Pink Velvet Jacket
Altering the jacket to fit me, also what I wore in December and some thoughts on my wardrobe simplification.
Happy New Year! I’m taking the gentle approach, no resolutions. I’ve had a look back over last year and thought about what to leave behind and what to take with me into 2024. January will be a month of reading, walking, clearing clutter and project planning. I’ve decided to experiment with taking a break from Instagram, inspired by a number of articles on Substack talking about the pros and cons of the platform. I’ve removed the app from my phone and will not be looking at it in January. From February I plan to post on here twice a month, one post will be a clothing upcycle or perhaps a crochet or knitting project, and the other more thoughts on my wardrobe simplification.
What I wore in December can be pretty much summed up by my pink bobble hat and the silk scarf I bought from the charity shop for £2. My plan for January is to try layering leggings or my new wool tights from Falke under skirts more often instead of defaulting to trousers. Topped with long sleeved tee shirts/wool base layers and my indigo hand knit jumper or arran cardigan. Trying to be a bit more Scandinavian with my dress.
As you can see I’ve discovered the collage tool on my phone. I did log what I wore most days, lots of time spent at home in burgundy wool joggers or out walking in walking trousers. Layers of long sleeved tee shirts and wool jumpers.
My current thinking with my wardrobe simplification is to gradually move to a more co-ordinated colour scheme, removing the alder skirt and olive linen trousers, I can dye the skirt and the trousers are worn out really. I still love them, so they won’t leave yet, I just won’t be adding anything because it goes with them.
My core wardrobe will consist of denim, indigo and grey as neutrals, then mainly pinks and purples.
The Pink Velvet Jacket
I bought this jacket from the WI jumble sale for £1 it’s a size 16 made by East with a silk lining. I’m a size 10-12 so it needed altering to fit me better, I love the colour and expect I’ll wear it a lot, so worth the effort.
First I removed all 20 of the tiny covered buttons. Then I decided to shorten the sleeves by 6 inches (15cm) This viscose velvet is very unforgiving, once you have a line of machine stitch you don’t want to have to unpick it, the stitches are etched into the cloth.
I reattached the cuffs by hand gathering and hand stitching. I unpicked the side seams and took in a couple of inches down the front to remove the button loops and evidence of where the buttons were sewn on. I then shortened the length to the bottom of the pockets. While resewing the side seams I added belt loops. This gives me the option of wearing it open or fastened with a belt. I’m still thinking about belt options, I have a silk satin skirt that doesn’t quite match, but would make a lovely tie belt, I’ve also been thinking about knitting or crocheting a belt, something fancy with flowers and leaves?
Are you going to audit your wardrobe in January? I shall update my wardrobe audit spreadsheet and create a photo collage of some favourite outfits and list my core winter wardrobe.