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On Sewing With A Plan.

I decided to start tentative work on a capsule wardrobe. After reading FabricKated’s last 2 SWAPS and My Vintage Inspirations SWAP posts, I was inspired to join in. To be honest I have considered joining in before but this is the first year I have actually understood 50% of the rules. Kate has been kind and generous enough to help me get started and has posted some insightful analysis posts to launch me into the world of sewing with a plan.

The first post was a general answer to the question on how to start a capsule wardrobe. I recommend this post as it gives a very good starting point on what is a capsule wardrobe <link here>.

I found this post very helpful and my response was:

Thank you so much for your help with this Kate. You have made clear what I have been struggling to get. Its like what you said – a lot of the stuff out there on capsule wrdrobe was either too specific or too complicated. So far my take aways from this post are :
1. I need to make everything work together which is easier than trying to meet the SWAP rule on this.
2. I like what you say about dresses reducing options so I will be sticking to one dress.
3. I do love a nice jacket and am thinking of a lightweight mac for one of my overs.
4. Colour palette – I will try my best to use stash fabric so that will most likely determine the palette I will use. Though if I didn’t have my personal rule on using stash fabric – I’d have loved Emerald green, shocking pink, red and orange.
Thank you again!

No doubt I will be coming back and rereading this as I plan. I have my sketchbook at the ready.

Kate then followed up with a development post which also looked at colour palettes for me. Again I was blown away by how her astute understanding of my aspiration style. The post is here and its a very good read if you are interested <link here>.

The key quote in the post for me was:

We need some Kondo-inspired “joy” in our collection. Notice Hila says she loves the colours I suggested – love is more motivating than “I need to use up my stash”.  Please Hila, and everyone else, come up with a plan that excites and stretches you.  Better to create five items you love, than thinking “use the stash/complete the SWAP”.  I know many SWAP participants will focus on using existing patterns and fabrics only, and it is laudable. I feel that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well, and that means not compromising too much (when compromise might what you do all day everyday in real life).

I had been resolved to only using stashers but this tipped me over towards following my heart. So my colours were decided : Emerald green, shocking pink, red and orange, with navy and white as the neutrals.

This is a saga because I have until April 30th to finish the capsule. This is requiring a level of long-term planning I have not undertaken before. The trick for me is to think about what I want to wear next spring while I am in the groove of sewing with warm cozy knits.

To ensure that I just don’t finish a SWAP for the sake of finishing, I have added a further rule which is that I have to spend a month wearing garments I make for SWAP. I will document the month on IG and then do a post as well.

I haven’t ever thought I could do a capsule wardrobe – my initial thoughts were that it’s too restrictive. Most capsule posts I read tend to have the same stripe top-blue jeans combos which I would find boring to wear regularly. I love bright and bold colours. So I am hoping I can do something that will work for me.

Here is the formula for my SWAP ( you can read the SWAP rules here <link here>):

4 Lowers

4 Uppers plus 1 Dress (rogue)

2 Over garments

Here is what I am trying to achieve :

I noticed on the forum that many who are sewing SWAPs give the plan a name. After much rumination I settled on ………Be Bold, Be Bright, Be You Capsule. :-).

My next SWAP post will look at the patterns I have decided to go with.

Thanks for stopping by.

Peace and love,

Hila