The Self Made Wardrobe

an embroidered skirt project that I started long before this project was an idea, and will probably still be working on long after this project ends

I’m envisioning this as a 13 month long project. I’ll take one month (this month, May 2014) to ‘prep’ (build clothes, get the blog going, make some plans, save my sanity, etcetera, etcetera.) and then I’ll wear the wardrobe for a year.

If I had planned the timing better, I would have shifted the start of wearing the wardrobe to line up with Me-Made-May, ah well. But I’ll definitely be following along and trying to pick up some tips.

But! My missed timing also means that I’ll end the year with a Me-Made-May! So maybe it wasn’t such poor timing after all.

Anyway.

May is going to be a month of ‘prep’ lots of making clothes, planning clothes, pinterest pinning, plus writing about clothes & philosophizing about clothes and sprinkled with a bit of freaking-the-fuck-out.

Then April 1st I’ll start wearing my self-made wardrobe and posting daily outfit photos here. I’ll post a daily outfit photos along with new pieces I’m working on, garments I’ve finished, and excerpts from the book that I’m writing to go along with this project.

I’ll keep that up until the end of May 2015. Then there will probably be some sort of wrap up, but I’m not sure what form that will take.

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This will certainly be an adventure…

the original idea, scribbled in a notebook

The super duper basic idea, is that I want to create a self-made wardrobe, and then I want to wear that wardrobe for a year.

I’ve been telling myself for years that I’d add more clothes made by me to my wardrobe. But I’ve never gotten around to it.

I design lace shawls, so I’ve knit piles upon piles of lace, but I can’t wear those. And I design costumes, so I’ve made lots and lots of clothes, just not for me. I think at the moment I have a couple skirts, a sweater or two, and piles of shawls. (I guess if push comes to shove I could drape those shawls into something, but it won’t come to that. Fingers crossed.)

I figure if I’m ever going to have a wardrobe that includes pieces made by me, I need to do it as a project.

And my hope is that by documenting this as a blog, and as a book, that it’ll help you bring a new level of awareness to your wardrobe. If you want to make your own clothes, I hope this project will make the idea of your own self-made wardrobe feel more accessible. And if you don’t want to make your own clothes, (that’s totally cool!) then I hope this project will help you clarify what you want your wardrobe to do for your.

Anyway. That’s the basic idea. One wardrobe, entirely self-made, for one year.

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