Changing Your Clothes

Shopping, Sewing, Upcycling, Repairing: Make the most of your clothes!

Category Archives: General

Whatever doesn’t fit easily into one of the other categories!


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Warm Evenings 2: How I Dressed Up My Coat

After writing my last post about evening coats (Warm Evenings: Dress Up Your Coat!), I got to thinking: what is that makes a coat “evening”, anyway? Sure, there are the duchesse-satin numbers, the velvet wraps, even some occasional cape drama— but how many of us own any of these, or want to? Since I’m not on the socialite circuit, let alone on the red carpet (yet), where’s the use value? Even with all the financial doom-and-gloominess, we still want to buy new clothes— we just expect more versatility. As I suggested in the previous post, why can’t one coat work for everyday use, as well as for dressier occasions?

To get into that day-coat-for-evening concept a little more, I thought I’d let you in on my getting-ready-for-the-museum-party (mentioned in the previous post) thought process.

Step 1: Pick a dress. I narrowed my choices down to 3 possibilities: the favorite, the pinch-hitter, and the in-case-of-emergency. And here’s where I ran into my problem. As I was trying on my favorite (a 1950s fit-and-flare-silhouette dress that I made with pale aqua silk noil to which I added an overlay of dark brown metallic lace), I suddenly realized it’s November, this dress is sleeveless — I have to wear a coat. Or something of that ilk. Problem: I have no coat/wrap/cape that’s the right combination of color and look to work with this dress.

So I ended up wearing my pinch-hitter dress: a bias-cut print silk georgette, one of my favorites; I got this from Anthropologie over 6 years ago, and I love it just as much now, but it’s quite definitely a summer dress. (Anthropologie called it the “Surrealist Dress”, which made it seem all the more appropriate for a night at the museum.) Here it is:

Surrealist Dress Surrealist Dress from Anthropologie; not exactly cold-weather wear! Continue reading →


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Warm Evenings: Dress Up Your Coat!

Last night, I was trying to decide what to wear to the Portland Art Museum’s member party. Since this was the first time I’ve gone to an event like this in Portland, I wasn’t sure exactly what would constitute an appropriate ensemble; all I knew was that it was in the evening, there would be food, wine, live music, and dancing. A dress seemed indicated. However…

You know how sometimes you base an entire outfit around a fabulous pair of shoes? Well, as I was trying to get ready, it dawned on me that I might just have to choose my dress to go with a coat, instead of the other way around. To the coat closet I went, only to discover that anything that could remotely be construed as “evening” was not going to work with any of my dresses. (In my defense, I have been uncharacteristically ruthless with my recent closet purges, and it was warm and dry for so long this year that this issue really hadn’t come up.)

What kinds of coats actually do work for evening? I suspect most of us don’t really want to invest in coats we’ll only wear occasionally, so is it possible to find coats that work for day as well as for dressier events? If so, where can we find these happy hybrids? Continue reading →


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Feeling Blue? Dressing to Change your Mood

A few days ago, I was having a low moment. Well, more than just a moment. I was wearing faded jeans and a black cardigan over a grey camisole. What does that have to do with it? Okay, there’s a chicken-or-the-egg aspect: was I wearing dull colors because I was feeling down, or feeling down because I was wearing dull colors? Either way, if I think about it in a Pythagorean kind of way, changing my clothes (or at least adding some color) should logically change my spirits.

But… implementing this sort of clothes-minded therapy requires making a conscious choice.

Continue reading →


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It’s I Love Yarn Day! Celebrate with FREE shipping at Knittique!

Yes, folks, it’s true, today is indeed I Love Yarn Day. To celebrate this auspicious occasion, I’m having a today-only free shipping flash sale at my Etsy shop! Just go to the Knittique shop to get the discount code that’s in the shop announcement (under the Knittique banner). Then go find yourself all kinds of fibery fun (it’s good for you, after all), and when you check out, apply your discount code, which will automatically remove the shipping charges.

The Fade to Black skein The Fade to Black skein; click the picture to go directly to this skein in my Etsy shop.

Continue reading →


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Markham Caerus: Nothing to do with clothes, but still cool!

To all my clothes-minded friends, I can only apologize for the following message. (You proud parents will understand, I’m sure.) It’s a shameless promotion for my archaeologist daughter Valerie’s brand-new website, Markham Caerus, named for her research project into protecting works of art and antiquities from theft and looting. (Yes, she describes the origin of the name on the About Markham Caerus page— you’ll love it!)

Markham Caerus

Markham Caerus, my daughter’s project and new website! (Click the image to go straight there.)

Valerie has also just started a blog, A Year in Provenance (right here on WordPress!), which goes into lots of detail about the issues she intends to address, most of which I myself was completely unaware of. (Example: profits from the illegal sales of stolen art and artifacts go directly to finance other crimes.) So in case you’re wondering why this should matter, this fascinating blog will convince you! And thank you all in advance for checking it out, along with Valerie’s new website!

And now, back to our regularly-scheduled programming… er, posting…


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Lindy Reads: The Thoughtful Dresser

The Thoughtful Dresser, a book by Linda Grant that started as a blog, is one of my favorite clothes-related reads in the past few years. (Click here to go to Linda’s blog; click here to find the book for sale at Amazon.) Its subtitle, The Art of Adornment, The Pleasures of Shopping, and Why Clothes Matter, really describes the content so well that I don’t have anything to add. Except, now that I think about it, that this book not only relates some remarkable stories of the ways in which clothes can transform lives, it also dispels the erroneous mindset that people who love fashion are superficial (or worse, boring). I highly recommend this book, and would love to know what you think of it!

The Thoughtful Dresser

The Thoughtful Dresser, by Linda Grant: one of my favorite books on the subject of clothes. (Click on the picture to go to Linda’s blog.)


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In Transition: A Postscript

After my last two posts (In Transition and In Transition Encore), I just wanted to add a few words on why I’m exploring this topic. I mean, it’s enough work to come up with seasonal wardrobes in the first place— now we have to mix them together?!

Every year I have the same struggle with getting my summer wardrobe together: why should I invest a lot of money, time, and effort into hot-weather clothes that in all likelihood will only be worn for a few weeks out of the year? (This applies to clothes that are bought, as well as ones that I make myself.) Well, as I’ve been finding out this year, the key is in planning. If I put more of the up-front effort into strategic planning, it should not only save shopping time, but also the time I might otherwise spend later in either returning items that don’t work, or in taking them to the thrift store. Not to mention whatever it takes to replace those rejected pieces! Continue reading →


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In Transition Encore: Fall into a Summer Dress

As promised, here is another trio of transitional fall outfits, each based on the same summery dress shown here. This is a cotton jersey knit, so it’s basically a long sleeveless T-shirt, to be honest. (Actually, I made this dress with the same pattern, Vogue 1234, as the printed one in my Santa Fe wardrobe; the only difference is that this one doesn’t have the cap sleeves. They look really different, don’t they?) I love the tie-dye print in these bright, rich oranges, which incidentally is a great color for fall.

Cotton jersey knit summer dress; the interesting draping at the sides makes the hemline nearly ankle-length at its longest point, which bodes well for making it work for fall. Continue reading →


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In Transition: Wearing Your Summer Clothes in the Fall

After my last post, in which I mentioned that the darker stripes on the sides of my linen trousers might enable them to be worn into the fall, I decided to follow up on that and show some actual examples of how I would do that. (All these outfits came out of what I already have in my closet, by the way. Everything I write about here comes out of my own experience— and closet.)

Outfit #1:

Linen Trousers Fall Outfit 1 Linen trousers for fall, outfit #1: Here I’ve simply added a mohair and silk sweater and fab color-blocked suede heels. Continue reading →


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Changing Their Clothes: The Reinvention of 5 Classic Labels

Pringle of Scotland, Belstaff, Kenzo, Moncler, Pierre Cardin: 5 long-time fashion labels are reinventing their classic images with 21st-century style. Take a look at this slideshow, courtesy of Refinery 29.

Pierre Cardin, shown in July 2012

Pierre Cardin, shown in July 2012 (click on the photo to go to the slideshow)

I find this so inspiring— if a company like Pringle, which has been around since 1815 (!), can not only keep up, but also add something unique to the ever-changing fashion landscape, surely we can too!  And it shouldn’t require completely doing away with the old; Pringle has, for example, taken the classic tartans and argyles from their style archives and given them a fresh modern twist. Moncler started out making outerwear for mountain climbers, which it has now morphed into a sporty-chic fashion line! And Pierre Cardin, known in the 70s for his futuristic fashion vision, has softened those stark silhouettes into looks that brilliantly combine ease and structure.

Let’s take inspiration from these fashion icons, and look at our existing clothes in a new way. Okay, maybe those distressed (not to say tortured) jeans have seen better days, but they could be worn with sleek-heeled boots, close-fitting cabled sweater, and a colorful motorcycle jacket (don’t forget sunglasses!). That classic print wrap dress? Even though it never really goes out of style, it might still benefit from an update, courtesy of ombré tights, fringed suede booties, and a topping of faux-fur vest.

Me? I have a little black dress that I can’t bear to toss, but since I’m moving away from wearing black, I’m thinking maybe accessories (jewelry, gloves, maybe a capelet) in a palette of many shades of grey (much more flattering on me than black), with a single pop of really bright color would make this dress work for me; I have a large, deep gold bag that would be perfect with the greys.

What’s in your closet that could be reimagined? I’d love to hear your ideas!