Wardrobe Redux Tutorials

I’m bored with my work clothes & have very little to spend on anything new, but I’ve got shelves, drawers and hangers full of stuff I don’t wear anymore for a variety of reasons. A lot of it could be made into other things. So I’m going to try to do that! Here are a few of the tutorial projects I hope to complete. I will use these as a guide and may make a couple versions based on the inspiration below.

Shawl Collar Sweater Tutorial from the Cottage Home blog. This would be cute in various weights of sweater material as well as woven fabric. I wonder what type of fabric would be strong/stiff enough to make that awesome collar, but soft enough to drape below?

Ruffled Infinity Scarf from Skip to My Lou.

Ruffle Neck Top from How Joyful. I believe I will be making this top out of my wedding dress. Yes, my wedding dress! I’ll try to post a pic. I wore a wine-colored, long, shift with a sheer overlay & matching sheer blouse. The style is outdated and I bought it so I could wear it again. So – if I can turn it into something (or thingS) that I like, I’ll be able to have a keepsake of my wedding more in the forefront of my memory, compared to how infrequently I think of it as it’s in the back of my closet.

 Catch and Release scarf from presser foot.

Museum Tunic from Anna Marie Horner.Mine would be a tad shorter, or long like a maxi. I have one of these from Target and it is sooooooo comfortable. I’m wearing it right now, in fact. Perfect alone w/bare feet or flip flops, with leggings & sandals, with tights/boots and jacket/sweater.

 Spring Infinity Scarf from The Cottage Home (again).

Pleated Knit Scarf from Make It and Love It.

 Ruffled Scarf from Make It and Love It. I like the idea of doing this scarf in a fabric with a repetitive pattern like polka dots, stripes, grid, plaid.

Casually Cute Knit Dress from Made It On Monday.  I have a dress with a similar cut – it has little puff sleeves and a cowl neck, but I’ve been wanting to try to recreate it. I’m hoping this tutorial will help!

Do you have any shopping or re-purposing plans for your wardrobe?

Birthday Suit

My birthday is in about a month, I'll be 34.

Last year my work BFF and I, who share a birthday week, had a joint party. We went to a few bars - we drank, we ate, we made merry. We attempted to go dancing but it wasn't the best night for dancing and the club we ended up going to was kind of deserted and had a smoke machine going, which forced us to leave because one of our friends has bad asthma. Still, it was an awesome time, and we'll be doing the Ashley/Sara Joint Birthday Extravaganza again this year. Besides the normal dinner/drinks portion of the evening, I'm set on either going dancing or finding a karaoke spot, or maybe both, if we can find the right place(s).

I don't need a lot of cute casual clothes because most of my time is spent at work or at home where I rock t-shirts and pj pants or yoga pants. (Side note - are you a family that wears normal "I can go to the grocery store in this" clothing at home when you know you aren't going anywhere, or are you like my family? We come home and immediately change into SUPER comfortable clothing that doubles as workout gear or sleepwear). Anyway, I have office outfits and a closet full of cardigans and tees/tanks that I wear with jeans and flip flops, or boots, depending on the weather. When I go out with friends, it's almost always drinks right after work with co-workers, so I just wear what I wore to the office that day.

For my birthday this year I want to dress up a bit. I *must* be comfortable - I refuse to spend my special night worrying about how I look or in pain/discomfort. So here is the sort of look I'm going to be shopping for over the next month, which I think is sufficiently cute but would be very comfortable. Most of my friends have closets full of stuff like this, but I don't. I'm excited to see what I can find! What do you think?

Birthday 2011 by oneinthehand featuring skinny jeans

Are you trendy? If you're close to my age or older, do you find it easy to wear the trends of today, or do you (like me) find it difficult to try something new?