When Honey and I ran errands on Saturday, I saw this scarf in a charity shop window. I asked inside for the price, and before I even heard the ‘£2.99’, I knew I was taking it home.
I washed the scarf on Sunday and couldn’t wait to iron before wearing it to work today. The jewel tones means it will match nearly everything I wear. Yay.
I outgrew my wedding dress a year or so ago and have been working with skirts since then. I don’t know when I’ll make/encounter my next dress, but this I know: it will need to have a full circle skirt (I’d compromise with a 3/4 circle) and be green.
My walking trousers were a very light colour: a pale sandy moving into grey. I was dyeing something else brown and chucked them into the wash. Even though they’re 100% polyester, they picked up a surprising amount of colour.
I love them more now that I feel that they’re ‘designed’ for playing in the dirt.
In November, Honey and I ran a craft stall for the day for my mother in law; we spent a lot of money at the other stalls!
We both left with new wool Arran jumpers made by Squiddly Bean. My jumper is a bit more teal than it looks here and it has become my winter uniform, getting use nearly every day.
We also brought home some plants, as we tend to do wherever we go…
In May, I realised that I no longer had a dressy bottom garment when needed. My formerly dressy-ish trousers had degraded into acceptably average and the modification to expand a skirt’s waistband only bought me a few extra weeks.
On a Friday night alone, I cranked up NPR and pulled this gorgeous teal wool knit from my stash. I was methodical about measuring, flattening the fabric many times and repinning, as my Mother-in-Law taught me as we began making my wedding dress. I made an infinity dress without the top half by omitting the straps and doing a yoga waistband for the band.
I followed the directions and used the stretchiest direction for the waist. Don’t do this. I had read many comments warning against this and heeded them when I made my wedding dress and wish I had remembered for the skirt. It’s nice for a casual day or event but, as I learned at a recent wedding, not the best waistband for a ceilidh outfit! The fabric is just a bit too heavy for that.
But oh, do I love circle skirts!
Remember when I said I wouldn’t be buying any new clothes for the school year? Well, we’re going to have to call it a short university year! Although I thought I would have more than enough clothing to last me through the year, I didn’t count on both wearing through things and gaining weight.
Not planning on gaining weight? Yeah, rookie mistake, I know. Considering my size has been stable for two years and I am in my mid 30s and had never been able to gain weight when I tried, I just didn’t think I could. I have slowly (and happily) crept up the scales since going gluten and dairy free last summer and imagine that I am now around the weight I would have been ages ago had my body been able to absorb the nutrients I was shoveling into it. My formerly loose clothing is now just on the other side of fitting.
One pair of jeans were no longer tolerable to wear as they pinched my thighs (as far as I can tell, there is no internet hack for that!) so I was down to one pair with some stretch in them that grew with me. They’re on their last (two) legs though and I couldn’t wear them all week to work. In looking to replace them, I visited charity shop after charity shop: over 30 visits until I finally found a pair that fits well! For some reason, while I can find jeans that fit me somewhat easily in the US, I can almost never find jeans that accommodate certain curves here. In fact, after about two weeks of wearing my new jeans, I read the label and discovered they were made in the US. I haven’t taken a shot of them, but they’re just a dark wash pair of jeans that I hemmed using this technique.
This skirt now has to sit so high up that the zip digs into my ribs all day. I was going to add a triangle of fabric in the zip area but the insert would have needed to be pretty wide and tall and would have been visible below any shirt. I pondered cutting it, raising it up, and adding elastic to the waist but the shaping is so nice in the lower back area I didn’t want to ruin it for someone else if I end up donating it. So I grabbed this skirt out one evening after work and tried it on. I yanked it off and knew immediately what I would do with it! Since it had a button, I could just make a button panel to add in without damaging the integrity of the design and giving myself a bit more (actual) breathing room. I was really proud of my buttonholing… 
and of the reclaimed comfort factor while knowing the modification will be hidden.
I have been invited to talk about the Girl Scouts USA at an upcoming Girl Guiding weekend. I was thrilled to be asked and then realised that I did not have a GS pin here with me, or even a world association pin. What’s a good Girl Scout to do to make sure she represents her home organisation? Use her resources wisely and head upstairs to see what fabric awaits in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ hall (aka room), and make what Girl Scout summer camp staff would recognise as a staff tie.
Traditionally, someone else has to tie the friendship knot in the centre so I talked Honey through the process. Since I don’t have my membership pin in Scotland, I used the closest pin I could to hold its place.
When playing on polyvore and trying to figure out my next Project 333 wardrobe, I realised that there were only a few things I owned but didn’t wear. I got rid of them and with that subtraction, choosing 33 items for 3 months would mean that I only boxed away a handful of items like a summer top or light cardigan.
That inspired me to stretch the season of everything I have: my summer top, for instance, gets an extra pop of colour when layered with a modern thermal.
With this challenge comes two realisations: I have more than enough outfits for a range of occasions, and I get the most excited/nostalgic for wardrobe changes in the fall and summer.
Inspiration × Realisation = I am pledging to not buy new clothes for the school year.
Sometime last year I came across this Oscar Wilde quote: ‘To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all’ and felt that it was the perfect reminder.
When I find myself timidly holding back from ideas or plans for fear that they won’t go perfectly, fretting about the future and wondering if we’ll ever pass on to the next positive rite of passage, or not being grateful for every breathing moment enjoyed by my family or my body, I need something to bring me back to the present. Something to remind me to reflect on everything that we have right now in our lives.
Now, with just a flash of the wrist I have that reminder. After searching for the right size, shape and style of bracelet for a long time, I found this bracelet and a seller on Etsy. After finding out that aandlengraving would engrave two lines of text, we ordered this bracelet for my Christmas.
When I took some of my autumn wardrobe out (storing seasons is a nicety, not a necessity in this climate) I didn’t tuck the summer away and ended up having most of my clothes out at once. I had also picked up a few new things at the charity shop. My wardrobe ended up chaotic and reminded me of why I do the Project 333 in the first place: less stress over getting dressed, knowing exactly what outfits I have for each occasion, and a simplified approach to maintaining the clothing.
After bringing in these new additions, I’ve donated a few more things, put some away for another season, and have put some into a thinking space to question whether I need them.
This (created in Polyvore) is my 333 for the next three months.
