This frankly ridiculous pile of STUFF is the entire contents of my wardrobe.
(Well, except for the formal dresses for choir concerts. And the costumes. And the sports kit. And the pyjamas. And the band t-shirts that are too ancient to wear but must never be thrown away. Apart from that, it’s everything.)
I’ve been struggling with insomnia again, which means that today is one of those days where I can’t be trusted with a sewing machine, and I’m too frazzled to think about my Aromatherapy homework. So, given my recent smart-versus-casual crisis, I thought I’d take the opportunity to have a really in-depth look at all of my clothes and see what’s going on.
Armed with a pen and paper, and then with Excel, I ended up with this inventory. (No, you’re not supposed to be able to read it. Yes, I do have seven pairs of bloomers. Shush.)
Everything with a white background is an item that I’ve made myself, or that my Mum has knitted for me. Everything in grey is something that came from a high street store, before I stopped buying my clothes that way. Everything in green is something that I bought from a store, but is either organic or ethically produced. The yellow items are second-hand. It surprised me that there were so few of those, as I used to buy a lot of things from charity shops!
To be honest, the proportion of things-made versus things-bought is actually better than I expected it to be. But, you can see that there are a few key areas where I need to make some quite drastic improvements. A few years ago a number of the jumpers that my Mum had knitted for me (way back in the 1990s!) sadly reached the end of their useful life. I still needed something to wear for work, and I know I’m a slow knitter, so I bought half a dozen “emergency” cotton jumpers from H&M.
I know I bought them long before the appalling accident at the Bangladesh factory where all of these jumpers were probably made. But seeing these labels in my wardrobe, and knowing that my money went straight into the profits of a company who value their worldwide workers so little, makes me feel more than a little bit sick.
The worst of it is, I haven’t even stopped shopping there! I don’t buy things for myself any more, but their children’s clothes are so lovely, and so affordable, and they have such pretty little things for my niece… but I’m going to have to stop that. I’m not a very militant campaigner, but I do what I can with the little money I have, and I can definitely stop doing this.
There’s no point in sending these things straight down to the nearest charity shop though, even if I do feel bad every time I look at those labels. The jumpers in question are actually some of the most-worn items in my wardrobe, and I haven’t even started knitting a plain black jumper and cardigan to replace them. So they can stay for now, as a reminder that I can, and must, do better when I buy.
These three pieces are waiting to be finished or altered before they can go into the wardrobe. The yellow blouse needs the hem and side slits finishing, and the buttons and buttonholes. The blue dress (covered in BEES!) needs the front placket sorting out, and the buttons and buttonholes. The broderie anglais dress came out looking too much like a nightie, so that’s awaiting the fate of being chopped in half and turned into a pretty layering tunic for the summer.
I was surprised there were so few unfinished pieces, to be honest, given how easily I get distracted. The blue dress has only been waiting for its buttons since, ooh, last May, or maybe June.
Now my next problem (aside from how I’m going to get into bed tonight, if all my clothes are on the bedroom floor!) is how on earth to decide what I should keep, what I should take to a charity shop, and what gaps I need to fill in order to have Actual Outfits rather than just All The Clothes.
I’m going to start with all of my brightly-coloured trousers, I think. I do have organic cotton long-sleeved t-shirts to go with almost all of them now, although there are a couple of pairs I’m thinking about dyeing a different colour. Pale blue? Beige? They’re going to be ruined in three seconds flat! And my cream yoga pants are virtually unworn, for the same reason, so I might as well dye those too. If I can match them up with tops I have already, so much the better!
But hopefully, by the end of this process, I’ll have a much clearer idea of what I can wear on a daily basis, without looking into my over-stuffed wardrobe, having a great big panic, and pulling on the same old jeans and t-shirt because they don’t need thinking about.
(Although, having said all of this, the temptation to follow the example of Matilda Kahl and just buy multiples of the same outfit is currently extremely tempting!)