It has been a while since I wrote the last post on What is MY Style?  We have done a few of the Spring Shows and launched a new pattern, as well as all the workshops that we run.

So now after a bit of time to sew for me I have gone back to trying to figure out “What is my style and what do I want to sew?”.

After looking through Pinterest and creating a My Style Board I decided to try and Spring clean my own wardrobe and see what shapes and styles were repeated and whether they bore any resemblance to what I had ‘liked’ and pinned to my board. So often we can admire things on others and wish we could wear that ourselves, but remain loyal to our ‘safe’ or comfortable way of dressing.

Looking dispassionately at all of my wardrobe items this was what I concluded:

1 – Everything was pretty loose or even oversized

2 – Most of it was grey or navy in various shades

3 – There were more tunics than anything else

4 – Colour, if any, was usually in the accessories or an ‘accent’ garment.

5 – Although the shapes were simple the garments contained details to create interest.

So it pretty much matched my Pinterest board.

The next thing I asked myself was ‘Were these items what I really wanted to wear or were they ‘just things that I already had lying around?’ I then sorted those out into a pile to donate to a charity shop. If I wasn’t feeling the ‘lurve’ it was time to go!

Next I looked at putting the remaining items together into outfits. My daughter does this on a regular basis so she knows what ‘goes’ and she can style her outfits with accessories and shoes etc, before she goes out with her friends. And to be honest I do remember doing this myself as a teenage when I had more time to spend – on myself.

The upshot of this is that there is a similarity between the outfits.

I mainly wear loose boxy tops with skinny jeans, a long-line, long-sleeved T with wide leg trousers, or tunic dresses with leggings.

Basically these…

As I have gotten older I have fuller bust now and little waist shaping, but my arms and legs are still pretty slim – so basically I’m an apple shape. Looking online at various style blogs and other ‘helpful’ sites that suggest dressing for your shape I should be “wearing V neck tops to draw the eye in and show off my ample bosom and empire line dresses to hide my tummy.”

But frankly I wouldn’t be seen dead in either of those. I just don’t feel comfortable exposing my decollate unless in an evening dress and the last time I wore an empire line dress I was asked if I was ‘expecting’!  Needless to say that person was crossed off my Christmas card list straight away! To be honest I was never one for obeying the rules.

So these are the shapes I feel most comfortable in.

Polyvore is a brilliant resource if you’re trying out different style ideas and looking for design details to add something to a shape you know you’ll like and wear.

So now I am more sure of what shapes I know I will wear. That’s not to say that I won’t deviate and make something that totally contradicts everything I’ve just written about. But it enables me to be more mindful when I’m selecting which patterns to make and how I intend to wear them as outfits with the other elements in my wardrobe.

Have you decided on your preferred shapes and styles? Maybe your wardrobe could do with a Spring overhaul?

Let me know what works for you.