RTW won’t kill me

Last week Summer turned into Autumn. That’s about two months sooner than last year. So naturally I wasn’t ready.

After complaining about my wardrobe all Summer I finally decided to clean out my closet. I put away every single piece of clothing that doesn’t fit me anymore so it would be easier to see what I was left to work with.

The stats:

1 sweater
12 cardigans
1 faux lambskin vest
2 blazers
3 blouses
1 shirt
2 shirt tunics
6 dresses
1 pair of corduroy trousers
1 pair of corduroy leggings
1 pair of printed leggings
2 bodysuits with print
1 tanktop with print

If you look at my separates I have a problem to say the least 🙂 Apart from cardigans, my separates are non-existent.

This is the part were the ability to sew and my stash were actually stopping me from fixing this. Being able to sew and having a vast stash made me feel guilty each time I thought about RTW shopping. But I didn’t have the time or the right stash to fix it.

After I saw what I was left with last night, I decided that enough was enough and that I just needed to go shopping.

I knew what I wanted since I’ve been preparing on a Pinterest Board for a month. I looked around online to see which stores carried the style I was looking for and this morning I went shopping… Alone… No baby.

My tips for shopping RTW when you don’t like shopping but you really have to:

– research in advance which type of clothes and silhouettes you want
– make sure you are not rushed and not distracted
– start at the front and look, calmly, at the entire selection
– pick what you like but be honest about your size
– try everything on and try to mirror yourself from a few feet away

Whenever I went shopping these past few months I did the exact opposite of all these things and left the store each time feeling miserable.
This time I left feeling happy with what I got and I can’t wait to start making new outfits.

This is what I got:

I went for very drapy shirts which cover my bottom and are loose but not shapeless. I also went for (very) stretchy pants and high waisted skinny jeans. I opted for solids and neutral prints. I got it all for less than 200€, so I don’t feel too guilty.

I’m glad I went shopping because now I can go back to sewing stuff I like instead of stuff I need!

Edit: Once again I wasn’t completely honest with myself about my size. I bought 3 pairs of really stretchy skinny twill pants. I wanted a print, a back pair and a coloured pair. I went a for blue and white print, army green (dark olive) and black. Because they ran out of the black ones in size 42, I sized up to a size 44. Believe me, it hurt to pick the largest size available, but if they were too big, I could always take them in. The 42 fit me but as always they seemed to be creeping down during the day. Hoisting up my pants every 5 seconds was not what I had in mind. I thought it was due to my high hipbones… Until I put on the black size 44 today… They were perfect! Once again, I had let myself to believe that my body was the problem and I’d have to live with it. They fit fine elsewhere, so why weren’t they staying up… Because they were a size too small!! So I’m returning the printed and green pair and swapping it for a bigger size. F*ck the bigger size, I wanna be comfy!