Spring is in the air, and for me that means it’s wardrobe culling time. I used to do this in the last week of the year, thanks to Paul giving me the latest Trinny & Suzanna book for Christmas, but since I started refashioning I find spring is a better time as I can still remember what I did and didn’t wear over winter and it’s not too hot to try wintery clothes on for fit.

So how do I cull? Well, I try everything on and remove clothes that:

– don’t fit or look flattering
– I don’t like any more, never liked, or never wear
– look worn out and tired
– need mending

Then I divide them into clothes to:

– cut into rags
– give to the op (charity) shop
– mend
– alter
– refashion

At the same time I note what I’m generally liking more or less, wearing more or less, need to replace, and that kinds of garments I don’t own but might like to add.

This year’s cull:

I got stuck in last week and tried everything on except the t-shirts. Every year I doubt I’ll find anything to remove and every year I find at least ten or more items I’m happy to get rid of.

Cut into Rags: four singlet tops and one refashioned skirt (looking worn and saggy)

Op shop: a pair of pants, a dress and several long-sleeved t-shirts, one evening top (too small), summer top (too big), a shop-bought jumper/sweater and a silk shirt (don’t wear)

Mend: a shirt and skirt (zippers), three shirts (press studs to add to stop gaping at front)

Alterations: Shirt (shorten sleeves and body), casual skirt (lengthen slit at back to make walking easier), evening skirt (shorten & ‘jazz up’ a bit).

Refashion: A too-large knit top Mum gave me (into skirt), too-small brown long-sleeved top (into sleeveless top), infinity dress (into skirt or different sort of dress), Maiocchi dress (let out seams or refashion top)

As always, I review my refashioning ambitions after the cull. Calculating how much time I’m going to have to spend sewing – on top of what is already waiting to be refashioned – is an amazingly effective motivation to move something into the op shop pile. In this case the op shop pile trebled in size.

Notes:
Liking more: tights/skirt combo at home, cotton tops/shirts rather than t-shirts, skirts made of stretch material that don’t need ironing
Liking less: cargo pants (SO over them!), tight-fitting long and short-sleeved t-shirts, cheesecloth pants

Wearing more: cotton pants, cotton tops/shirts, skirts made of stretch material, fleecy and shop-bought jumpers & cardys
Wearing less: cargo pants, trakkie dacks, tight-fitting t-shirts, handknits

Need to replace: singlet tops with looser fit sleeveless tops, cheesecloth pants with some other kind of light summer pants

Might add: long casual summer skirts, preferably in stretch material

I did the mending straight away and re-ironed a few things that had got squished in the too-full wardrobe. Today I’m planning to tackle the alterations, mostly because they’re quick and it quickly shrinks the pile of garments waiting to be worked. When they’re done I’ll do a few of the refashions.