L to R, from top: 1. Kite print t-shirt from Hobbs, 2. Navy classic Toms, 3. Charcoal sleeveless t-shirt from Zara, 4. Yellow cardigan from Hobbs, 5. Star print scarf from Zara, 6. Coral linen classic Toms.
Add a couple of basic navy and mint green t-shirts and a nude camisole or two (thank you, H&M and Zara), and you've got the new improved version of my wardrobe. A few handmade additions over the next few weeks (plus me shrinking the extra inch I need to get back into my pre-pregnancy jeans) and I'll be set for summer. That's if it ever actually appears. Today, on the South coast (i.e. the sunny bit of Britain) it is overcast and seriously windy, with occasional rain showers (but not enough to save us needing to water the garden, of course).
I was surprised to find that buying these new bits (bar the shoes) was really difficult for me. Once upon a time I would have gone so far as to call myself a bit of a shopaholic, but budget constraints and a love of hand making have apparently cured me of that over the years. I found that as soon as I picked something up while we were shopping my inner voice would pipe up 'I could make a nicer version of that for less money', like a particularly useless Jiminy Cricket.
Adam would interject at this point to mention that this reluctance to spend money does not extend to scarves. I do love a good scarf (I am seriously lusting after a Lazy Days one, as well as pining after a UK version of this shop). Never mind the fact that (a) scarves are the easiest things in the world to make and (b) you can't easily wear a scarf when carrying a baby in a sling. I heart scarves. Adam is less convinced, but very understanding of my obsession.
Anyway, I think the ability to make things is part of the reason my wardrobe has been such a disaster of late - I'd been avoiding buying things I could make, but not actually finding the time to make them. Finally I have given into the fact that despite my ambitions (and the lists to match them), I just don't have time for everything I would like to do (it's those darn children, I tell you), and if I want, for example, to be able to make half the clothes for our fast-approaching wedding, I need to go and buy at least some of the other things that I now don't have time to make before late July.
Incidentally, can I once again praise my colour swatches (scroll down that post)? Thanks to them everything I have bought co-ordinates, and means I don't need to think much beyond 'top? Check. Trousers/skirt? Check. Scarf? Check. Rock 'n' roll.'
And now I am off to feverishly work on Adam's Negroni so I can start working on a shirt/dress/skirt for me.
