Wardrobe Architect: Week 7

I'm working my way through the Coletterie's Wardrobe Architect project. If you missed the first post, start here.

*********

Week 7 is all about looking at prints and patterns that you actually like to wear (vs the ones that call to you from the quilting section of JoAnn's) so that's what we're going to do. I started by looking at some of my favorite outfits to see what types of prints I enjoy wearing.

So what I have noticed? I like a lot of solids, either great basic pieces or a mostly solid piece with some sort of embellishment. I tend to like smaller prints rather than large ones. I like classic prints like stripes, dots, and geometrics (not too modern looking though!). Mostly, I do not like novelty prints especially ones that look really young but there are exceptions to any rule.

What kinds of prints do you like to wear?

Fit for a Princess

I shared my excitement about the new Disney Cinderella last week so when I finally got to see it, I just had to dress up! Thanks to an epic Pin Up Girl clothing sale last spring, I had the perfect skirt in my wardrobe already!

So, this skirt is Sleeping Beauty inspired but whatever, it's princess-y and I like it!

I adore navy so I had this great sweater to go with it. I suppose white or black or pink would also go as well but I don't like to be too sweet looking.

Anyways, the movie was quite epic. It told its own story will still remaining true to many of the things we love about the original animated version. No singing though. :(  (I have heard the live action Beauty and the Beast will have singing though!)

The film also had quite a few fabulous actresses including Lily James and Sophie McShera (Rose and Daisy, Downton Abbey), Holliday Grainger (Lucrezia, The Borgias), Helena Bonham Carter (Belatrix, Harry Potter) and Cate Blanchett (Galadriel, Lord of the Rings) to name a few.

I've not loved all of the live action Disney remakes but this one is good in my book! The costuming is also fabulous. It's sort of a mix of vintage, historical and fantasy elements. The evil step mother's costumes, hair and makeup, for example, scream 40s/50s glamor! Oh, so drool worthy!

I did manage to restrain myself enough to leave my tiara at home though!

Wardrobe Architect: Weeks 5&6

I'm working my way through the Coletterie's Wardrobe Architect project. If you missed the first post, start here.

*********

Weeks 5 and 6 are also quite related, so I'm double dipping again! These two weeks are all about color. I adore color and have never had a fear of wearing colors that look bad on me. Maybe I just don't care or maybe I'm blessed with a great complexion. So my project was mostly about deciding what colors I do want to have in my wardrobe.

Week 5 was about collecting all of the colors that you love to wear. I tried making a fancy graphic like Sarai but I spent a lot of time trying to get just the right shades that all worked together and then wrangle them in photoscape. But I finally gave up and just pinned a bunch of cool color palettes that other people had come up with.

Here are some that I love:

I knew that I wanted my color palette to include yellow, blue, black and white with pops of various colors. So you see those colors featured heavily in these color palettes. Week six was about organizing and focusing your palette. I chose two palettes to be my core palettes for this project.

I love this palette of blues with yellow! This is my inspiration for my core wardrobe. Each season, I plan on adding pop of color to help things feel fresh and new.

For summer, I'm planning on red as my pop of color. I adore this color palette! So fun!

Does your wardrobe have a definite color palette or does it have a rainbow of color?

On My Sewing Table: March

February was the month of I don't want to sew anything. In my defense, life was pretty crazy so I just decided to take a break from sewing. But now my sewing mojo is back! I had a sewing stay-cation this weekend while my hubby was out of town on a business trip. (He also took all of the cameras with him so you'll have to deal with iPhone photos.) Here's what I was working on.

I finally finished my Wearing History 1930s beach pjs! Now to wear them to the beach.

I also finished the jacket for my 40s suit for the 40s Fashion Calendar project. I'm behind on February's task but at least my suit will be ready!

I also started Sense and Sensibility Pattern's 1940s Swing Dress. I made it way, way back in 2011. It didn't go so well but I've learned a lot since then and this version is going much better.

 I also started working on my Borgia dress! I've done a bit of embroidery and have been playing around with pearling options. And I bought some more pearls finally so I can start putting them on for real.

 I've been pondering Spring/Summer sewing plans (since that's coming up for the Wardrobe Architect project) but haven't made any final plans yet. These are just a few patterns that popped out at me as possibilities.

Wardrobe Architect: Weeks 3 & 4

I'm working my way through the Coletterie's Wardrobe Architect project. If you missed the first post, start here.

*********

The projects for weeks 3 & 4 of this project are very related and didn't require nearly as much brain power as weeks 1 or 2 so I've decided to lump them together. Week 3 was about determining what shapes I enjoy wearing and look good on me. There was a pretty cool looking chart to fill out, but I'm just going to summarize here.

Ease: I tend to like more fitted garments rather than less fitted. Except for pants. I love a wide legged pant.

Length: I like knee length to midcalf length skirts the best. I do want to try more maxi styles though. (Florida makes maxi dresses look awesome.)  For tops, I prefer shorter tops but not cropped or midriff bearing tops.

Fullness: I like all fullnesses of skirts but a-line to somewhat full the best. I also like straight or wide legged pants. No skinnies!

Waistline: I like a high to mid waistline. No surprises here.

Week 4 was on building silhouettes from the shapes from week 3. Looking back on week 2, I kind of already saw a pattern evolving plus I did already know what shapes I really liked. So here's what I came up with.

A great fitting pair of trousers and blouse with a jacket or cardigan for shape. Also add in a fun bag and shoes.

 A cute dress with some what full skirt and a fitted bodice. Add a jacket if necessary. This is were I'm hoping for some vintage cross over. A cute 40s dress with a slightly fuller skirt than average or a 50s dress with a less full skirt than average would be really cute here.

Shorts are a must for summer! I want to make some more high waisted shorts since my current ones need replaced but I think in the Florida summer, I'll need some modern shorts as well. The same blouses and cardigans from my pant silhouettes would also fit well in this category.

Florida Orange

Although my Wardrobe Architect project is focusing on my modern wardrobe, my new outlook on clothes couldn't help but spill over into my vintage wardrobe. I've been focusing on what things I really love to wear and one of those is bright colors!

 So enter this bright and orange outfit! Last summer, my unofficial color was orange and I loved it.

And since I purchased this skirt of oranges specifically with Florida in mind, it was about time that I wore it out and about!

 I also adore the shape of this outfit. You can't go wrong with a fitted waist and full skirt.

Bonus points go to this outfit for being husband approved. He's warmed up to the vintage look a lot since I've started wearing it but it's always nice to have a modern twist like a bold color in his opinion.

These photos were taken at a local park. There are actually quite a lot of parks here in Florida. It's so great that they are trying to preserve a lot of the local ecosystem.

 The other Floridian addition to this post is my flip flops. I wore flip flops almost constantly as a freshman and sophomore in college (until it got too cold anyways) and I loved it. But then I moved off campus and started being in lab more often so bye bye flip flops. I'm so excited to have a pair again.

Do you enjoy flip flops and bright colors in your wardrobe?

Wardrobe Architect: Week 2

I'm working my way through the Coletterie's Wardrobe Architect project. If you missed the first post, start here.

*********

This week's project is about defining my core style. The goal is to find a style that feels like you and to start defining that style through words and images. Now, I know that my vintage style identity is quite developed, but I've been realizing that I also need a good selection of modern pieces in my wardrobe to really fit my life so posts are going to focus on the modern section of my wardrobe. Once I have that part of my wardrobe built up, I can go back and weave in pieces from my vintage wardrobe to make it all work together.

The first task of the week was to think about how I feel in my favorite clothing. Here are some of my words:

elegant, sophisticated, fun, interesting, put together, feminine, comfortable

Secondly, I had to think about how I feel when wearing things that are not quite right. I also added some words from styles I know are totally not me.

frumpy, stiff, sloppy, edgy, alternative, hard, young, twee

Next, I had to identify my style icons. This one was hard for me because I don't really follow modern celebrities and fashionistas. Plus, the whole leggings with a baggy top look that is popular right now is not an attractive silhouette for me. Originally, I picked Audrey Hepburn, Mary Margaret (from OUAT) and Zooey Deschanel; however, the more I looked at their styles, the more I realized that while I liked their looks, they weren't super practical for my life. So I guess I don't have any style icons.

Moving on. I then identified some styles that I like in theory but aren't really me.

skinny jeans, anything that you can't wear a regular bra with, 

anything super girly (lace, ruffles, etc.)

Then I looked back at my week 1 tasks and I identified a bunch of words, moods and feelings that I wanted to incorporate into my wardrobe. Then I narrowed it down to just five words that I really want to revolve my core style around.

classic, tailored, simple, easy, fun

It's really cool because I feel like these words all describe my favorite vintage pieces so I think it will be really easy to mesh the two once I get that far. Ok, so then I headed out to pinterest to try and figure out what the heck my new style was going to be. Having been into vintage and sewing for so long, I felt sort of clueless about modern fashion. And I had no idea what my modern size was!

I went to some stores this week just to try things on and it was a bit of a bumpy road. I had forgotten why I loved to sew my own clothes so much! But I did learn some things and that helped me to build up a pinterest board with lots of pretties to serve as inspiration for my new wardrobe.

Here are some of the things from my pinterest board.

Yellow is one of my favorite colors to wear so I knew it had to figure heavily in my new wardrobe. Choosing a color palette is still a few weeks away but you'll probably be able to figure out what I have in mind.

I really enjoy wearing blazers. They make me feel instantly put together! Plus they are great for chilly air conditioned rooms. I also want some great blouses to wear under the blazers or with shorts.

I love a simple but well put together outfit. Solids are great so I'm going to try not to get distracted by too many prints.

I also still love skirts! And I'm going to be focusing on flats for footwear in keeping with my desire for comfortable clothes.

More cuteness! As far as jewelry goes, I mostly wear earrings. Studs are my favorite so I'd totally wear these cute floral ones.

Hopefully, I'll be able to work my wardrobe to look like some of these great outfit ideas.