This week on the Love to Sew Podcast, Caroline and I are sharing our experience trying out a capsule wardrobe. A capsule wardrobe is a miniature wardrobe pulled from your closet that is easy to mix and match so you can spend less time thinking about getting dressed! In truth, this challenge was hard for both of us, and we are on the fence about whether this actually made getting dressed any easier, but it did force us both to get creative!
We used Lee Vosburgh’s 10×10 challenge as our framework, so we only had 10 items for 10 days (jackets and shoes included!).
Here is what I chose:
- Black Winslow Culottes in Tencel Twill (these were my favourite item in the challenge!)
- Rusty red linen crop top (self-draft)
- Oversized striped knit top (RTW)
- Tribute Dress (self-draft)
- Boyfriend jeans (RTW)
- Green rayon woven tank (self-draft)
- Grey extra-long Blackwood Cardigan
- Blue linen jacket (thrifted)
- Black flats
- Brown ankle boots
I jazzed things up a bit with my collection of chunky scarves and a couple of necklaces. I don’t wear a ton of jewelry or other accessories so It was a bit of struggle to come up with 10 unique looks. That said, I ended up trying out some things that I otherwise wouldn’t have! I wore my dress over my jeans (love this look) and I tucked my dress into my Winslows, which actually worked! I did end up adding in another pair of jeans at the end because I got sick of wearing the same pair. Lee says it’s OK to break the rules, they are just there to help you along and this challenge is supposed to be fun!
We didn’t force ourselves to choose all handmade items, but I would love to try that one day, too! Have you checked out Elena’s series on capsule wardrobes? She has a free downloadable worksheet you can use to create your capsule.
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21 Comments on “10×10 Capsule Wardrobe”
Dress over pants is a huge favourite of mine 🙂
Great outfit combos, Helen! You know, I did a Capsule Wardrobe for Sewers on my YouTube channel and it immediately became my most popular video. I think people are really yearning to simplify, and for sewists it’s important to figure out what you actually need and want in your wardrobe— so that you’re not tempted to just “make all the things”. 😉
Thanks Lisa! I loved your video. It makes so much sense to have a capsule wardrobe while traveling, and i love the idea of translating it to real life. I am totally feeling the desire to simplify these days!
How badly do I want that grey marl Blackwood Cardigan?? Very, very badly!!! (Adds to Xmas holidays sewing list…!)
Haahaha, it is one of my favourites for sure!!
Helen your capsule looks so trendy – love it 🙂
Thanks, Kathleen!
Oh my gosh…your capsule looks awesome! Okay….that sounded like I was surprised LOL….so allow me to rephrase. Given your lead in dialogue I guess I was expecting less interesting finished looks. BUT SERIOUSLY, everything is so cohesive and the inherent simplicity of the capsule makes YOU the star!
PS….I’m super new to podcasts and have only listened to a few, but I recall that you’ve said once, maybe twice, that your wardrobe has a lot of print and pattern {I KNOW what that’s like} and that you love seeing others’ more minimalist colour/print schemes. Well, I think you’ve proven that you have a really good mix of solids and prints.
Thank you, Sue! I am feeling really inspired by solid colours and minimal shapes these days, so I am running with it! Thanks for listening and I’m glad you liked my capsule 🙂
I loved this episode – but clearly I need to convince Caroline that all-knit outfits don’t need to be sloppy! 😉 I enjoy capsules as a mental exercise, but the idea of wearing one horrifies me. I love having a well-stocked closet!
Hahaha, I feel you on that one! It’s so nice to have choices! Maybe you can have more of a pattern capsule, with 10-20 versions of each pattern to chose from? 🙂
What fun outfit combinations, you did great with the capsule and although I LOVE variety the idea of a capsule that mixes seamlessly intrigues me. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much! It was pretty cool to see the 10 outfits afterwords – I love how cohesive it looks!
Oh my goodness I cannot believe how many great outfits you managed. I listened to the podcast and I didn’t know what to expect but you totally rocked this!
Thank you Julie! It was a lot of fun putting them together and it really did open my eyes to new style possibilities!
I listened to the podcast and feel totally inspired (albeit a little nervous) to give it a go! You gave yourself such a hard time about your outfits, but they look amazing from this post and really unique too considering the limited number of garments you had to play with. Great job! Hoping mine will turn out even half as well 🙂
Thanks Shauni!! We may have been a little hard on ourselves, lol. Looking at the pictures I did really love all my outfits! I hope you do give it a try – I would love to see yours!
Helen, I completely love these outfits! On the podcast, when you said you tucked a whole dress into your Winslows it totally cracked me up. I could not imagine! But looking at these photos it just looks like a cute top and the volume in the Winslows hides the rest of the dress so well. I love how you’ve accessorized your different looks. I almost never think to add accessories but you’ve completely inspired me to throw on a scarf or a necklace. Yay!
Thanks Teri! It’s amazing how a scarf can change a whole outfit. This challenge was so fun for thinking outside the box 🙂
Love your capsule wardrobe, especially the midi over jeans! I’m definitely going to try that. I don’t think I can manage to fit a whole dress into culottes thought, that is really quite impressive out of the box thinking!
Thank you!! The dress is made of silk, so it is very thin and easy to stuff in there! 🙂