I was ruthless …

… let me start at the beginning…

I, Linda of Nice dress! Thanks, I made it!! sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’15. I endeavour to wear one handmade item each day for the duration of May 2015. #mmmay15

I did this challenge for the first time last year and loved it! It was a stretch to make it through the month, but I got a good look at the “holes” in my handmade wardrobe.  This year I plan on filling those “holes”!

Of course, I had some cleaning up and organizing to do first.  My closet and drawers were so stuffed it was a struggle to get anything out!

It’s been a while since I weeded out my clothes, so being fresh off my jeans and Capris projects, I decided not to sew anymore until I assessed what I had already.

I started by taking everything out of my drawers and closet and piling them all over the room – dresses in a pile, shirts in a pile, etc.  (The cats loved it!)

Then I sorted through each pile and assessed each item like so:

* does it fit?

* has it been worn in the last year?

* is it still my kind of thing, will I ever wear it again?

* does it need repair or refashioning?

After assessment, I either hung the garment in the closet, put it in my “repair or refashion” pile or put it in my DONATE pile.  The DONATES I quickly gathered up and ran out of the room – to be taken to the second hand or charity store on my next trip.

During my on-line reading on “closet organizing” I found a great helper from Vogue.com

Another tip I found on-line was to hang everything up in the closet with all the hangers backwards – why? because when you take a garment out of the closet you are going to hang it back up correctly afterwards. Therefore after six months or so, anything that is still hanging backwards might quite possibly be something that hits the DONATE box next time.

When I did hang my clothes back up, I made sure that all the pants were not only together, but were also grouped by colour, same with the skirts, dresses, tops, etc., and, at the same time, I made sure I wrote down what were the “holes” in my wardrobe.  So here is my “holes” list:

* solid black, solid blue and solid red tops – I have quite a few print skirts in various colours, but no solid coloured tops to wear with them!

* solid black and solid brown cardigans – Handy for layering over anything I wear to the office – where first it’s hot, then it’s cold!

* a solid red skirt, not a necessity, but I’ve always wanted a Sewaholic Holyburn!

* a red print top, not a necessity at all, but a Sewaholic Oakridge would look really nice with my Holyburn!

I found a few garments that I could repair or refashion too.  A skirt too long, one too short.  A shift dress that should really be a top.  A waistband too tight.  That sort of thing.

I also found a couple of shoe boxes in the back of my closet, one contained letters our kids (now in their 20’s) wrote to Santa.  The other contained 27 year old shoes.  The shoes I wore on one occasion… our wedding.

I don’t even think I could fit my toes into these now, let alone stand in them!  (Those two boxes went safely back into hiding in the back of my closet.)

I still haven’t tackled the box that contains my purses… I mean it’s not a ridiculous amount, but it’s still gonna hurt!

Are you joining us in Me-Made-May’15?  What have you got stashed in your closet?

Happy Sewing!

PS – the Vogue.com chart tells me to get rid of the shoes and keep the photo instead (framed)… Gosh!  This isn’t as easy as it seemed at the start!