Rethinking my sewing style and my relationship with my handmade wardrobe…
I’ve always loved expressing myself through fashion and I’ve been a keen sewist off and on since my teens but recently I’ve been asking myself some important questions about my handmade wardrobe, particularly how I want my clothes to make me feel…
I started sewing when I was 11 and it has been a channel for expressing my style throughout my life. However in the past 3 years since becoming a mum and turning 40 my body and my clothing requirements (and therefore also my relationship with sewing) has changed.
I now have a 75% handmade wardrobe which you might think would be perfect for my every need.
However… I decided to reassess my wardrobe because I was having more days when I looked into the depths of my wardrobe and drawers and just saw piles of clothes I didn’t want to wear for many reasons.
At first glance these reasons included:
My faves looking tired, bobbled and thread-bare through so much wear. Some are repairable and I’m getting more and more into repairing my clothes and bringing new love and longevity to them, but some of them are not, the fabric is just too cheap and low quality to revive. They make me feel unkempt and scruffy.
And then there are the makes in fabric that just isn’t right or up to the job. I’ll get into my (polyester) mistakes later but I made plenty when choosing fabric in the past and it’s so obvious to me now!
The items that don’t fit so well, sleeves are too tight, skirts are too short. My body (and the way I feel in clothes) has changed and that’s fine, it’s just a pain I now have lots of handmade clothes that just don’t do it justice, and importantly don’t make me feel like my best self.
Then there are the clothes I love the style of but they just aren’t me. They are the styles inspired by seeing what others have made and carbon copying- admittedly there aren’t so many of these as I’m pretty aware of my style already, but I have had my head turned in the past!
There are garments I like the fit and shape of but not the colour
There are garments where I love the colour/print/fabric but the shape needs tweaking
Most of the hard working RTW staples I own are now so tired, ill-fitting and poor quality.
So I decided to do a full wardrobe audit to help me refocus and use my limited sewing time efficiently to sew my own style.
Over the next few weeks I’ll share with you what I discovered and how I will used this to guide what I make in the future to ensure every garment is a perfect fit in my handmade wardrobe.
I’ll invite you to join the FREE Sew Your Own Style programme and do your own wardrobe audit too! Sign up to find out more.
