Capsule Wardrobe Update

On February 1st, I started my first capsule wardrobe.

My winter capsule.

I mean, it's February. Here in Texas, February is usually the wild card month. It can be the coldest month of the year, spattered with ice-crusted roads, sporadic snow, and winds that can blow the hair off your head. Or it can be mild, sunny, and a first taste of spring. Guess what it's been this year?

February, you are broken. 

We've been in the 70s and 80s the last few days. It looks like tomorrow will bring some chill back to the air, but then we're back to the 60s and 70s for the rest of the month. 

So all those cute sweaters, jeans, and boots in my capsule? USELESS! Well, unless I want to basically wear a sauna. Which doesn't sound very fun. It's hard to take someone seriously when they have B.O. that says hello before you even see them.

I've already had to bust out a pair of capris and a pair of sandals. 85 degrees on Saturday kinda demanded that. The sad thing is, I don't have sandal feet going on now. We're not to the point where we need a "hooficure," (See this video)  but naked toes aren't something I want to show off. No toe porn here. We need cuteness and color.

*marks 'pedicure' in bullet journal* 

I'm now eyeballing my stash. I already have spring stuff put away waiting on April, but it looks like some of it will have to debut sooner.

Some of my favorite outfits so far in this capsule...

I. LOVE. that olive green sweater. It will definitely be hanging around for next year's winter capsule. 

I'm also thrilled with this bright green J. Crew shirt. It makes me feel all perdy. :D

And I'm also a big fan of the purple multi sweater. It will make the cut next year, too. 

I've had a hard time telling myself, "Yo, dress in some cute clothes so you can bleach the fridge." So I'll have to do better about not wearing the yoga/sweats. I'm working on that now, but it's definitely one of my goals for March.

Anybody else doing a capsule wardrobe having to re-vamp due to cray-cray weather? 

Craft Fever

Lately I've been bitten by the crafting bug. Pinterest is fueling my fire, not to mention Facebook groups I'm in. I've been collecting pins like a squirrel collecting nuts. I have to blame reading Little House Living and The Made From Scratch Life. I have the urge to make as many handmade gifts as possible. I'm thinking ahead to birthdays, Mother's Day, Christmas, and baby gifts.

My plans are to make several cotton dishcloths for cleaning. I'm currently whipping up a couple crochet ones and then I'll try knit to see which ones I like the best. My bestie, Allison, kidnapped me into a knit group and they're brainwashing me to make all these unbelievable knit things. Seriously. It is yarn porn. Gorgeous, hand-dyed fibers, amazing projects. I swear these people are witches. The stuff they make is just magic. 

100% cotton, single-crochet dishcloth.

I also need to finish the afghan I was making before my Memaw passed away in 2014. It's so pretty and snuggly. I'd also like to make a baby blanket or 2. One to celebrate my newest niece born on the 8th. *awwwwww*  

Afghan I was making for Memaw before she passed away.

Then I want to make some embroidery samplers for gifts and wall decor. I'd also like to make some super cute embroidered tea towels and seasonal designs to put on the wall.

Ready to get my stitch on. 

Yes, I'm 90 years old.

If I get brave enough, I may also whip out through sewing machine and make a gathering apron to get ready for all the wicked gardening I have planned. This one may not happen because sewing machines and I don't speak the same language. They say, "Yo, operator, you're not doing this right." I hear, "Hey, throw me off a cliff because I'm laughing at you in my little machine voice." It's really a good thing we don't live very close to any substantial cliffs. Although, if you had to sacrifice machinery to the gods, I'd definitely take that job. Now, I can run a treadle sewing machine, you know the one you power with your foot. I can make that happen, no problem. But these newfangled electric machines? I'm pretty sure they were manufactured by Satan himself. Or maybe they're powered by the evil machine system in the Matrix. 

That's old news, Morpheus. 

I'm also daydreaming about putting my garden in and thinking about wild plum season. I need to make some wild plum preserves this summer. By need, I mean MUST. I MUST MAKE JELLY!

And if you didn't already think I was a little old lady, you will after this. I want to make rag rugs. I can see little rugs I've made out of our old clothes all over the house. And someday I will make quilts. I can remember being a little girl sitting under the quilt rack while my great-grandma hand-quilted these precious blankets. Sometimes I'd poke the needle back through for her, but mostly I just watched. It was like watching constellations being created before my very eyes. I want to be surrounded by things I have made with my own hands. Things that love went into. Things I can teach to my kids or friends and pass that love and skill set down. So many people don't know the joy of seeing something you made having a use. Something unimpressive that with a little time, skill, and determination, transformed into something to make life easier or more enjoyable. 

Is anybody else getting their craft on? What do you like to make? 

Birthdays in Mosaicland

Last week, the smallest of my man-cubs turned 10. 2 entire hands. A full decade. 1/10 of a century. My tiny... phhhbt, he was NEVER tiny. My fresh out of utero, 10lb. 11oz. toddler-sized, two-arm carry infant became a double-digit kid. No more single-digits in this house.

Excuse me, while I ugly cry.

In our house, birthdays are celebrated by the birthee telling the birther what they'd like to eat for the day. They pick the menu, pick the entertainment, pick the birthday cake, and basically rule the roost like a king for a day. 

Birthdays are also a school holiday. They get to sleep in (For the love, please sleep in!) and they get to have fun because it's their special day. We also retell the story of their birth and the happenings of the day they rocket launched into the world. This might also include interpretive dance. The storytelling, not the rocket launching. It's hard to dance when you're dead from the waist down due to an epidural.

So this year, we had pizza and watched Pixels and Minions, as per the birthee's request. We had pineapple upside down cake and ALMOST had homemade ice cream, until the birther realized she forgot to buy ice when she picked up the pizzas. That's kind of an important part of the process if you were wondering and not the most convenient when you live 20 miles from town.

My niece also turned 3 that day, but unfortunately we missed her party due to a cold that wouldn't let go. We also have a family birthday soiree for all the month's birthdays on the 21st, so I will buy ice and make ice cream to take. Fear not, my crotch fruit, you shall have your frozen sugar milk! It's going to be fun. Good food, good company, and presents. And cake. My mom makes amazing cakes. 

How do you celebrate birthdays in your house? 

Capsule Wardrobe - How to Get to Know Your Clothes

For around a year and a half now I've been reading about capsule wardrobes, but I wasn't brave enough to take the plunge. I am fashion challenged, to put it in simple terms. I'm not sure what my style is outside of casual and using ALL THE COLORS!

If you haven't already researched capsule wardrobes, you may not know what I'm talking about.
Basically it's trimming your wardrobe down to a set number of pieces and wearing only that for a season (3 months). This shows you how you can mix and match items you already have, causes you to wear what you have, shows where the holes in your wardrobe are, and helps you define your style sense. Not to mention, it saves you moolah because you're not going to be shopping for 3 months.

Donna Karan set the ball rolling years ago by setting up how to create an amazing wardrobe with just a few key, classic pieces. This has taken off again in the past couple of years and I've been sucked in by the awesomeness of it.

I first found capsule wardrobes while killing time  researching styles on Pinterest. I found myself finding things marked "Project 333" during my search so I had to go all Scooby Doo and find out what that was all about. That's when I found Courtney Carver and her awesome site, Project 333.

I read through it and thought, "OMG, cut down to 33 items in my whole closet?? Aw hell nah!" So I gave up. Couldn't do it. It cannot be borne. And thought these women were cray-cray! But I KEPT seeing it, kept reading about how much easier life was to know you're going to like everything you wear. I resisted and resisted, but deep inside I was all, "Capsule wardrobe, I just cain't quit yew!" And I was still at a stall. Part of my issue I realize now was I had SOOOOOO MANY clothes, but I didn't like the majority of them. They were either gifts that I felt like a jerk getting rid of, sizes I "knew" I'd shrink back down into, things I THOUGHT looked good on me that didn't, or just a Pandora's Box of miscellany that I figured I'd do something with because "I got it on sale!"

After months and months of "Come to Jesus" talks with myself, convincing myself that I am not built like a store mannequin, realizing that no matter how many skirts and dresses you don't magically become a girly-girl, especially if you don't wear them, and figuring out that even as SAHM I DESERVE to look and feel pretty, I decided to do a hard-core purge of my clothes. I don't even know how many bags of clothes left my house because I was too ashamed to count them. If a closet could be on The Biggest Loser, mine would have been in the finals. I also had my own Jillian in The Closet Biggest Loser, Marie Kondo. If you haven't yet heard about The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I'll talk about it deeper in another post. The quick gist of it is I had to go through all of my clothes and ask myself if they actually "sparked joy." The joyless got donated, the joyful were now being worn instead of just being admired on their hangers.

Ok, so enough backstory... After listening to podcasts and reading articles and posts about creating a capsule wardrobe, I decided February was the month for me. I AM GOING TO DO IT!

HOW do you do it? You're going to have to be tough and truthful with yourself here for your first go. (This is a mish-mash of several CW gurus and how I personally did my capsule.)

*Inventory your closet.

*Make your piles - LOVE, Like, NO, and things that are worn out. Donate the No pile. Things that aren't in decent, donatable condition, repurpose it or chunk it. You might also want to make a list of the Love and Like piles to keep track of things easier.

*Pay attention to what pieces you wear often. Those may carry over into future capsules.

*Sort into seasons. If it's something you love and wear, but it's out of season, go ahead and store it for future capsules.

*Now you're going to pick your number for your capsule total. Most people seem to choose between 33-37 items. I personally chose 40 for my first capsule because it seemed a nice even number.

*You're going to want to include: Tops, Bottoms, Shoes, Dresses Outerwear.

Some people include accessories and jewelry, but I chose not to this time. I didn't' want to be overwhelmed and quit.

Do NOT include: Workout clothes, PJs, Undies.

*Project 333's Bonus Rules include being able to use the first week of each phase if you need it to finish up your donating and collecting for your new capsule.
And you can also have 3 additional pieces you can rotate in the next 3 months, but you have to rotate 3 other items out. 

*You're going to wear clothes only in your capsule for 3 months.

*No shopping during the 3 month period. You can start shopping for your next phase in the last 2 weeks of your season.

THINK OF ALL THE MOOLAH YOU'RE GOING TO SAVE!

Ok, so you're all thinking,"Man, she is CRAZY and MEAN!"

Crazy, yes. And I'm only mean if you run off with my favorite pens or post-its.

So to make you feel better, here's my capsule.

Let's start out with Tops. I've got 23 tops in my capsule. I live in Texas so the weather is a fickle beast. We can go from the 30s to 80 in one day, so I need some flexibility.

5 Bottoms. Yes, those are purple jeans. Shhh. Don't judge me.

9 Pair of Shoes

And this gorgeous cardi made by one of my best friends, Allison. She's also making me a Dreambird Shawl which will be included in my capsule. 

I also have a heavy coat, a hoodie for working around the house and outside, but they're not photo-worthy. And that makes my 40.

I'm also documenting my capsule wardrobe in a Bullet Journal just for it. I'll track what I wore, favorite outfits, pieces, things I'd like to add, etc.

If you're wanting to check out more info on capsule wardrobes, these are the sites that inspire me.

* Project333 

* Un-Fancy

* MomAdvice

* Little Bits of Granola 

* Modern Mrs. Darcy

Podcast Episodes I love:

* Sorta Awesome Ep. 44

* The Lively Show Ep. 36

* Dear Handmade Life Ep. 3 

* This Inspired Life Ep. 14


Where do you stand on Capsule Wardrobes? Are they completely cray or is it something you'd consider doing or maybe you already have embraced your CW.  Inquiring minds want to know.