At the beginning of the month, I thought it’d be an interesting experiment to document exactly what I wear to work over the course of a month in order to observe how much of my wardrobe I actually wear, and how much of that I’ve made. I made a really informal attempt at this in the form of my Most Worn Awards last winter, but I felt it was high time to do something slightly more scientific and allowing FehrTrade creations to go head-to-head with ready to wear.
I didn’t include weekends into this because my clothing choices are usually the same grotty work clothes for doing boat DIY, and also because I change a few times during the day which would complicate things. I made a real attempt not to let my experiment influence my clothing choices in the morning, and I think I’ve been as impartial as I could’ve been.
Monday 3 Nov – brown twill trousers and Uni Qlo white cashmere sweater
Tuesday 4 Nov – green corduroys, brown sleeveless turtleneck, and mom’s vintage mustard cardigan
Wednesday 5 Nov – chocolate brown bamboo wrap dress
Thursday 6 Nov – Thames jeans and beige cashmere sweater
Friday 7 Nov – stretch jeans and blue KnipMode twist top
Monday 10 Nov – Black Dorothy Perkins cords and purple wool sweater
Tuesday 11 Nov – green corduroys and zigzag knit top
Wednesday 12 Nov – Thames jeans and black cashmere sweater
Thursday 13 Nov – stretch jeans and red velour jumper
Friday 13 Nov – Black Dorothy Perkins cords and beige cashmere sweater
Monday 17 Nov – stretch jeans, black yoga tee and mom’s vintage mustard cardigan
Tuesday 18 Nov – grey wool Burda Style skirt and purple cashmere turtleneck sweater
Wednesday 19 Nov – black Dorothy Perkins cords and blue KnipMode twist top
Thursday 20 Nov – black biker trousers and green sweater
Friday 21 Nov – green corduroys and black Isaac Mizrahi for Target top
Monday 24 Nov – grey skinny jeans and purple cashmere turtleneck sweater
Tuesday 25 Nov – navy Uni Qlo trousers and plum KnipMode fleece
Wednesday 26 Nov – Thames jeans and brown bamboo top
Thursday 27 Nov – green corduroys and blue cashmere sweater
Friday 28 Nov – beige corduroy skirt, blue B. Moss button tee, and green haute hoodie
Stats!
- 42 items were worn total over 20 days (that’s layering for you!).
- I wore 16 different things I’d made a collective total of 25 times.
- I only had one day I didn’t wear something of mine, but on 5 days I wore only things I’d made.
Most worn: green corduroys (4 times), Thames jeans (3 times), stretch jeans (3 times). I only wore a skirt or dress about once a week, mostly due to the cold. So clearly I need to sew up more trousers in my wardrobe plans, or make a second observation in the summertime to see the skirt ratio rise!
Deep breath…
Little did I know when I started that November would turn out to be quite possibly the hardest month of my entire life thus far. I don’t want this site to stray too far from sewing and I most certainly don’t want a pity party, but I’ve been diagnosed with two “one in a million” blood disorders, one of which I had 25 years ago and have been cured of ever since. So it’s interesting for me to see myself go more for comfort dressing as the uncertainty, hospital visits, and finally diagnosis hit this month. I hope not to say much more about this in future unless I have to, but you’re likely to see some changes in my appearance due to my illness (the glasses being the first, but also weight gain, puffy face, very pale complexion, tiredness, etc) over the next few months while I go through treatment. There’s also a high possibility I’ll have to be an inpatient for at least a week, so I’ll be gathering a gargantuan amount of hand sewing to do before then! Otherwise I’m feeling okay but very tired and easily winded from the simplest tasks, so not being able to run AT ALL is the worst thing for me right now.
(If you feel compelled to do something, then please, please get yourself on the bone marrow donor registrar. Unlike something like donating a kidney, a normal immune system will be back to normal in a few weeks and you’ve helped share your immune system with someone who desperately needs it. It just takes a blood sample to register, and if you’re a match, it’s not even an involved procedure. Please go here in the USA or here in the UK to get yourself on the list. It’s unlikely that I’ll need a bone marrow transplant, but it may come to that if other treatments don’t take hold.)
In upcoming sewing news: I’ve finished James’s birthday present so you should get to see that next week, and I’ve got everything in place to sew up my niece’s Hannah Montana Christmas outfits over the weekend! It’s a race against the post office deadline for international Christmas delivery…