Friday 8 July 2011

My six months are up!

Six months ago in a fit of New Year’s optimism, I pledged to refrain from clothes buying for a six-month period. This week, those six months are up and I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve stuck to my pledge!  Yippee!


The original idea came from the Wardrobe Refashion blog, (which sadly is no more) with the focus being more on refashioning existing or thrifted clothing.  In this respect I didn’t do very well, as I managed to refashion a total of (ahem) zero items during this period.  The thing is, I’m just no good at refashioning.  I just don’t have that far-reaching vision for turning old granny clothes into funky, wearable, individual pieces that uber-refashioners such as Zoe and Miss P seem to have in spades. Having failed miserably on the refashioning front, I have at least made all my own clothes from scratch this past six months and spent no money at all on shop bought clothing. This is the total sum of everything I’ve made:

3 x Dresses (including my not yet blogged about Oolong)
9 x Tops/Blouses
3 x Skirts
1 x Pair of trousers

Whoa, that’s a lot of clothes, probably way more than I would have bought in a typical six-month period. But…. all the clothes I've made fit properly and are made in styles that suit my personality and with fabrics that have been chosen by me because I love them.

Even taking into consideration the giant list of clothes I’ve made myself, I’ve still saved a LOT of money during my six months of abstinence. If I’m not buying clothes, I’m not going shopping as much, therefore I’m not spending money on crap I don’t need.  Pretty simple really.

I haven’t missed buying clothes at all, in fact I’m really used to it now.  I still get inspiration from the shops, but most of the time I know I’m looking at something I could make myself, (with added polka dot embellishments of course). Knitwear is the one exception.  I can’t knit and don’t think I’ll ever really want to.  My attempts at knitting scarves with my Nana when I was little always ended in disaster (how did those mysterious holes find their way into my knitting?!)  I was, and probably still am, absolutely useless.  So that’s one area I’ll never be able to craft for myself.  Which is why those of you who paid careful attention to my non me-made clothes during MMJ will have noticed my little weakness for John Smedley knitwear…. 

I’ve decided I’m going to continue not buying clothes for the time being and see where it takes me.  I'll only be sticking to this rule on a very casual basis - if I see something I love, I’ll buy it, but it will have to be something pretty special to have me handing over my cash!  Let's see how long I last.

Have a lovely weekend. x

19 comments:

  1. Well done on your 6 months of non-clothes buying. You've made some lovely clothes too so well done. And don't feel bad about not being a knitter or re-fashioner, you have sewing skills in spades :)

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  2. Good for you! I'm so impressed with your productivity. That's a lot of sewing. What a great feeling to know that your wardrobe is really YOU.

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  3. I'm so impressed Jane! I don't know how well I'd do on that one, but I think maybe I should try and do that up until Christmas, A) To get my stash busted, and B) save up some Christmas money.
    That is a great achievement and you should be really proud of yourself!
    As for the Knitting, I'm crap at it too! But if you buy jersey and other knits cardigans are a cinch to make! That might sort a bit of the knitwear problem? If your unsure about knits Burdastyle have a butterfly cardigan free download you could always try out?
    x

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  4. Thanks all for your kind words! Stevie, sewing with knits is on my Autumn to-do list so thanks for the tip re Burda, that's a great idea to get started. x

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  5. Well done Jane - v impressive. And what a great handcrafted wardrobe you have. I'd like to set myself a similar goal, for the same reasons Stevie mentioned (in particular, my stash needs serious busting!).
    On the knitting front, after feeling like I had my hands on backwards when learning to knit as a child, I've picked it up again recently and it's not quite so scary. Granted, all I've done so far are scarves, mitts and cowls. I'm planning on trying a cardi soon though!
    x

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  6. Well done, Jane. I am very impressed! I like this THEORY, I just don't know if I can or want to do it in practice, though I do think I buy far less and certainly the sales hold far less appeal. I knit, but you still can't beat the durability of a shop bought cardie for chucking into the washing machine countless times.

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  7. That is simply fabulous! And thankyou so much for the compliment. Coming from someone as talented as yourself makes it even more flattering! I could only hope to be as prolific a sewer as you, and you have an enviable eye for mixing colours and prints too. Something I really lack confidence in.
    Maybe I should refrain from thrifting any "new" clothes for 6 months. Crikey, I think that would be really difficult....well done to you indeed!
    Px

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  8. John Smedley have some very good sales on at the moment, now that you're back into buying! ;)

    I'm the same as you. I don't knit and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to make the kind of cardies I like wearing with my dresses and skirts. Anyway, well done on your 6 months and looking forward to reading about all your new projects!

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  9. Congrats! I did four months of this and it wasn't really as hard as I thought either. And I'm also terrible in the knitting dept. They are on my list of things I can buy rtw.

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  10. I would wan't to do this as well, but I don't know how long i'll lasr! But thank you for the idea and great job! I will start trying as soon as possible!

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  11. wow, congratulations! it's been about 6 months since i bought a new piece of clothing, and even that was on massive sale... i couldn't even tell you the last time i paid full-price for something. isn't it a great feeling, especially knowing that you have beautifully made, well-fitting clothes to wear instead?

    i do, however, still shop at thrift stores :3 can't help itttt, it's my weakness! a tip on the knitwear, though - you can buy finely knitted cardigans & sweaters for next to nothing at the thrift store, and serge or zigzag them to fit you. it is technically "refashioning" but the only alteration is for size (and possibly length or sleeve length). then that frees up more money to buy the stuff you really can't make, like loosely-knitted sweaters & stuff like that :)

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  12. well done, this is a great achievement!

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  13. lladybird, that's a really good idea about the thrifted knitwear, I'll definitely give it a go, thanks! x

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  14. YAY! Way to go Jane! You've been sewing up a storm!! I love it!

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  15. From your MMJ posts, I think you've made an awesome wardrobe for yourself! It's great that you have made a lot of tops too - I know I don't make enough of those, I tend to make too many skirts.

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  16. Congratulations Jane, this is no mean feat! Even though I've not set myself the same task, since I've got better at sewing, I do look at clothes in shops differently and without trying, I've reduced the amount of stuff I buy. I think I'd fail miserably if I abstained completely though, as my sewing productivity's not quite high enough!

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  17. Well done Jane, thats fantastic. I'm on a ban myself at the moment, it isn't too difficult really is it. You may not have taken to refashioning so much, but you've made some fantastic clothes from scratch, keep it up!

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  18. Congratulations on completing your challenge! I'm impressed - I can barely pass by Zara without my credit card somehow jumping out of my bag and making its way to the cash desk.
    Are you sure you won't give refashioning another try? It's such good fun and very liberating!

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