The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 14 – a new sweater!
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 92 – OCTOBER 31th
Boring Black Sweater
Khaki Scarf
Black Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Flats
Long Necklace with Spinning Pendant
Various Rings
Halloween! I’m not a huge dressing up for Halloween person, I figure I made things for every other day of the year, and so I just can’t get myself excited about October 31st. But I did go with all black, and those shiny things on my shoes are skull beads… so we can pretend that was intentional, and not just coincidence.
DAY 93 – NOVEMBER 1st
Deconstructed Black Sweater
Black Tank Top
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Black Shoes
Various Rings
This sweater is new, but not quite finished. I wore it all week because this week has been particularly cold and rainy, and this sweater is pretty warm (especially if I actually cover my shoulder.)
DAY 94 – NOVEMBER 2nd
Deconstructed Black Sweater
Black Tank Top
Striped Pirate Skirt
Black Flats
Various Rings
This sweater is sewn out of a nice thick, cushy, sweater knit, so it’s warm and cozy. However the exposed seams do have a tendency to shed, I’m continually sweeping up yarn pills (but that’s nothing new). The original plan was to stitch down all of the seams, but I think I want to over-lock them instead.
I must not be the only person who wears a new handmade garment multiple times in a row. I do it partly because its new(!) and I want to wear it. And partly to get a sense of how it’s going to hold up, and if there’s anything I should go back and fix/rework (like finishing the seams on this sweater.)
DAY 95 – NOVEMBER 3rd
Deconstructed Black Sweater
Boring Black Sweater
Black Tank Top
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Sneakers
Various Rings
This sweater is acting a lot like a fall jacket would, since I didn’t have time to make a proper fall jacket. And with another sweater under it, in this case the boring black sweater, it becomes particularly cozy.
DAY 96 – NOVEMBER 4th
Colorful Knit Sweater Dress
Black Tank Top
White Underskirt
Black Tights
Black Flats
Bead Crochet Bracelet
Various Rings
I spent one of the only warm sunny day this week sitting at my desk, looking longingly out the window…
DAY 97 – NOVEMBER 5th
Boring Black Sweater
Khaki Scarf
Black Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Tights
Black Flats
Bead Crochet Bracelet
Various Rings
Back to black. I definitely prefer this skirt without tights, since they kind of negate the effect of the side slit. It’d probably work better with different tights in a different color.
DAY 98 – NOVEMBER 6th
Deconstructed Black Sweater
Jade Cropped Sweater
Black Tank Top
Cascading Flowers Skirt
Black Flats
(I actually turned around at my front door and changed into boots.)
Various Rings
The Jade Sweater was one of the first things I made for this project, but haven’t worn until now because of a dropped stitch that needed fixing.
This was the perfect day for staying inside with tea. But I didn’t. It was also the kind of day that turns you around at the front door to change into boots. Cold, rainy, and grey. Perfect for brightening up with some flowers. I’m never quite sure how I feel about wearing a skirt with flowers in the middle of fall, but I think for this particular day it worked.
Also! We’re almost at day 100 of the self-made wardrobe project!!!
The Moonstruck Cardigan
(sorry about the blurriness – but it gives you an idea of the size of the collar)
I’ve never been too much of a sweater knitter (my thing was mostly lace shawls that I don’t wear). Prior to the self-made wardrobe project, I had finished:
1. a sweater for myself that I accidentally felted
2. a super straightforward & easy sweater that I knit during Hurricane Sandy
3. and this sweater, which I knit in the fall of 2010.
The pattern is “Moonstruck” by A. Karen Alfke, from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, and the yarn is Dream in Color “Classy.”
I knit the sweater on a US 7, and reworked the pattern to match my gauge. If I remember correctly, I did a bunch of math, and then just ended up knitting a size or two larger.
Amazingly enough, I’m not sure there’s anything I would change about this sweater. All-over ribbing. Asymmetrical front. Beautiful buttons. Set-in sleeves that are long enough(!) And a dramatic collar. Total win!
I keep meaning to add a hook & eye to keep the bottom from gaping – after almost 4 years, I’ve accepted that’s never going to happen, so I usually just let the bottom gape, and if it’s a problem, I close it with a safety pin.
I think my favorite thing about this sweater is the color. I love that’s it’s almost-but-not-really a black. It’s kind of a “bad black.”
The yarn is “Classy” from Dream in Color, and the colorway is either “Black Pearl” or “Cocoa Kiss.” I think. I originally wanted to use “Black Pearl” but the shop didn’t have enough skeins, so I ended up with “Cocoa Kiss.” (This is what I get for not taking proper notes…) And either way I love how it turned out.
(This sweater could definitely use a date with a sweater Gleener.)
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt – when what I love to sew meets what I love to wear
This is one of my absolute favorite pieces in my self-made wardrobe. It’s a very versatile piece, without being a true “basic.”
I made it one morning way back in June (during the first try at this project) when I was absolutely sick of everything in my closet.
It’s a two layer, square shaped circle skirt, with an elastic waist, and handkerchief hem, made out of a 100% silk printed fabric.
Meaning:
It has two layers of fabric, one on top of the other. (That I then rotated so they’re offset from one another – more of an explanation.)
A circle skirt is made by laying your fabric flat and cutting two circle, one within the other, the outer circle becomes to the hem of your skirt, while the inner circle becomes your waist. For this skirt, instead of shaping the hem as a circle, I shaped it as a square.
It has an elastic waist, so it’s wonderfully comfortable.
A handkerchief hem is a hem with points which, in this skirt, are created by shaping the hem like a square.
The fabric is a lightweight 100% silk with a really beautiful graphic print.
I picked up this fabric on a whim, mostly because of the print.
I love black & white prints, and it’s one of the places where what I love sewing and what I love wearing meet.
More often than not, what I love making isn’t what I love wearing (lace shawls for example), and what I love wearing isn’t what I love making (mostly because it’s boring).
Black & white graphic prints being one of the exceptions. They’re prints, which make them interesting to sew, and they’re black & white which makes them easy to wear. Love.
This is definitely and absolutely one of my favorite pieces.
