After spending most of the weekend working on painting the skirt, I still had no sewing mojo. So after cooking dinner, I decided to try a few things on for work this week. Now to be perfectly honest, I've been dreading this...heading into my closet and looking closely at what's residing there. I've definitely been putting it off because of the weight loss and the job change.
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However, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Yes, I did end up with a huge carpenter size garbage bag full of things to be donated, but I also found my old business casual wardrobe stuffed way in the back of the closet. Things I shared here years ago!
Things like this:
This skirt was blogged about here.
This skirt was in the same post above.
...and this skirt was in this blog post.
All of these skirts were made in 2006, back when I worked in a large financial institution and the dress code was business casual. I wore a skirt and a twinset or a skirt, tank top and cardigan in the summertime...occasionally I wore a dress but not often. My picture taking skills left much to be desired...hahahaha!
After finding these pieces and adding some cardigans from the collection to them, I felt like I'd found myself again. First off they all fit again, thank goodness! Why I held onto them so long I have no idea, since I'm usually cleaning things out with a quickness, but I'm glad I did!
Second, they will work in my new environment without making me stand out. Even though I received great advice that it's okay to stand out...I'd rather look like I'm part of the team. As it is I'm still going to be a little more "dressed" than some of my fellow employees, but I won't be "overdressed."
The title of this post is "Closet Cull" so to keep it on track, I tried on every summer dress that was left in the closet. Then I set up three piles ~ keep, donate, will be fixed. I ended up with about 25 more dresses being added to the donate pile. A few have been designated fixable...some lay on my cutting table and some are in the closet waiting their turn.
Originally I thought I would list all of the dresses that are going away but it's just too much! Suffice it to say that almost every summer dress that I've made in the last 3-4 years, no longer resides in my closet. I've also decided that the yellow dress featured in my last Closet Cull post is not worth saving. It was donated as was this one ~ which is one of my favorite makes:
As I fix dresses, I will share them with you since this is a much smaller list.
It was interesting that as I touched each one of the dresses to be given away, I could remember the inspiration, buying the fabric, and the hours spent constructing each garment. To say that this is a milestone in my life both creatively and professionally is an understatement.
I wrote this blog post in May 2013 about my wardrobe. I stumbled upon it when I was looking for pics for this post. So much of what I wrote is still true regarding my feelings on my wardrobe...so much so that I wonder how interesting my blog posts are going to be now. I guess we'll see...
...as always more later!