Thoughts from day 366 of a 365 day project.
The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made.
It’s a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels –
it’s a year about noticing patterns, trying things, and observing what happens.
A string of semi-connected, sort of jumbled thoughts from day 366 of a 365 day long self-made wardrobe project.
1. Intentionally breaking a 365 day long habit feels strange as hell.
2. I spent my entire shower trying to figure out what the hell to wear, and then I was running late – so I ended up throwing on my black maxi skirt, and a tank top.
3. Unpacking my wardrobe has turned into something of an inowanna-iguana.
4. Apart from a few specific pieces that I miss like hell, I can only vaguely remember what clothes I had – though it seems there were piles of them.
5. I didn’t quite realize how much brain space this project was taking up.
Not in a big-huge-thing-all-the-time way, but in a lots-of-little-things-to-continually-keep-track-of sort of way. It feels like a whole chunk of brain space has been freed up (and is now tired).
6. Getting out the door is surprisingly much faster. Even though taking a daily photo took less than five minutes. Not sure how this works.
7. 365 days is a lot of days. I mean, I knew that. But this project drove home something about the potential of cumulative effort.
Focused energy + many days = wicked powerful.
8. Play & games are important. Very important.
365 days is pretty daunting.
But 1 day isn’t. And if I can do 1 day, I can probably do 2 days.
And 2 days can become 4 days. And 4 days is basically 5.
And 5 days isn’t terribly hard to turn into 10 days.
Which you can turn into 20 days with a bit of effort.
And if you’re done 20 days, you might as well do a whole month.
One month becomes two, becomes three. You’re a quarter of the way there.
And then day 100 feels pretty damn good. So three months becomes six.
And 200 days feel pretty good too. So 200 becomes 250, becomes 275.
And then day 300, and after 300 days, the last 65 feel like a walk in the park.
9. Systems make everything easier.
10. So does permission to change those systems.
11. And permission to say fuck it.
12. I’m really, really glad I’m not someone who accidentally leaves clothing places. Like, really, really, really, really, really, glad. That would have made this project practically impossible.
The End – 365 days of 100% handmade clothing – The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 52
The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made.
It’s a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels –
it’s a year about noticing patterns, trying things, and observing what happens.
Day 358 – Friday, July 24th
2nd Archer button up // black tank top // black maxi skirt
robot clock necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 359 – Saturday, July 25th
black tank top // grey maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 360 – Sunday, July 26th
black tank top // vine flowers skirt
princess necklace // rings // wedges
Day 361 – Monday, July 27th
black tank top // jeans
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // black flats
Day 362 – Tuesday, July 28th
black tank top // black maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 363 – Wednesday, July 29th
black tank top // grey maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 364 – Thursday, July 30th
black tank top // black maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 365 – Friday, July 31st
black tank top // pirate skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // wedges
Holy shit! You guys!! It’s done!!!
365 days of handmade clothing is a lot of days…
But we made it, and there’s no way in hell I would have finished this project without you guys, so big huge THANK YOUs all around!
I have some wrap up type information that I think might be interesting – specifically how many times I wore each piece of clothing, & the cost to make divided by how often the piece got worn. I’ll blog about that stuffs next week.
If there’s any other information you’d like to see, or any questions you have about the project, just leave them in comments and I’ll try to answer as best as I can.
In the meantime, I’m going to have a super low key birthday celebration, and unpack the rest of my wardrobe.
Thanks again for all the support for this project!! Hugs all around.
What happens on Day 366? – The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 51
The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made.
It’s a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels –
it’s a year about noticing patterns, trying things, and observing what happens.
Day 351 – Friday, July 17th
black tank top // grey maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 352 – Saturday, July 18th
archer button up shirt // black tank top // jeans
robot necklace // rings // black flats
Day 353 – Sunday, July 19th
black tank top // pirate skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // sandal wedges
Day 354 – Monday, July 20th
black tank top // black maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 355 – Tuesday, July 21st
black tank top // grey maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 356 – Wednesday, July 22nd
black tank top // black maxi skirt
clothing hanger necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 357 – Thursday, July 23rd
black tank top // grey maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Yesterday, I mentioned to a friend that I had less than 10 days to go on this grand wardrobe experiment, she was first surprised that it’s been a full year already, and then asked if I was busy finishing things and wrapping up the project, which got me thinking about finales and endings and finishing things.
With 8 days to go, it might be a little late for thinking about how to finish out the final days of this self-made wardrobe project. Part of me feels like I should end with a bang, but I have no idea what that bang could even be.
When I started this project I never envisioned the ending – I knew that eventually there would be a Day 365 and that would be the end. From the vantage point that was the start of this project, part of me wasn’t really convinced I’d do it, this whole thing was a total experiment. It’s really easy to envision NOT wearing 100% handmade clothing for 365 days – that’s the default way of getting dressed in the 21st century – it was much harder to envision actually pulling it off.
Even from the vantage point of “8 days to go” I can’t really imagine Day 366. This project has become so much of a habit that imagining a day without it is weird – when I try there’s a deep sense of “???” mixed with a scooby-doo head tilt.
Maybe part of me won’t actually believe this project is over until, on Day 366 I realize that the sun is starting to set, and I still haven’t taken an “outfit of the day” photo, and I should take it while the light is still good, and I mildly panic for a moment, before remembering that no, I don’t have to take a photo today.
So no, I’m not busy finishing ALL THE THINGS before the end of this project. The goals I had for the last month of the project? Fuck ‘em.
Maybe endings don’t need to be all bang & pizazz – maybe instead they can be a candle & a bath & a hooray for having a wardrobe with more than 30 pieces of clothing again.
