The new me - sewing clothing... the plunge

Medieval English Woman's Costume - Women's Clothing in the Time of... (clipped to polyvore.com)

Probably not the best choice for a new me to wear around town, even if it looks comfortable.  Might be nice inspiration if I ever get a chance to join the SCA.

The quest is to re-vamp my entire wardrobe this winter.  I don't wear a lot of different clothing as a rule, so here is what I imagine a person like me needs:

• 2 winter skirts
• 2 light weight skirts
• 2 pairs of trousers
• 4 to 6 blouses or other tops that fasten and look good over or under things (short sleeve and long)
• 2 cardigans
• 1 pullover
• 1 semi-formal dress, not too fancy, can be worn with blouses or cardigan in the winter or by itself in the summer, probably black
• 2 to 6 under-shirts like tank tops that can be worn for warmth or as part of summer garb.
• 1 winter coat, one spring/fall coat
• unmentionables

Now, personally I really like wearing vests, however, I find it really difficult to get one that fits well and looks classic.  For me a vest should just blend in, creating a nice backdrop for the rest of the outfit.  The only time it should be the star of the show is if you knit it (and preferably spun the yarn) yourself.  But that's my opinion.  I have to feel comfortable in this new wardrobe of mine, so I might as well be honest with myself.


I look at this list and it seems very daunting.  It's not just the amount of time it would take me to sew these clothes (or buy them) or the cost of materials - a few of these things I already have - but rather the sheer difficulty in getting them all to match each other so that I can simply pull random things out of the closet, put them on and not worry about colour or style clashing.

I already feel like I'm being smothered by the weight of all these clothes.

Maybe this task is too big.  Maybe I'm just not made right to have an easy to use matching wardrobe.  Heaven knows how I could go about affording it, clothes are pricey enough here, especially if you buy ones that will stand up to wear and tear, but sewing my own is not as coast saving as it might seem.  Fabric and thread are often more expensive than pre-fab clothing.  As I don't wear synthetics, I'm doomed to paying far too much for my cloth.

Sewing is more for filing in the gaps that the main stream shops cannot fill.  If I don't have to sew, I won't.  But often there is an article of clothing that I would like to have but I cannot find it in cotton, only synthetics 

Feeling very overwhelmed and self concious about my image now.  I should stop thinking about how terrible I look and crawl back into my little ball of self denial.  Maybe this project was a bad idea.

Google Adds, you decide

Some of you might have noticed that I've put the google adverts on the blog a few weeks back.

Why?
Well, because it makes a (very) little bit of money (apparently) and it didn't seem very intrusive.  I'm not 100% sold on the idea of keeping them, so I thought I would get your opinion.

What do you think?

Does it make me a sell out?  Do they bother you?  Did you even notice them?

Shall I keep them or go for something a little less intrusive like a custom built Amazon thing?  Or should I just avoid adds all together?

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

Need a new me. revamping my wardrobe to avoid reverse ageism. please advise.

Oh, I am so rubbish at this.  Anyone want to tell me what I should wear?

I'm not one to notice clothing very much.  Especially when it comes to my own clothing.  The main factors that influence my cloth acquisitions are 1) it's going to last a long time,  2) it doesn't clash with what I'm wearing at the moment, 3) it would be fun to try and make that.  I know, it's not the best way to go about dressing myself, but hey, my brain isn't built right for high fashion.

Lately I've had a lot of trouble with people mistaking me for five, ten and even fifteen years younger than I am.  This can actually be a bad thing.  It's called reverse ageism and is very prevalent here.  It can be anything from undercover police officers harassing your with loads of questions when you go to buy cooking sake in the liquor store, to shop keepers refusing to acknowledged you or take your money in the store.  Heaven forbid that you should be responsible for training a woman who thinks you are the same age as her junior high school kids when in fact she is only five years my senior.  The resentment she expressed got worse when she found out how old I actually am.  I think I made her feel that she looks old.  Sigh.

So maybe it's time to care a bit more about my clothing.

Perhaps create a unified theme to my closet?

At the moment I usually wear jeans, tank top or solid colour tea shirt with a blouse over top.  In winter I usually add a cardigan or pullover.  The dressing in layers thing is very important in this climate.

As the clothing ages, it get's downgraded.  City clothing, farm clothing if I think people might show up, digging in the garden clothing, and mucking out the chickens clothing.  There is no real difference between the actual outfits except how threadbare the cloth is.

Personally I always thought this looked more like country/farm clothing than something a teen would wear, but apparently I'm wrong.

Time to revamp my wardrobe.  But what kind of clothing would I like to wear?

Well, I know I look best in jewel colours.  My clothing gets dirty quickly, so something that wears well and doesn't show the dirt (earth tones?).  So earth and jewel colours.  Do they go well together?

I like blouses, I like cardigans, and I like long skirts.  I like bottoms that don't fit too snugly, but that don't look floppy.  I have some rather female curves (and an over-ample endowment), so perhaps I could choose something that shows these off just slightly, not too fitted, but not too frumpy.  Possible?

A Neo-Victorian hint to my clothing would also be nice, but I could always just find a fob watch and put it on a chain I suppose.  But if I could achieve the same feeling by colour and cut, so much the better.

And a slightly, very slightly Asian feel would also be welcome.

Now for the hard part...

...I don't know any shop that can do all this.  Shopping is not my strong suit, so perhaps sewing could come to the rescue?

I found Simple Modern Sewing at the library (yes, I actually know where it is.  It's the place full of ink-stink with the free wi-fi) and I think this might be a good place to start revamping my wardrobe.  It's got skirts, loose fitting stylish pants, shirts, all sorts of good things to wear.

What do you think?  Anyone out there want to give advice?  Got any great sewing patterns that would fit my new style or recommend some fabric?

tdf came and went

The tour de fleece came and went, and I somehow got overwhelmed with farmstuff... again... as usual.  Oh well.

But I'm still around.  Doing farmstuff.

There are sheep in the front yard, but they aren't mine.  I'm just 'holding' them for a friend, honest.

be back with photos and yarn and stuff in a few days.