So from the top again. This years SWAP has been posted on Stitchers Guild. The catch this time? The clothes have to fit our current weight & lifestyle! Ha, I'm in the middle of a weight loss kick so I plan to concentrate on tops this side of Xmas & bottoms after. I should be around my target weight by then & I intend to stay there this time.
I took a serious look through my wardrobe. Good job I cleared some of it out last week! Anyhow, I now have some idea of what I'm going to need to replace a) what I've thrown out & b) what I'm going to slim out of.
Tops: 1 each navy, raspberry & cream long sleeve tees. And these are baggy on me now.
Jackets: I have no less than 3 although 1 is more summer than winter. And they're all black! Oh I do possess a brown tweedy one as well! Actually I just realised I have a black duster coat too!
Trousers: 1 black, 1 tiny black/cream check that I can wear now, 1 bottle green & 1 tiny brown/black check that I will shrink into. 2 pairs of denim jeans. I'm ignoring the baggy cargo pants & sweat pants.
Blouses: Lots of white & white/black variations & about 3 black. A lilac 3/4 sleeve that isn't the greatest fit but looks good on me anyway. All the blouses I tend to wear with the black & black/white check trousers. A heavier weight raspberry shirt that I tend to wear as a lightweight jacket.
Dresses: A black linen mix sleeveless sheath, a tiny brown/black check sleeveless sheath & a wool blend navy sleeveless sheath! Thes only get worn on occasions!
Skirts: 1 red trimmed with black lace at the hem & no tops to wear with it as I threw them last week! A black suit skirt from my daughter that goes with the jacket she gave me. It's a tad too small right now but will be OK soon! I don't really do skirts as I can't find any comfy shoes that suit skirts as well as my feet. If I do find any I'll be making skirts again.
So that's what I've got & this is the lifestyle:
Get up & pull on jeans & tee, fleece jacket / waterproof, cycle or walk & occasionally car to work via school drop off. Once a week smarter look to go to French class after work.
Teach one evening a week so smarter look. When not teaching, go to pub with the Anorak & meet friends, smarter casual look.
I've already decided not to make outerwear as up here requires good waterproofs & I haven't got the time to make a decent job of that type of garment.
So what do I need?
Long sleeve tees for starters. Trousers & jeans for after the weight loss stabilises, including black. Another jacket but not in black! Tweed maybe with flecks of red, purple & green?? So this leads into colours too. Obviously black plays a large 'ish' part in the existing wardrobe & as I can't afford to replace everything it will have to remain so I need to plan around the existing jackets as well. I'm ruling out a fleece jacket at the moment although another would be useful but I couldn't necessarily make it work with the smarter trousers, although I do have a Vogue pattern that would be nice. I'm in danger of digressing here & rebuilding the entire wardrobe!
The stash has some raspberry & navy cotton jersey, also a black with purple fleck wool knit. Long sleeve tees come to mind, maybe a wrap top as well. A white self striped cotton for a blouse. Some pieces of the tiny black/white check that made trousers may be enough for a jeans style jacket, but then it wouldn't go that well with the brown/black check trousers. I'm thinking maybe a black denim for jeans rather than blue as well.
First thoughts are black trousers & black jeans, then the existing blouses will work with them. Also as I'm not going to make them until January I have time to find a fabric & colour that will work with whatever the jacket ends up in. I think a jeans style jacket might be useful, or maybe the Vogue Divine Details jacket pattern I've got. Would it work in tweed? I don't know. I quite fancy a raspberry red jacket too. Decisions decisions. Actually it's really going to evolve around whatever I can get in the finish!
The navy cotton jersey in the stash isn't going to get used for this SWAP as it isn't going to fit in but I will make it up anyway before the start to refine the self drafted pattern I will use. Neither is the black knit as I don't see it going with a red jacket but it will go with a tweedy look so again I may use it! The raspberry jersey will make it into the SWAP if I have enough as I love the colour & it works with several other colours as well.
So off the top of my head.
Jacket in a raspberry or maybe a bottle green colour or grey (?) tweed with flecks of colour in it.
Tops in raspberry, poss purple flecked black knit, cream, something with bottle green in it, maybe a pattern of some sort.
Blouses, 1 in white self stripe ( a girl can never have enough white shirts -right?) & maybe another in a print with raspberry & or bottle green in it.
Trousers - black, black denim, maybe a grey pinstripe & maybe a tweed so the potential tweed jacket forms a suit? See? I'm deviating from the main part of my casual lifestyle into smarter casual!! Perhaps I should make a second pair of jeans in a slightly different style or a pair of fine needlecord. I do need clothes to cycle to work in.
There what a lot of decisions to make & thoughts to dwell on. One thing I have decided however. Two in fact. I am going to be asking for accessories, i.e. gloves, pashminas, costume jewellery in the accent colours of raspberry & bottle green as presents from my loved ones this Christmas. Secondly I am going to do a mood board first with pictures from fashion magazines as I have loads of them that I used in my first lessons as inspiration for my students. I'm hopefully going to inspire myself!
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