In the interest of keeping it realistic, this third and last “silhouette” for this winter is also pants-based — I’ll save learning how to wear skirts and dresses (and finding time to make them) for spring. So there were the skinny pants and the wide-cropped pants, and here we have the pants in between: a narrower shape that’s still a bit cropped but straight in the lower leg. This includes the made-in-L.A. Point Sur/J.Crew jeans I mentioned in the last post as well as a pair of awesome tobacco-colored men’s chinos from the unworn pile in my closet, which I’m having altered. I often buy men’s pants because they fit me better in the rise and lower leg than narrow-cut women’s pants, which seem to be made for people with no calves. However, men’s pants are generally too wide in the thigh. In high school, I was in the habit of reshaping the legs myself, as well as hemming them, but the fact is I hate hemming and would way rather pay someone to do it. If it costs me fifteen or twenty bucks to take these pants from never-worn to always-worn, so be it! (But before this year is out, I’m vowing to attempt to sew a pair of pants for myself.)

Here’s the amazing thing I’ve discovered: this whole wardrobe planning thing works! Thinking it through like this, I zeroed in on a few very high-impact pants decisions — buying a new pair of jeans (the right pair!) to replace the two failing pair, buying the wide-cropped pants I’ve been yearning for that give a whole different look to things, and altering the unworn chinos, which are another welcome alternative to jeans. And by thinking through the tops and narrowing it down to things that really work in combination with each other, I landed on these three pieces that really are amazing building blocks. You can take any of the top combos from all three of these winter silhouette posts and put them with any of the pants — the only exception being the boxy pullovers on their own, which isn’t an option with the skinny pants. But basically now the pieces I own and the few pieces I’m making add up to an incredible number of possible outfits, whereas before it was all missed connections.

I finished the first version of the woven pullover over the weekend and will post details on that soon, and have gotten Bob’s sweater to the point where I can imagine reaching the end of it, at which point I’ll cast on my quick little black sweater. And in the meantime, there will be tunics. But already, it’s way easier to get dressed in the morning.

It occurs to me I also apparently mean to only wear one pair of boots this winter: I drew every one of these outfits with the same combat boots. But for a lot of these looks, all that’s needed when transitional season comes is a change of footwear.

So almost two years after tearing it all up (gawd, I just reread that post — wow) I finally feel like I’m getting the upper hand over my closet again.

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PREVIOUSLY in Wardrobe Planning: Winter silhouette 2: Boxy over wide-cropped

In a moment of weakness (hypocrisy, really) and desperation for some pants to wear this winter, I broke down and bought a pair of wide-cropped black jeans from J.Crew.* While I’m not happy about their unspecified origins — and can only hope against hope that they were made in a respectable factory — I’m extremely relieved to have them. Other than those black skinny pants from winter silhouette 1, I’m basically down to just two pairs of disturbingly threadbare jeans. (Every time I leave the house in either one of them, I think “today’s the day the crotch rips open in public.”)  So not only were these needed, they are sliding right into my wardrobe the way a hardworking garment should.

As previously discussed, what looks modern to me with regard to this pants shape is a cropped, boxy top layer — either on its own or over a tunic-length top — but I’m also really loving a tucked-in top for the first time in a long while, and that could be a tee or a woven top. So these examples are easy outfits built from the same pieces you’ve seen before — those already in my closet or my current queue: the tunic(s), the woven pullover, the black lopi raglan. Of which, all I’ve accomplished so far is working on a muslin for the woven pullover, which underwent some design changes in the process. More on that front soon!

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(Indispensable Fashionary Panels via Fringe Supply Co., as usual.)

*I also invested in a pair of Point Sur jeans — J.Crew’s new line of jeans made in Los Angeles. I’m thrilled that they’re doing this and want to support it. And while I’ve never spent anywhere near that kind of money on jeans before, I understand the cost and also think it’s a reasonable expenditure, since I’ll wear them a thousand times.

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PREVIOUSLY in Wardrobe Planning: Winter silhouette 1: Short over long over skinny

So then, after drafting that seemingly narrowed-down list of key garments to be made in the nearest term possible, I began trying to put onto paper all of the various outfit combo possibilities those garments open up. I can draw outfits one helluva lot faster than I can make the clothes, but I can’t draw them half as fast as I can think them up. (I need to consider the possibility that I may actually be addicted to Fashionary.) Reeling it in, I thought I’d do what I did last April and take it one bottom at a time — this time concentrating just on winter outfits (while trying to be vaguely mindful of how things transition) and using only garments that I either own already or are on the immediate to-make list. (That was where my April efforts failed me: too vague.) Maybe I’m a lame-o who ran immediately to her comfort zone, or maybe I’m a genius who subconsciously thought it would be wise to start with her uniform first, but after the above Bottom Number 1 outfits were on paper, I realized I had, in fact, started with my uniform first. Intentional or otherwise, in retrospect I can recognize the genius of that. This is really wardrobe triage I’m doing right now, more than wardrobe planning. So by all means, uniform first!

What that really means — to me, at least — is I’m starting with the one “silhouette” (am I the only one who cringes at that word?)  that comes most naturally to me, especially in the depths of winter.  The skinny pants in these drawings are a super-thick black ponte pair I bought at J.Crew several years ago. I actually have two pair. Every winter I think I’m done with them, and every winter I wind up living in them. They’re somewhere between leggings and pants, and I do believe in keeping my rear-end covered in them, no matter how dense they are, but I also just love the long-over-skinny silhouette. My legs are a little short for my height, so the best overall look for me is a shorter, boxier top layer — whether a sweater or vest of some kind — over the long top, over the skinny pants, with chunky boots.

So I’ve got the pants. I’ve got multiple cardigans that work here (my Amanda, my trusty old camel cardigan, and my Bellows is borderline long for this, but I can get away with it). I’ve got many vest options (knitted, denim, cargo, trench …). I bought two long-sleeved wool workshirts a few weeks ago at Hey Rooster, made in the US by Fischer; one is heather grey and looks awesome with every vest I own, including my Cowichan-ish vest. What I’m lacking are the three core pieces from last week’s list that are now officially my starting point: the tunic-length tee, the sleeveless band-collar tunic and the woven alt-sweater. As soon as I make some final decisions about colors/fabrics from my stash, I’ll be ready to start cutting!

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PREVIOUSLY in Wardrobe Planning: Mind the gaps

This is a long (yet fascinating!) post and there’s a fun and important sale announcement at the end, so you might actually want to scroll down at look at that first!

Sometimes all the clutter in my brain really gets in the way of clearing up the clutter in my brain. There are just SO MANY THINGS — so many patterns — I want to knit or sew and wear, but most of them wouldn’t be the right thing to make right now. As in, they wouldn’t solve my urgent problem, which is that between last year’s massive purge and this year’s lack of funds and growing aversion to store-bought clothes, I am lacking many of the core garments upon which functional wardrobes are built. So rather than starting with what kinds of outfits I want to be creating for myself, I had to start by whittling down my wishes to what are the pieces I find myself wanting to reach for every morning that simply don’t exist. That is the problem I need to solve first, and I also need to resign myself to the fact that I need to buy some of it, to get the problem solved soon enough. Here’s where I’m at:

TOP LEFT: The two most-worn items in my closet are the Endless Summer Tunic that Alyssa made me and that 20-year-old linen tunic I unearthed last year, which is now really looking like I wear it twice a week, because I do. Tunic-length tops are pretty critical to how I dress, but I’m also severely lacking anything with sleeves! So I’d like to make a couple of longish, oversized, split-hem, woven tees (likely tweaking Grainline’s Scout Tee pattern) along the lines of this Ace & Jig tee and this Madewell one. They’ll work under pullovers for now, with vests as it warms up, and on their own in warm weather.

TOP CENTER: That said, those two sleeveless tunics get so much wear because that really works for me, and at least one of them is not long for this world. I intend to make a pattern and successors for that top, but again, I need to concentrate on what’s most efficient right now. So I’m thinking of Liesl’s Gallery Tunic done sleeveless. I loved making the dress and feel like I could cut two or three of these at once, batch the sewing, and get immense year-round use out of them. (I’d love to have another Endless Summer or two; might enlist Alyssa to do that for me!)

TOP RIGHT: The utter absence of pullovers in my closet is as much of a difficulty as a puzzlement. How did the happen?! I literally have one pullover sweater, this cotton fisherman. Because it will be fabulous in its own right, and to step in for the missing sweaters right away, first on my list is this modified woven Hemlock Tee we talked about last week. In boiled/wool for now, and in linen a few months down the road.

MIDDLE LEFT: The sweater version of the previous entry. This one there are no question marks or mysteries about: It will be top-down, knitted in black Lettlopi on US10 needles. It will be quick, it will be warm, and it will be worn. But I can’t cast on until Bob’s sweater is done.

MIDDLE MIDDLE: The grey sweatshirt-ish sweater I cast on last month and set aside for Bob’s sweater. I’ll probably actually whip out the black one before getting back to this. Priorities.

MIDDLE RIGHT: I keep having the thought that if my Trillium were grey and my Acer were black, I’d be vastly better equipped to get dressed in the morning. I love both sweaters dearly, but I’m over the purple and have never really figured out the brown. I do have a camel sweater this shape (short and boxy) that gets tons of wear, and I really need another in either grey or black, preferably grey. I’m thinking charcoal with this sketch, but also thinking of attempting to dye my Acer black, which would solve multiple problems in a single, quick act. I have flashbacks, though, to trying to dye things black in the ’80s. That was neither fun nor successful, so if any of you who suggested it on my black yarn post have specific advice, bring it on!

BOTTOM LEFT: It’s crystal clear how useful this dress is, and I just need to make a cool-season version, plain and simple.

BOTTOM CENTER: I long for a skirt that is this exact shape and fullness, with pockets. Not too full, not A-line. This seems surprisingly difficult to accomplish. Please tell me I’m wrong.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Again, the wide-cropped pants (or jeans) we spoke of last week. I do have the idea of cropping a pair of denim trousers I already own and never wear, and I broke down and ordered another possibility, but basically I’m not sure what the solution is to this one. I’d prefer not to have to make them when there’s so much else to be done.

So those are my targets. Everything goes with everything (and with everything else I already own) — the pullovers can go over the dress, skirt or pants (or jeans) on their own, or can be layered over the tunics over pants or skirts. But it’s only that 100% versatile as long as they’re line drawings. Once you start filling in fabrics and colors/patterns, it gets harder to keep them interchangeable. So that’s my next job. I like a wardrobe that’s as close to Garanimals as possible. (Or as my friend Patsy says, “I like to be able to get dressed in the dark and not have to wonder if my clothes match.”) But I also want to use as much fabric from my stash as possible, and those are slightly conflicting goals. So we’ll see!

(Indispensable Fashionary Panels from Fringe Supply Co., of course.)

. . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! I mean, happy MY birthday to you. This year, I want to give a gift not just to all of you but to some people in need. So for today only, I’m offering you 10% off everything on the Bags & Baskets page* (note the Field Bag is excluded) with code GETGIVE, and 10% of all purchases today (bags or otherwise!) will go to Heifer International’s Women Artisans in Peru project. I’m a long-time fan of Heifer International and their mission to not only reduce hunger and poverty around the world, but to empower people in the process. And I’m sure you’ll see why I’m excited to support the Peru project in particular:

“Your gift will support Heifer’s work with groups like local craft cooperatives to help members learn the fair market value for their creations; connect directly to buyers so they don’t lose income to middlemen; and adopt clear standards for yarn, dyes and designs to secure their status as the world’s premier alpaca artisans. You’ll also help train farmers to produce more eggs, fish and green vegetables for family diets, and more fodder for the woolly alpacas and other animals that help them achieve sustainability.”

So to save and give at the same time, head on over to Fringe Supply Co., and use code GETGIVE on the shopping cart page for the Bags & Baskets discount!

*Discount cannot be applied to previous orders. Available on in-stock merchandise only, in the Bags & Baskets category (Field Bag excluded). Offers expires at midnight Pacific time, December 17th 2015.