Changing Your Clothes

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

Tag Archives: clothes


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Makeover Monday: Another Spa Visit for my Jeans

Wouldn’t you know it: just when my jeans are getting used to seeing themselves in their new custom color after their first visit to the Changing Your Clothes Day Spa, today they’re back for Phase 2: a little trim! They’ve let me know they’re not ready for a drastic change, so I’ve promised not to cut more than an inch… from each side. Yes, that’s right, they’re going to go from a classic boot cut to straight legs!

The first step in this seemingly simple process is to analyze the current conditions, in order to make a plan; I’ve learned (the hard way) that having a strategy before making that first crucial snip is the key to a successful outcome.

Tip: I realized, only after my jeans’ dye job last week, that it would have been better to do the leg alterations before dyeing the jeans, because guess what? That antique-gold-colored thread used for the topstitching on the inseam and hem got dyed along with the jeans! So the topstitching thread that I bought for this specific purpose won’t match. However, since I’m planning to overdye the jeans with black, I’m hoping the difference in thread color will not be so noticeable by the time this makeover is complete.

Looking at the jeans, I notice that the inseam is topstitched, but the outseam is not.

Original seams

Original seams: the inseam is topstitched, but the outseam is not.

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Practical vs. Extravagant: The Great Debate

Last week, when I was trying to plan a special holiday outfit, toying with various pieces of fabrics and patterns, I found myself in a familiar place of indecision. I had put together a selection of more or less coordinated fabrics from my over-abundant stash: I started with a gorgeous sequinned fabric with cutouts and a fabulous pointy border, which I thought would be most appropriate for a skirt, but this would necessitate some sort of lining. I came up with a tie-dyed georgette which looked wonderful under the sequins, but which was semi-sheer, so I found a bright coral satin for the undermost layer of what was now a 3-layer skirt.

(Those of you with sharp eyes and memories may recognize this satin from my recent post about making a skirt from a custom-fitted muslin; the satin lines that skirt. Good thing I like this stuff— even after making this second skirt, I still have a lot left over!)

Finally, I added a coral stretch velvet to make a simple top (with all that going on in the skirt, the top really needs to be simple). Here are the four fabrics:

Fabrics for dancing outfit

Fabrics for my dancing outfit: The sequinned beauty with the tie-dyed georgette underneath and showing through the cutouts in the sequinned piece, and the satin underneath both (you can see a little of this by itself in the lower right corner). In the upper left corner is the stretch velvet.

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More Winter Warmers: Styling Up Your Cold-weather Gear

As much as I always look forward to cold weather (at least since I moved away from Ohio’s sub-zero winters), I’m sometimes stymied when it comes to giving all those sweatery layers a good dose of style. Let’s face it… the practicalities of dressing for winter weather tend to outweigh my parallel urge to make a fashion statement. If I’m starting with, say, a thick (read: less than shapely) sweater, how do I raise the style quotient without sacrificing warmth?

Refinery29, bless their fashionable hearts, sent me this slideshow today, showing 7 fantastic ideas for giving your cold-weather staples a glam upgrade. Here’s one of my favorites (and an answer to my previous sweater question):

Chic Winter Layers

Great idea for layering a thick winter sweater, courtesy of Refinery29! (Click on the picture to go to this picture in the slideshow.)

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Cutting a New Hem: The Tango Skirt

The Tango Skirt. I spotted it languishing on an overcrowded rack in a consignment shop. It flirted shamelessly with me on the hanger, looking all cute and mysterious, and I just knew we would be going home together. I admit, I didn’t know anything about it, really, just that it was the dark, rich brown of the best espresso, in a soft, slinky fabric that was ruched and gathered at the back in an utterly beguiling manner. I didn’t even try it on, just handed over $18.00, and dashed out, clutching it to my heart. It was a magic moment.

Alas, poor Tango Skirt! The magic died when I pulled the skirt on at home. Yes, the ruched-and-fishtailed back was nearly as flattering as it had promised on the hanger, and I loved the way it swished around the backs of my calves. But the front! The front of the skirt, so plain, cut straight and drooping sadly below my knees, was not flattering at all. It was as if I had brought home two different skirts instead of one. Brokenhearted and embarrassed, I hung The Tango Skirt in a dark corner of my closet, where it stayed, unloved, for several months.

The Tango Skirt The Tango Skirt, pre-alteration. Looking at the plain-Jane front, you’d never guess such fabulousness could be lurking in back! (The pin in the front of the skirt marks the length of the lining, something that’s important to know before you start cutting anything! (Trust me.) Continue reading →


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Closet Confessions: A Big Hang-up

Yes, it’s time for another closet confession. Today, I’m revealing all about one of my biggest closet hang-ups: hanging things up.

It’s not that I’m a slob. (Well…) It’s just that somehow, over the past several years, my wardrobe has gradually become more and more about clothes that don’t need ironing— which, coincidentally, usually means they don’t need to be hung up. Looking inside my closet this morning, I realized that at least 65% of my clothes (I’m guessing here) are not, in point of fact, hanging up. Sweaters stacked on one shelf, purses (and the odd out-of-season item) on the other, and everything from camisoles to workout clothes in one of those hanging multi-compartment organizers (I use that term loosely). This leads me to the profound observation that I prefer low-maintenance clothes.

Interestingly, though, I’ve also noticed that when I make clothes for myself, the pieces I choose to spend my time and energy making are nearly always special things: a fabulous asymmetrical jersey dress, heavy Irish linen trousers, printed silk tunic. (All of these can be seen here.) And that silk tunic, bless its lovely one-shouldered heart, is the reason I’m writing this today: it not only needs to be hung up, it needs special assistance in doing so. To wit: the addition of a hanging strap.

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Shopping Alert: Martin Margiela for H & M, coming soon!

I hope you don’t mind me posting 2 slideshows in a row, but I just had to show-and-tell you this: on November 15, H & M will debut a fabulous collection that’s a collaboration with the amazing Martin Margiela! Here’s one of my personal favorites:

Margiela for H & M dress Maison Martin Margiela for H & M dress, from the collaborative collection available beginning November 15. Love the peek of leg! (Click on the picture to go to the slideshow.) Continue reading →


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Go Big: It’s All About the Balance!

Yes, the fickle fashion cycle has swung around again to embracing the oversized, but as the ensembles in this Refinery29 slideshow demonstrate, the key to making this look work is in keeping everything balanced.

Oversized skirt, fitted sweater Oversized skirt, fitted sweater; this look works because the sweater is proportionally as fitted as the skirt is voluminous. And I’m loving the pastel-with-bright color combination! (Click on the picture to go directly to the slideshow.) 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.

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Easiest Weekend Dressing Ever!

Okay, we now have no excuses left for looking sloppy on the weekends! Refinery29 has put together 5 outfits, each comprised of the following pieces:

1. Jeans

2. T-shirt

3. Flats

4. Sweater

5. Accessories (handbags, jewelry)

Example:

Easy Weekend Outfits Easy weekend outfits, courtesy of Refinery29. Each is based on jeans, T-shirt, sweater, and flats, with handbags and a little jewelry thrown in. Continue reading →


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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.)