sweater – Hopefully.
: The Versio Sweater – hood, finishing, and making twisted cord.
The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 11 – mystery patterns & shrinking sweaters
The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made, for one year.
Sort of a year long experiment in getting dressed without labels.
You can read more about the project, and catch up on past posts, here.
I’m trying something different this week, more of a diary-style-type post.
We’ll see how it goes…
DAY 71 – October 10th
Blue Kimono
Black Racer-back Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt
Black Flats
Long Necklace
Various Rings
I’ve completely lost track of how many times I’ve worn this outfit. It’s easy to put on, and easy to wear, and easy to run around in. Win-Win-Win.
DAY 72 – October 11th
Knitted Dress
Black Racer-back Tank Top
White Maxi Skirt
Black Flats
Various Rings
Trying something different with the photographs. While it takes more time to set up, I like the results a lot better, so I’ll probably be sticking to it for a bit.
This is the sweater I (finally) blocked the other day – and it grew to a proper dress length, instead of a dress/tunic thing, which makes it much easier to wear, and is making me like it even more.
DAY 73 – October 12th
Blue Kimono
Khaki Scarf
Black Racer-back Tank Top
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Sneakers
Princess Necklace (barely visible)
Various Rings
Every time I think it’s getting cool enough to retire the blue kimono, a day pops up where it’s *just* too warm for a sweater.
I’ve had this scarf for years, and had never worn it before. I got it from a friend who picked it up traveling somewhere, and I could never work it into an outfit before this one. It adds an interesting layer under the somewhat sheer blue kimono.
DAY 74 – October 13th
Moonstruck Sweater
Black Racer-back Tank Top
Red & White Pirate Skirt
Black Flats
Princess Necklace
Various Rings
And into the sweaters! I knit this sweater years ago, and when I went looking for the pattern name – it would seem that I never blogged about it, or put it on Ravelry – so I’m going to have to do a bit of sleuthing to figure out what the pattern is. If you have any ideas, I’d love a clue.
DAY 75 – October 14th
Boring Black Sweater
Black Racer-back Tank Top
Cascade of Flowers Maxi Skirt
Black Flats
Princess Necklace
Various Rings
The boring black sweater is finished! (sort of…)
I blocked it in the morning, and wore it that evening, and I think I must have put it on before it was quite finished drying. Because when I wore it on the 14th the sleeves were about an inch too short…
DAY 76 – October 15th
Boring Black Sweater
Black Racer-back Tank Top
Red & White Pirate Skirt
Black Flats
Long Necklace
Various Rings
…and when I wore it on the 15th, the sleeves were 2 inches too short. So I had to wear them pulled up all day. Sad face.
DAY 77 – October 16th
Boring Black Sweater
Black Racer-back Tank Top
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Sneakers
Long Necklace
Various Rings
And then when I wore it on the 16th, the sleeves were still to short. So it would seem that the finished boring black sweater, is not quite finished.
I’m going to open up the sleeves, add two inches to the length, and then block it again. I wouldn’t mind the sleeves being an inch or so too long, but I can’t stand them being too short.
(Yep, I wore this sweater three days in a row, and I’m not apologizing.)
Thoughts?
If you know anything about the pattern for the sweater I wore on Day 74, I’d love any ideas you have. I know it was a Blue Moon Fiber Arts pattern, and I think the name was something along the lines of “Moonstruck” or “Moonlight” or “Moon-something-or-other.”
The Versio Sweater – finished!
Knit. Washed. Worn. Finished.
And I love it.
I love the crazy colors, and the striping, and the fit, and the hood.
Love, love, love.
Apologies for inclusion of the phone, but it’s how I’m controlling the camera…
Project Details
The Pattern: Versio by Ankestrick
The Yarn: 1 skein of Julie Asselin’s “Merletto,” 1 skein of Sweet Georgia’s “Merino Silk Lace,” 1 skein of Fiberspates’ “Scrumptious,” and 2 skeins of Cascade’s “Forest Hills.”
The Needles: US 8 (5.0 mm) needle
The Gauge: 24 sts = 4 inches; 30 rows = 4 inches
The Size: small
The Modifications: lots
: held 2 strands of lace weight together throughout – instead of one
: different color sequence – but kept the stripes at 12 rows/stripe
: left out the cording
: added a hood – following Rililie’s notes
The sleeves are made using the contiguous method for working seamless top down set in sleeves.
While I think the method is really interesting, and something I want to play with in the future, the armscyes* on this sweater ended up way to large for me.
*The armscye is the measurement around the armhole of a garment – where your sleeve attaches to the body of a garment.
Part of that is probably so that the sweater can go over a shirt of some sort – and part of it is probably due to my messing a bit with the gauge.
It certainly isn’t the end of the world.
The original pattern has a deep, square collar, but I replaced that with a hood.
I followed the notes on Rililie’s Ravelry project page. I worked 6 stripes straight, then bound off the center stitches and worked 1 stripe on either side of the bind off, and finished with 2 rows on either side with the blue & yellow, before working a three needle bind off.
Every time I put on the hood I feel a little bit like a cartoon character.
Which I love.
The hems on the sleeves & body are turned hems that create a tube designed to have cording threaded through. I had planned to use yellow & blue cording, so it wouldn’t clash with the black & yellow hems.
After wearing it, I think I’m going to close up the slits in the sleeve hems (leaving just straightforward turned hems) and not thread the cording through the bottom hem.
I don’t think the sweater needs it, and I’ll find another use for the cording.
I wrote 3 posts about the process of knitting this sweater:
The Versio Sweater – beginnings
The Versio Sweater – a sweater body, sleeves, and a change of plans
The Versio Sweater – hood, finishing, and making twisted cord
