Rattling On About No Clothes

My weight had plateaued for quite a while and then in October, it started dropping again. Since January, I've lost an average of half a pound a week which is a nice safe rate of weight loss. I'm glad. I really don't need any other health issues. Food allergies are quite enough although I find it rather ironic that after all the pills, potions, programs, and payments I've gone through trying to lose weight, "ALL" I had to do was give up gluten and dairy.

Remember the Simplicity 9825 skirt that I made in early September? I hadn't even worn it yet and it was already too big. On Monday, I took the skirt in three inches at the waist, two inches at the hip, and tapered the seam line to the hem. That left a HUGE seam allowance since there already was a wide one from before.





The skirt was sewn in two sections with the waistband facings and the hems already completed before the side seams were sewn. I wrote about this in an earlier posting Tipped Waist. I chose this method so that I could easily make any alterations if needed. It worked. Yesterday, I used the serger to cut, trim, and finish the seam allowance all in one go. I also fixed whatever it was that was forcing one of the kick pleats outward, which is why I hadn't worn it yet.

It was REALLY important to alter the skirt because last Sunday morning, when I went to get dressed for church, I realized I have two uniforms - the black t-shirt and jeans for the week and the black t-shirt and denim skirt for the weekends. As much as I love denim and dark, there's NOTHING else to wear in my closet and that's getting boring.




And I'm not just a whining woman rattling on about no clothes while she has a closet stuffed to the gills. Monday afternoon, I cleaned out my closet and drawers. I took out a whole garbage bag of things to go to the second hand store along with this pile for a friend who has recently lost a LOT of weight. It gets expensive when you're changing sizes every four to six weeks so I thought she might like these to help transition. When I phoned to ask, it was perfect timing. She's just fitting into this size now. In the pile was two jean skirts, four pairs of jeans, two pairs of black dress pants, a green turtle neck, and a white blouse. She phoned last night night to say that all but one skirt fit great. YES YES!





This is what's left. What you see in the closet is my complete fall and winter wardrobe and even some of these garments don't fit quite right. A few are a bit too big or too short or something along those lines. There are no dress pants, non denim skirts, or button up blouses. Mostly, it's a casual collection made of denim pants/skirts and knit tops with a couple items that are too dressy for anything but a party. It's mostly knit because knit garments have been easier to find and more forgiving of my constantly changing size over the past fifteen years.

Most of the clothing shown is more than five years old and starting to show signs of wear and aging. Basically, I need a completely new wardrobe. This is a shock to every one who knows how much I love clothes. I'm not hiding some more somewhere else. In the dresser drawers is lingerie, pajamas, yoga pants, and a swim suit. This depleted wardrobe is due to a lack of sewing over the past twenty years combined with losing twenty-five pounds and the fact that I rarely buy clothes because I'm hard to fit and, for the most part, the quality I would buy I can't afford and the quality I can afford I wouldn't buy.

Are you wondering about those two boxes on the shelf? Nothing to wear. One contains summer clothing that most likely won't fit by next summer. The other contains my mother of the bride dress from my daughter's wedding and a few pieces of wearable art that are all too big. You can see why - since I'm on an unpaid sabbatical - I needed to alter the skirt and why it's such a wonderful thing that I have this HUGE stash of fabric and patterns. In-between painting shapes on Monday, I started working on the SWAP (sewing with a plan) outline. I'll be choosing from these patterns and...




... from these fabrics - hopefully. I'd like to say I won't buy anything else but it could be a lie. The best I can say is that I'd rather not because I'm highly motivated to sew up this fabric.




Not only do I need the clothes now but I want to reduce my stash by 50% by the summer of 2012. That's when I turn fifty and my friend Caroline and I are planning a shopping trip in San Francisco. Our birthdays are one month apart. We'll both be celebrating. We started out sewing fashions together in our teens and now we're back to sewing them together in our forties. Too bad we live 2,100 miles apart. Thankfully there are phone plans and email.

This morning I'm off for coffee with a friend and then I'm cutting out and starting to sew a blouse. I'll tell you about that tomorrow. Have a great day.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - that no matter how much I might "whine" about having nothing to wear, I do have clothes on my back, shoes for my feet, and a warm coat. I live in a safe country. I'm blessed.