Sewing a Mini-Capsule: Planning {Self-Care}

I love the concept of a capsule wardrobe.

A limited amount of clothes: 

not spending as much time folding & sorting (Ha! Like I sort my clothes!)

fewer items mean fewer loads of laundry meaning it takes less time out of your day to wash and move to the dryer (and not load upon load upon load...)

I think I really started looking into it for the first time about 3 years ago... I've been looking for ways to pare down my wardrobe, discard the items I no longer wear without regret and find a color combination I absolutely love which I can mix and match in endless ways for an amazingly magical wardrobe.

So far, I have been unsuccessful.

I was *Finally* able to get rid of totes upon totes of clothes I have not worn in years, just within this last year. I was *Not* able to do it without feeling the regret later because some articles had been put in the totes by the kids moving things around, or I was planning on going through it one more time only to realize later there were things I didn't really want to donate. My heart still hurts.

Despite getting rid of the totes and totes of clothes, I still have an overabundance of items in my closet. Most of which, I do not even consider wearing! And yet, I cannot seem to part with any of them!

I've come to the conclusion that the bloggers, Instagrammers, and social media capsule wardrobe gurus are some sort of clothing wizard (magician, sorcerer, what have you). No matter how much I have tried I don't seem to conjure the same type of amazing outfit combinations. 

That is not stopping me from trying.

I think all I need is a little bit more practice. 

I am going to go with a mini capsule.  For now.

After lots of playing with my wardrobe and then running through Vivienne Files Build a wardrobe from scratch and going through the videos for Dress Your Truth, I think I have found my colors. Purple, mint, navy, and dark grey. This is what I have the most of in my wardrobe, these are the ones that get used the most. so why not? 

I attempted the 10x10 Wardrobe Challenge and quickly fell off the wagon before I really got started. Recently the facebook group Sew Altered Style Sewciety did a similar challenge with 7 items to create 7 outfits for 7 days. I started and followed through. I loved it. I even created projects in my head to help my wardrobe. I have been perusing online for fabric ever since.

I am thinking of attempting to do an almost 4x4 capsule by Vivienne Files. She has a great worksheet for it here, I just used google docs to fill in the blanks. I am planning some sewing to fill in the gaps. 

Things I need:

Navy: shirt and skirt

Dark Grey: cardigan, pants

Mileage: mint shirt, purple shirt, Cream Shirt,

Expansion: modify store-bought denim

And because I needed to round it out to make the grid work, I added a Chambray top. Because, I think I want a chambray top. This also fits with the Make 9 in 2018 challenge which is ever so popular in the Capsule Wardrobe Sew Along group on facebook.

Now, just to actually find a way to aquire the fabric (after searching my totes upon totes of stash here at home) and what patterns to sew up. I'm thinking some tops from Love Notions, Patterns 4 Pirates, Made 4 Mermaids though none of those are set in stone (actually I think I'm already going to change it up), and I haven't decided on the grey pants yet. I might need some help, What are your favorite patterns to sew for yourself?

Are you a capsule/minimalist wardrobe curator and only have what fits or were you like me and just got/sewn clothes because you liked them?