Changing Your Clothes

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


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Zip It, The Finale: 5 Easy Steps to a DIY Zipper Pull!

In the short amount of time I spent getting ready this morning for my great DIY zipper pull experiment, I learned several things:

1. I have relatively few clothes with zippers.

2. The ones with zippers are almost all invisible zippers. (This is probably due to my preference when making clothes— I find invisible zippers the easiest to install.)

3. The pulls on invisible zippers vary considerably from those of regular zippers.

Why are these facts important? Well, if you look at the following 2 photos,  you’ll see that the available places where you can connect a new zipper pull are quite different:

Regular zipper

Example of a regular zipper. Note the nice, big, obvious hole in the zipper pull.

Invisible zipper Example of invisible zipper. Unlike the regular zipper, the pull on this one doesn’t have a hole; the new zipper pull will have to attach to the horseshoe-shaped piece above the pull shown here. Continue reading


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Is it just me, or is it my clothes?

I’ve been reflecting on the notion of clothes making us look fat. And it’s my conclusion that, when we see “flaws” in the mirror, it’s a lot more likely to be an issue of poorly-fitting clothes than anything else. Think about it: it’s only when garments are too small, for example in the waist, that our bodies appear to be distorted. But that’s because of the garments, not our bodies!

I’m a big fan of the TLC show What Not To Wear, for a number of reasons. First, it’s not just a makeover in the sense that Stacy and Clinton simply swoop in and re-outfit the makeover-ee (is that a word?); lessons that frequently amount to more than just sartorial therapy are taught so that the contributor (as they’re referred to on the show) goes home with much more than a new wardrobe— they depart with more confidence, better shopping skills, and a positive view of themselves. Continue reading


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Changing Your Closet: What System Works?

Closet confession #1 (yes, there will be more): I reorganize my clothes regularly, partly to remove the things that no longer work for me, but mostly in an attempt to find the perfect system. Care to make a guess as to my success rate?

The way I’ve generally organized my closet in the past has been by type, i.e. skirts together, dresses together, etc. Here’s how my wardrobe (at least the parts that hang) looked using this plan:

My Closet, Organized by Item Type

My clothes (the hanging ones), grouped according to item type.

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Santa Fe Wardrobe, Shopping 2: $49.95 or less!

You know, when I was working on the original Santa Fe shopping wardrobe in Polyvore for yesterday’s post (Santa Fe Wardrobe: Shopping!), I must admit that I didn’t even look at the prices of any of the items, with the inevitable result that some things were crazy-pricey, while others were amazing bargains. While it is certainly a whole lot of fun to “shop” with no regard for budget, it occurred to me that it might be interesting to see what I could do if I only used items that cost $50.00 or less, including accessories, which can be difficult to find with that price restriction (at least if you want decent quality). I’m surprised at all the great options I found in a fairly quick search!

(By the way, for any of you who may not be familiar with Polyvore, it’s a super-fun place where you can shop, follow other users whose style you admire, get inspired, and create your own collections! There’s also a widget to put in your browser toolbar that lets you copy anything you run across online to your place on Polyvore, to add to your own sets and collections. Try it!) Continue reading


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Santa Fe Wardrobe: Shopping!

As promised: Santa Fe Wardrobe, the shopping edition!

I like to start by “shopping my closet”. I know, I know, it’s much more fun to go out and get new stuff, but hey, it can also be rewarding to unearth something you haven’t worn in (she said with a blush) over 2 years, and find that it works perfectly with your travel wardrobe color palette! So into the closet I go, and find all these pieces that fit not only the color palette but my actual clothing needs for my trip to Santa Fe:

Lightweight Silk/Mohair Sweater Lightweight Silk/Mohair Sweater (hand-knitted by yours truly) Continue reading


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Santa Fe Wardrobe: The fabrics & projects

Now that I’ve chosen the color palette for my Santa Fe travel mini-wardrobe, let me show you how that translates into fabric. (Yes, it’s true that I plan to sew most of this wardrobe, but stay tuned for the shopper’s version in my next post! I will also show you how I incorporated several items from my existing wardrobe into this travel collection.)

Remember my palette? Here it is again, below the fabrics (plus my turquoise necklace) with the palette colors:

Palette Fabrics

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