The Simple Wardrobe, Part 4 - A Sort-of-Tutorial

Well, I didn't really think I'd be sharing my color palette photo when I made it, so it's a little less than stellar.  Sorry about that.  But, it serves it's purpose.

When it comes to simplifying my wardrobe (google things like: minimalist wardrobe), I've been researching other people's blog posts for quite some time now.  Almost all of them talk about choosing a cohesive color scheme.  That way, all of your clothes match so you're able to get the maximum amount of outfits from the minimum amount of clothing.  I'm not sure that my wardrobe will qualify as a minimalist wardrobe, even when I'm done with it, but it still seems like this color scheme idea could apply to me.

It was one of the hardest things for me to get on board with, but I kept reminding myself how difficult the 3 jumpers (sorry, everything goes back to that one experience, doesn't it?) experience was, because I didn't think it through very well and decided to do a black, a gray, and a brown jumper.  Well, lots of things might match with black and gray, but not all of those same things match with brown.  And while lots of things might match with brown, they don't all match with black (navy blue, anyone?).  Thankfully, I was a foreigner in Korea, so everything I did was inexplicable and it didn't particularly matter what I wore.

So, this time, I wanted to really bite the bullet and get a color scheme going.  Unfortunately, that is not as easy as it sounds!  You can't just pick your favorite color and go from there.  You also can't just pick a bunch of random colors.

I did know that I wanted to minimize black.  With the 3 jumpers, the black one faded enough that I didn't appreciate it, and it was also incredibly hot in the summer.  To the point that it wasn't worth wearing.  So, I may make a black dress, but it won't be one that I will wear every day.

No black then.

That left brown, white/cream, gray and navy blue as my neutrals.  And olive-ish green, too, I guess.

Then I thought: I'm choosing a color palette!  Why not pick an inspiration picture?

Nerdy, yes.  Effective?  Also yes.

I googled "art", went to "images", and selected the blue colored box as a filter because I knew I wanted at least one blue dress.

I came up with Van Gogh's A Starry Night.  It works for me for several reasons.  It's got a lot of neutrals with very little black if you look closely.  It also has yellow, which is my all-time favorite color and I wear it quite a bit in fact.  Both of my favorite sweaters are yellow.

So, I ended up with a color palette that works with what I already have.  And I think that's the hardest part.  Trying to figure out the essential pieces in your wardrobe that you most love, and how they might fit together into one cohesive color palette.

Once I'd done that, I bought the book I've been saving up all of SwagBucks for!  Simple Modern Sewing.  Yes, I paid for almost the whole thing (except for $1.47) with SwagBucks!

The book was originally in Japanese (Japanese fashion is just to die for, imo) and it's been translated, but it's still a little different than an American pattern/pattern book, from what I've read.  Apparently, it doesn't factor your seam allowances in, so you have to do that yourself.  But even more importantly, the patterns are very, very small.  As in, the largest size is comparable to a 4-6 American size. I'm going to figure it out and make it work for myself because I want this wrap dress!

I'm sure I could make it without this particular pattern, but why try?  I love this one so much.

For more pictures from this lovely book, go to the Interweave Press website.

I was going to share some fabric choices I've been looking at and discuss the benefits of prints vs. solids in clothing (when you're as clumsy and disastrous with food/drinks/paint/everything as I am!), but I think I'll save that for tomorrow!  For now, I leave you with this lovely dress and the admonition to go create a color palette for your closet!  It's not necessarily easy, but find an inspiration picture, either online or in a magazine, and then use some paints, or cut up some magazine pages to pull your favorite colors out of that picture.  It

 

actually helped me quite a bit when thinking about what I needed/wanted in a wardrobe.

Now, I need to go do some other decluttering.  Have a very pretty Wednesday!

Down to Earth, the new book by Rhonda Hetzel

borrowed from: down to earth

One of my favorite bloggers of all time, Rhonda Hetzel from the Down to Earth blog, has a new book coming out!  It's been a long time coming for her and oh, how beautiful it looks.

Her blog is just lovely.  She very thoughtfully writes about how she and her husband have changed their lives to live more simply, and how you might do the same.  Some of my favorite posts from her have been about things like her housekeeping routine, keeping backyard chickens, and how to make cold processed soap.  I specifically remember one post in which she said something like... "There's no need to feel a sense of urgency where your housework is concerned.  You don't need to rush around, trying to get everything done all at once because the fact is that your housework will never be done.  There will always be another dish to wash, another spill on the kitchen floor that requires mopping.  So, just keep working at it and do what you can in a day so you won't get burnt out."

That's a total paraphrase, but it had such an impact on me.  As messy as my house is, I'm a die hard perfectionist and I apply my perfectionism most harshly to my home.  Ironically, I think that's one reason it gets so out of hand.  Because I work really, really hard to make it absolutely perfect and then, the next day, there's more laundry to do and more dishes and more dirt on the floor!  And I end up giving up, because it can never be perfect.

Rhonda has taught me that life isn't perfect.  And I remember her words, so that every day, I just try to keep working at it.  Not to worry that I probably won't get ALL the laundry done and all the floors swept and mopped and vacuumed and the bathroom spotless and every other thing I need to do so that the house looks like a page from Country Living Magazine.  Because, if I'm working, and if I just keep working it will all get done.  It just won't all get done today, and maybe not tomorrow, but possibly by the day after that, or maybe a little later.  But getting it all done at once is no longer the goal.  Accepting the role of continually keeping the house, continually working to make our lives better, that is the goal.

Rhonda, and her blog, are a complete inspiration for me and I find myself, especially on my most down-trodden-of-feelings days, returning there, reading and rereading her posts, and finding that I'm not alone.  And that it's okay to be perfectly normal.

So, you should really, really go check out her post about pre-ordering her new book, "Down to Earth - a guide to simple living".  She gives you a few pictures, tells you where you can pre-order the book, and provides a link to the Penguin website where you can "Look Inside" at the table of contents and the first couple pages of the book.  Oh, it's just beautiful, it really is.  You know how I love pictures and these pictures are truly lovely.

I'm super excited to get my copy when it comes out!  I just know it will be wonderful.  I love Rhonda's simple, concise style of writing and I can't wait to see how it's been applied to a book format.

Check her blog out, too!  You'll fall in love, I promise.  With chickens and gardening, knitting and mending and preserving and baking bread and making soap.....

And if you haven't already, I'll bet you'll even start to ask yourself how these things could be possible for you to do and that's a slippery slope I'm so excited for you to tumble down!