15. The Everyday Wardrobe

If you haven't read this post on Sewaholic, read it now!  Cake vs Frosting.  I only just discovered it and I found myself nodding the whole time.  Seriously, how many dress patterns do I own?  How many have I actually made?  How many do I actually wear?  This summer I have only worn ONE.  (It is the Tessuti Lily Linen dress which I have been meaning to blog about but haven't.  Silly really since I have been wearing it nearly non-stop.)

Then read this about The Everyday Wardrobe about sewing clothes you will actually wear!  What a concept!

And then this post by Scared Stitchless about the fabric you buy and the fabric that you would wear.  I have 12, yes TWELVE, 53L plastic tubs full of fabric.  Some it dates back to when Ballantynes sold fabric downstairs and their toilets had a 10c coin slot to get in the door (early 90's).  Without a doubt I will never wear some of it but I have this inability to just let go...

Anyway, the point is that I only work 3 days a week in a very casual environment where if I wanted to I could wear jeans or Hard Yakka to work and I would fit in.  The other days I am a Mum which means comfortable clothes which you can go down a slide in.  I try to get "dressed up" for work but that just means I wear trousers instead of jeans otherwise my wardrobe is the same day in, day out.

As we are moving to a bigger house and consequently a bigger mortgage, it is time to tighten the belt and cut out the unneccesary spending.  I don't spend much on clothes but it finally dawned on me to make clothes out of my stash. 

The first problem is that I don't really have any patterns for Everyday clothes (what have I been buying?).

So I bought a pattern which I first saw on SewBrunswick - the Grainline Studio Scout Tee which is only $US6.50.  A bargin.  I have made one:

 And this is another in progress:

I found that if I added a centre back seam and used pre-made bias binding for the neck I could get the top out of 1.2m - yay me (as this is all I bought of the small flower print).

Both are from the lovely Japanese Tana Lawn range at Spotlight.

I will do a proper post with photos of these tops ON ME as that is so important for you to see the fit.