Wardrobe DONE!

And I love this one more than the last one!!!

I used all Ottobre and Jalie patterns for this wardrobe. This was my plan and I mostly stuck with it. The only deviation I made was with the bomber jacket. I had planned to use a busy white/black Liverpool knit and instead used a woven, non-stretch wool fabric on the front. The woven was white/black/gray but a much more subdued print. Also, for the dress, I didn’t have a thin denim so I shopped my stash.

To make it a “real” capsule wardrobe, I tried to keep the number of shoes to four. This is only a few of the combinations that I could have put on. Since the black leggings and the black Eleonore jeans look similar on the camera, I didn’t do all the combinations. When I do this again, I’ll remember to make the bottoms neutral but not so similar. The leggings and the jeans are almost the same garment. But, how much do you guys love this???? I love all the combinations here.

Ottobre 05/2015 – Long Cardigan
I made this long cardigan out of a wool knit. I used a decorative stitch on my machine to make the cream lines. You can see from above that it’s about knee length. I like it and it’s super cozy, but I worry that it looks sloppy. What do you guys think? Out of everything, this is my least favorite garment. I do love it, but maybe it’s too big? Long? Brown?

Ottobre 05/2016 Knit Tunic
I made this tunic before and wear it all the time. I knew I’d wear this one too.

Jalie Charlie Bomber Jacket
I’ve made this a couple of times already. This is a fabulous pattern. This time, I made the front out of a non-stretch woven that I found at Value Village. Yes, I found this thick, plush knit at Value Village. The back and sleeves are a wool knit.

Jalie Eleonore Jeans
These are black, but are all washed out in this picture. These fit well and are super comfortable. This black denim is really stretchy so hopefully they don’t bag out after a few hours. I kept the pockets plain on these. I’ve made this pattern so many times!

Ottobre 05/2017 – Elastic-backed Trousers
These pants are so interesting. The front is constructed like a normal pair of trousers. The back is totally NOT constructed like anything I’ve seen before. The back is folded down over thick elastic. So they are elastic-waisted pants, but don’t look like it. On top of that, the fabric is stretchy so they are, like, the MOST COMFORTABLE pants ever.

Here’s where the front waistband and back waistband attach. The back waistband isn’t attached completely, but just topstitched on the darts and the CB. It’s really interesting construction and it makes for really comfortable pants.

Ottobre 02/2017 Shirt Dress
This is my favorite piece in my whole capsule. It goes with everything and I can wear it alone if I’m feeling racy. This fabric was also found at Value Village. I’m pretty sure it’s a silk blend. It has that silk smell when you iron it. Can you believe that I found this at Value Village? I’m going to start looking for fabric there more often.

Definitely too short for work!

This dress looks good with everything!

Jalie Marie-Claude Knit Top
I love this knit top. This is my sixth time making this top and I really love it. (Kid version 1 & 2, adult version 3 & 4)  I love that you can tuck it in or out. This is a cotton Knit from Girl Charlee. This is the slouchy turtleneck with sleeve cuffs. 

Ottobre 05/2016
These are just regular ol’ black leggings because they go with EVERYTHING. This is a matte-finish black Nike Fit fabric. This is all washed out so you can see that there are no crotch wrinkles. This is a great fitting pair of leggings. 

Jalie Helene
This is my first time making this cardigan. Of course, since it’s a Jalie, it does not disappoint. I love the cozy pockets!

Ottobre 05/2008
Whoops, I didn’t take an individual picture of this one. I’ve made this before also. Last time I made it in a size 36, and it was too big. This top is the one that is super bright and has the cowl neck.

My favorites are pretty much anything with the dress and anything with the gray trousers. What about you guys? What are your favorites??

Fall Capsule Wardrobe

After my success with my last wardrobe, I decided to try out another one. I really wear a lot of items from my last wardrobe so it was well worth the time invested in it. Of the items I made, I never really wore the capri length Eleonore pants much, I think it was the color and the length. I also don't wear the blue cardigan much. I think the main issue is with the fabric. It is kind of flowy and slippery and seems to just float up and off my shoulders when I am walking. If I were a movie star or a model, it would be fantastic. Instead, it just makes me look like my clothes are sloppy and falling off as I walk down a hallway. I wear everything else pretty consistently and my favorites are the orange cardigan, the dark blue eleonores, and the orange/gray striped shirt. For this capsule wardrobe, I again used the system at Putting Me Together. Her "system" is 4 tops, 3 bottoms, and 3 "completer pieces" like cardigans, blazers, shawl, etc. I'm deviating slightly because one of my tops is actually going to be a long tunic/short dress.

Most of the patterns are Ottobre with a few Jalies in there. I love me some bomber jacket so I had to make another one.

Here are all the fabrics I plan to use. Well, except for the thin denim for the Ottobre dress. From left to right: Liverpool knit for the bomber jacket, a thicker wool knit for the loooong Ottobre cardigan, black Nike Dri-Fit for the leggings, a gray stretch wool, a red/purple knit for the Jalie Marie-Claude turtleneck, a zebra-ish knit for the Ottobre tunic, a black stretch denim, a crazy tribal-ish knit for the Ottobre turtleneck, and a thick gray sweatshirt fabric for the Jalie Helene cardigan. I'm wanting a warm, cozy wardrobe.  

Here's a close-up of the knit tops. I like the tops to be crazy and wild and the bottoms to be neutral. That way it's easier to mix things together. The two on the ends are from Girl Charlee and the middle one is from the National City Swap Meet.

These are the fabrics for the "completer pieces". They should be nice and warm. I'm all about cozy warm in the winter. 

And our beast is settling in well. Her favorite is warm laundry. If I were her, I'd do the same thing. 

Do you guys have fun fall sewing plans??

Help with alterations . . .

Okay. I made these Ottobre pants back in January. I have never really loved the fit in the crotch. They are super baggy in the front crotch and tight in the butt. Little miss thang is needing a larger size, but I want to make them fit better this time.

 

Here’s what I’m thinking. The front crotch rise is way too long and the back is too short. I’m pretty good at fitting my body type, but this is not my body type and I have no idea what to do.

 

I’m pretty sure she also needs a larger size plus some extra room in the rear.

 

Here is the crux of the problem, the pants are being pushed down in the front so she doesn’t need as much room in the front rise.

 

This is not the actual Ottobre pattern, just a generic one-piece legging pattern.

 

Does this look like what I want to do? Slice the CB and add an extra bit of room and slice the CF and take out some of the extra room that is there?

 

I’m MUCH better drawing on paper, but this is how it would change the pattern piece. Help me, oh gurus of crotch sewing! Am I on the right track??

And my Capsule Wardrobe is coming along smashingly. I have just two pieces left to finish. I will let you see them all when I’m done, but it you want a sneaky peaky, you can look at the "Sewing With Jalie” Facebook page. I put some garment photos on there and I can say I’m LOVING THEM ALL.

Capsule Wardrobe for Me

I’ve been really interested in this capsule wardrobe idea for a while now. Yes, I’ve done the SWAP on Pattern Review and even won it once. But for some reason, I never seem to wear those peices often or together. I hate, hate, hate having those pieces in your wardrobe that take up space and never really go with anything. I’ve been pinning capsule wardrobes for a while now (all my other boards on Pinterest) and I want to do one on my own just to see if I will actually wear everything together. Eventually I want to make a school appropriate capsule wardrobe for my kids. Especially the little one. She tends to either 1) wear the same items over and over again, or 2) wear all her crazy print pieces together. I think if I made a wardrobe and put up little pictures/drawings for her, she could pick and choose what goes together and actually look somewhat put together.

I have really fallen in love with the blog, PuttingMeTogether.com. She’s got great easy stuff and I like her laid back style. She’s got some great tips on how to make a mix and match wardrobe. She has a quick and easy formula and that’s what I’m using for this little experiement. I’ll be modifying this just a bit to include two scarves and as many damn pairs of shoes as I want. :) This is from my closet, not for a trip.

(from: PuttingMeTogether.com)

• 4 tops
• 3 different colored bottoms - skirts, pants, shorts, etc.  Each bottom needs to go with at least 3 out of 4 tops, but you'll maximize your outfits if they each go with all tops.
• 3 completer pieces - The more different they are from each other, the more varied your outfits will look.  For example, a vest looks and provides a much different feeling for an outfit than a cardigan while two cardigans of different colors might feel the same after a while.  Not always, though!  And if you don't care as much about outfit variety then it doesn't matter either.  This year I went with a pullover sweater instead of a third completer piece.  I like how it worked out!
• 2 pairs of shoes - I usually limit it to just 2, and in this case it's a pair of riding boots and a pair of ankle boots.  They're both neutrals so I can wear either of them with any outfit. 
• 1 scarf - Usually I've gone with 2 scarves, but this year I only felt the need for one and I think it worked out fine.  Plus, I realized scarves are actually kind of chunky and take up as much, if not more, packing space than adding another top.  I could have easily added a 5th top in the place of that 2nd scarf that I didn't pack.  
• A handful of necklaces - This year I think I only used 2 necklaces, whereas in the past I might have used more.  I think it's because I brought more patterned pieces this time. 

 

Here’s what I’ve come up with (shocking they are mostly Jalie, I know):

You can see I went with a blue/orange group of colors. If you followed along with my last SWAP from Pattern Review, you will know this is totally different than last time. I’ll give you guys updates along the way. I’m not planning on putting these pieces into rotation until the whole she-bang is done. Then I’ll take a billion pictures and you can let me know if you like the whole concept start to finish.

 

And because my dog is hairy, cute, and wet right now.