First Frost Capsule Wardrobe Plan

I woke up one morning this week to a beautiful frost all over our back yard.  It was just breathtaking, and I wished later that I had taken some photos.  Later, I was looking at color palettes to inspire me for sewing, and I found this photo on colorpalettes.net that was speaking to me.   If you're looking for inspiration, this is a wonderful resource. They have hundreds of beautiful images broken out into individual color palettes.  I could spend all day looking through them.



I had just purchased a dusty lavender wool from Fabric Mart that I knew would be the star of the show for this capsule. It matches the light silver color in the palette pretty well.  Everything else will have to work with it.

I really want a coat design with a hood, and this one from Simplicity reminds me of a coat that I had about 30 years ago that I absolutely loved.  Why do so few coat patterns have hoods?  Honestly, I could only find a few sweatshirts with hoods on the McVoguerick sites.  So, thank you Simplicity for thinking of us in the windy Midwest!

I want to make the view with the toggles.   I've ordered these interesting toggles from a shop on Etsy. It's a shop in Great Britain called Cosmosapparelwear, and they have quite an unusual assortment of handmade toggles at very reasonable prices! I sure hope that they go with the wool. 

Next, I pulled some fabrics from my stash that seemed close to the color palette to see how they'd look with it.  Here are some knits that I can use for tunics and tops.  I'm probably not going to be sewing any dresses for this collection.  I'm not sure what patterns I want to use, but I'm thinking just really basic long sleeved t-shirts, turtlenecks, or cowl necks.  I want to be able to whip these up instantly!

A couple of months ago, I went on a dyeing spree one day, and hand dyed a piece of cream boiled wool into a mauve shade, and a white wool sweater knit into a greyish green.  I thought that they turned out really pretty- here they are:

I plan on turning these bulky wools into this V-neck tunic from the October issue of Burda Style.  I can layer this over the thinner knit tops.  I work in elementary schools that are kept significantly warmer than we keep our house temperature.  So, it's kind of challenging figuring out what to wear to work that I won't be sweating in while I'm there, or freezing in, when I get home.  With luck, I can put on these wool tunics when I get home to stay warm enough.

Then for bottoms, I found an assortment of greys and a blue green.  A couple of these are knits, so they'll likely become leggings. 

And if I still have enough momentum to keep sewing with this palette, I've got several woven fabrics that I can make into blouses.  The two on the right are both sueded fabrics, so they could feel fairly warm.  But, honestly, woven tops take longer to sew, and they aren't as warm as knits, so unless I start with these, their prospects of being sewn are pretty slim.  Hmm..  I think I will try putting these on the top of my "to sew" list.

I'm super excited to get started sewing these fabrics up!  We're going to be visiting my daughter in Colorado for a week this winter, and that is my goal to get several items sewn by then.

So, what do you make of the lack of coat patterns with hoods?  Am I the only one who is missing them?

Happy Sewing!
Ann