A Capsule Wardrobe: Pattern Review 2024 Mini Wardrobe Contest

Two posts in the same week after a three year hiatus. I must be procrastinating, or maybe I feel the need to record my capsule wardrobe ideas to share with my friend Stephanie. As usual in life it is a combination of the two. October has also been a month for catching up and sorting out.

I have been away from my sewing machine for five months doing family things in the UK and despite a great deal of enthusiasm it's proving hard to press the sewing start button. The enthusiasm was ignited by the Sewing Workshop's Sew Confident project for October which is a colour blocked Hong Kong vest. It spawned a whole outfit concept. I needed four colours of wool viscose and I was lucky enough to find the colours I wanted fuchsia, orange, teal/petrol and chartreuse. The chartreuse was easy as I had scraps left over from a previous project. The other three colours I found at New Zealand shops. The only problem is that the teal colour bled and I had put it in a wool wash with the orange and fuchsia fabrics. The fuchsia survived but the orange was damaged irreparably. This accident wasn't a disaster as the orange was a much lighter fabric than the others so now the hunt is on for a similar weight orange fabric which fingers crossed I have found. Just waiting for it to arrive in the post. I've also washed the teal fabric a few more times and even soaked it in a white vinegar and salt solution to try and set the dye. I will wash it once more to double check there is minimal colour bleeding before I use it in the vest.

I am blaming the colour run hiccup on why I haven't started sewing but maybe it was serendipity because I discovered Pattern Review are doing a mini wardrobe contest starting 1 November. I may just be ready on time, although a month later than my planned start for the capsule wardrobe.

The ideas

My sewing friend Stephanie suggested the idea of a capsule wardrobe sewalong and of course anything that gets me down that rabbit hole of planning outfits is a fabulous idea. The plan was to start in October when my sewing machine and I were reunited. I put together a collage of the nine fabrics for my capsule wardrobe in August. At that stage I hadn't decided on which patterns to use but the middle fabric was going to be trousers and set the tone for the capsule.

From top to bottom left to right are a blouse, t-shirt, blouse, Sewing Workshop Eureka top (made), trousers, quilted jacket, blouse, trousers and Sewing Workshop Hong Kong vest.

During my sojourn in the UK I missed the creativity of sewing and bought the Pride and Bloom Liberty organic tana lawn on a visit to Guthrie and Ghani with the intention of hand sewing a Sewing Workshop Eureka top. I did hand sew the bust darts and one shoulder seam then spent a weekend with my friend Cath who also sews and magically the top was sewn on her machine with just the hems to hand sew. One garment down only eight left to sew.

Then I saw a picture of a pair of trousers with different coloured fabric used for each leg, which I thought was a fabulous idea. As I already had doubts about the silk matka fabric being suitable for the focus trousers even though I really want that fabric as trousers my thoughts swiveled in a completely different direction. This alternate direction was cemented by my idea for the colour blocked Hong Kong vest.

The capsule will be based on the four colours in my Hong Kong vest with the emphasis on pink and orange.

The rules

The Pattern Review mini wardrobe contest rules are pretty simple and more importantly I can bend my ideas to fit the rules. The first rule is for all work on the garments to be done between 1 November to 5  December 2024, ie five weeks. Secondly five garments need to be sewn, which have to make at least six distinct outfits with no additional garments added. The wardrobe can be for anybody and any combination of patterns can be used.

I believe I can make at least seven outfits from my five garments maybe even nine but we'll see.

The five garments

1.  Sewing Workshop Hong Kong vest in four wool viscose fabrics

2.  Sewing Workshop Picasso pants in two linen fabrics.

3.  Sewing Workshop Getaway jeans in four cotton drill fabrics

I couldn't find the inspiration picture for the two coloured trousers and ended up doing an internet search which led me to an amazing pair of colour blocked jeans by Loewe from 2022.

These could be tricky because I couldn't find chartreuse cotton drill so I have bought some yellow with the intention of dyeing it using a Dylon Dye pod in olive but maybe forest green. I am hoping the yellow base fabric and a green dye give me a chartreuse colour - good in theory but we'll see how it turns out. I also have to do the pattern work to make the Getaway a wider leg jean and then create the smaller inset leg pieces.

4. Sewing Workshop eTee adapted to a tiered midi dress in a stretch mesh 

I have made a dress like this before but using a non-stretch fabric and the Sewing Workshop Maison top as my starting point with four tiers, each 1½ times wider than the one before and eight inches finished length. The stretch mesh is allegedly a Diane Von Furstenberg fabric.

5. Sewing Workshop Origami blouse in a merino poly blend knit

As you can see the five ideas for my PR mini wardrobe bear no resemblance to my original nine piece capsule wardrobe so let's see if I can complete these five without changing my mind again.

After the five...

Once I have made the five garments for the contest I have many more ideas to add to my capsule wardrobe! I don't feel any pressure to have these made by early December it will be an ongoing project over the next few months (or maybe they will be my second capsule of five!!!).

My original Hong Kong vest outfit concept included this Gardenia blouse in a check cotton shirting which I am thinking of cutting on the bias if there is enough fabric.

Whilst searching through fabric options I found this Kaffe Fassett quilting cotton called Koi Polloi which now wants to become a Sewing Workshop Origami skirt and I think will be great with the Gardenia blouse.

Then as you always need more tops than bottoms there is the eTee in an orange viscose rib knit and the Vogue 2814 Issey Miyake blouse in a cotton knit.

And did I mention that I want to make a Sewing Workshop Tosca dress in a Liberty tana lawn print called Ziggy because I have quite a few RTW mesh blouses that I could wear underneath.

Plus for when the weather gets colder I am knitting a variation on the Martin Storey Reed cardigan from Rowan magazine issue 74. I started, three times before I was happy, knitting whilst in the UK and I am not that far from the finish line.