Mad Cat Capsule | Buying Pants and Finding a New Style

One of the reasons that I started a capsule wardobe, many years ago, was bc I felt I had lost touch with my style. I wasn’t sure what my personal style was anymore. I wanted to find a style that worked for me without constantly buying clothes and buying into trends.

All these years later, I find myself on a parallell journey. I’m still staying away from trendy things, but I have fallen into a trend of sorts.

I’m sick of wearing jeans.

It took a long time in the pandemic to get to this point for me. But I really only want to wear comfortable pants. Ideally somehting as close to pajamas as possible. You know, “going out pajamas”.

So lately I went on a thrifting quest. To find some comfy pants that are not jeans and are not skinny legged. And are high wasted, and have pockets (front and back). Is that really asking too much?

Oh, and also, they have to fit my style. But what is my style when it comes to pants like that? I guess I’ve got to find out, now.

I bought about 10-12 pairs of pants but swiftly whittled it down to only a few. Even some of those I might not end up keeping. Many of the thrifted pants simply didn’t fit. Some were not the leg I was after, or were too cropped (not a huge fan of that), some were the wrong material or didn’t have enough pockets.

When thrifting, I don’t tend to try things on in the store. The prices are cheap enough, and I usually know my style well enough, that I can pick out with out trying on and know I will get about 80% accuracy. I don’t mind supporting local thrift shops and I don’t mind donating back what I don’t end up using. But clearly when trying to find a new style my level of accuracy goes way down. I only got about 20% accurate with this venture. For this outing I felt lost, and I lost sight of some of the details I usually make sure to always check (the fabric, the pockets, etc….).

Finding new pants will be an ongoing journey. I have a few now that I like and are in a new style. I have to wear them, see what I like and what I don’t, learn about this new aspect of my style. I’ll let you know what I find out!

Mad Cat Capsule | Winter 2021 (Jan, Feb, Mar)

One reason for making a Capsule Wardrobe is to make getting dressed simple. Having a set capsule allows you to easily get dressed, easily have each outfit reflect your style, and take the doubt and confusion or concern out of getting dressed so that we don’t suffer from decision fatigue, over buying, and negative body images.

Ideally, everything in your capsule, no matter the season, goes together for the most part. Every piece is something that you like and fits you well, and that you feel good in. A Capsule should be curated and therefore thought out before buying, cutting down on over-buying. If you are interested in sustainability, many of your pieces will be slow fashion. In my opinion, even if you are not interested in sustainability most of your capsule will be slow fashion as well, bc I believe that that is what makes up the best capsule. Clothing that you have had a long time and love, staples that are well made, thrifted items (in order to try out new trends without spending too much money), are all items that should be your capsule and these are all slow fashion.

Things to avoid in your capsule are cheap fast fashion. Not only are these mostly made by slave labor with deplorable conditions (which we do not want to support and also do not want to let that energy into our lives), but they are made with only easy money and changing trends in mind. These clothes don’t fit well, don’t last, aren’t made of quality fabrics, get stretched or misshapen or simply fall apart. Not to mention a drain on our environmental resources, human resources, and our mental health. We should also avoid the clothes we love, but do not fit us, or make us feel good. Keep tee clothes somewhere and try them on periodically but don’t wear them if you they don’t serve you at this time.

For my Capsule this Winter, I’m thinking about all these things, but I’m also striving to push myself when getting dressed. Now that I will be going to work less, I could and have easily fallen into the trap of never getting dressed. Staying in PJs all day is very enticing. But this quarter, I want to make sure that my capsule is serving me and making my life easier, but also inspiring me to get dressed!

One of the great things about a capsule wardrobe, especially a slow fashion based one, is that you can play with it! It has all clothes you love, that you know work, so you can add a few pieces to try, or bunch some together that you normally wouldn’t. Do you usually wear all dresses, but have a pair of pants in each quarter? why not try all the pants together? If you don’t usually count athleisure in your capsule, but find that’s all your wearing, why not make a capsule of those clothes and see how you like wearing them in different environments? Have a collection of silk pajamas you just don’t want to take off these days, try making them outerwear!

Personally, I was in a rut of not getting dressed, so the first thing I want to do with this capsule is use it every day. It’s even one of my 2021 quarterly goals. Next, I want to wear things that usually get neglected in my capsule, especially in winter. Dresses, flowey pants, and specifically skirts are a priority for the next few months. Making sure I wear them and making them winterized is the challenge.

4 tanks - brown (10+ years), blue and white (above, 10+ years,) black strappy (15+ years). white lace (5+ years)

3 vests - this is an unusual category for me, but I want to wear my vests! - lace (5+ years), orange (handmade, thrifted, vintage?), blue wool cut out (15+)

5 T shirts - Forgotten Boardwalk (local biz), parthanon (3+ years), vermillion (thrifted), grey AA (ethical, sustainable, 10+ years), Sounds (gifted).

5 short sleeved shirts - grey wool sweater (vintage, thrifted), brown silk (vintage, thrifted), emily pleated (hand me down), black and white crop (10+ years), brown floral (vintage, thrifted).

8 long sleeved shirts - grey silk button down (vintage, thrifted), snake print turtle neck (vintage, thrifted), grey mockneck (vintage, thrifted), white button down (15+ years), grey scoop neck henley thermal (10+), blue tie dye sweatshirt (thrifted, perhaps my newest piece), AA grey thermal henley (15+), brown extra long thermal (18+), leopard turtleneck (vintage, thrifted), grey thermal (hand me down, 5+).

9 sweaters - grey cardi (hand me down, vintage), anchor (thrifted), grey turtle neck (thrifted), black and white (hand made, thrifted), vermillion cardi (10+), cream mockneck (thrifted), confetti (thrifted), brown cardi (vintage, thrifted).

1 jacket - leopard silk (vintage, thrifted).

3 dresses - this isn’t too many, but my plan is to wear them more often that in a usual capsule - white eyelet (hand made, vintage, thrifted), black sweater (5+ years), black and white rabbit (5+ years).

4 Pants - brown silk harem pants (vintage, thrifted), brown linen (ethical, sustainable, thrifted), brown plaid (vintage, thrifted), AA blue linen (sustainable, ethical, 10+).

5 jeans -fleece lined wranglers (vintage, thrifted), blue skinny (sustainable, ethical), Grey skinny (sustainable, ethical), black skinny ( thrifted, 5+), engineer (thrifted).

7 skirts - here is the meat of what I’m going out on a limb with this capsule - black sweater (vintage, thrifted), grey wool (vintage, thrifted), brown leather (vintage, thrifted), orange mini sweater (10+), floral cord (vintage, thrifted), black velvet skater (hand me down), black flowy (10+).

Thats a little over 50 pieces, which is right where I usually hover with my 3 month capsule. The prominent colors are grey (duh), brown, black, and vermillion with some white and cream, and orange. I didn’t include leggings and tights or shoes here. I’m counting them as the winterizing accessories this season.

A full flip through will be going up on the channel soon and I will add that link here when available.

Are you challenging yourself this season with your capsule? What challenges are does your current environment (working from home, the weather, your job or home life changing) present? How are you thinking about your capsule this quarter? Keeping it the same, or trying something new?

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Video | Fall Capsule Wardrobe Flip Through | Fall 2020 Capsule Wardrobe | Thrifted Slow Fashion Wardrobe | Zero Waste Wardrobe

Hi, I’m Mo.
Thanks for joining me today! I post videos on Mondays and Fridays.
Here is (most of) my Fall 2020 capsule wardrobe. My capsules usually consist of about 50 items give or take. I don’t count sleepwear, underwear, or outerwear in my capsule. I didn’t include a few items that were in the wash or what I was currently wearing in this video. All my capsules are slow fashion, thrifted, and zero waste.

More about this capsule here: http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog/2020/9/25/mad-cat-capsule-fall-2020-oct-nov-dec

Do you keep a capsule wardrobe? would you like to see more videos about my capsule wardrobe or about them in general?

Cats in this video: Flounder

Original music by audionightlight. https://soundcloud.com/anlight/tracks

Blog: http://www.madcatquilts.com/blog
Instagram: http://instagram.com/madcat1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/120401161-ana-mo-shoshin

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Mad Cat Capsule | Fall 2020 (Oct, Nov, Dec)

Let’s talk about capsule inspiration pieces: what’s new and what stays the some.

I find that there are lots of pieces that I never take out of my capsule. I often look at these items and think about switching them out. Then, as I’m going thru making my new capsule, I find that I just can’t take them out! This is not to say that they are always a great inspiration to me. Mostly they are too useful, too basic to let go of, even for one season.

In making my fall capsule there were many peices that I left in. I didn’t even complete my capsule until over a month into the quarter. I even thought about not changing my capsule this quarter. I knew I would need more cold weather clothes, so I did eventually switch over. But I feel that the next shift, from Fall to Winter, will be very minor.

In a way, this sounds like there was no inspiration in this capsule. But really, the basics, the utilitarian and simple are the inspiration! My Summer capsule was working so well, was so easy to use, that I almost didn’t need to switch it over. I anticipate this happening again Fall to Winter. In Many ways, thats the goal for a capsule. Not needing to switch out an entire wardrobe only a few weather dependent pieces.

My color scheme for this quarter is dark and light grey (surprise, surprise), black, deep brown, denim blue, and various pops of color. I’m really into thermal long sleeves this capsule.

4 dresses - dark denim (thrifted), chambray (thrifted), white eyelet (thrifted), rorschach (small biz, ethical, 7+ years old).

6 pants - everlane blue (ethical, sustainable), everlane grey (not pictured, ethical, sustainable), red (thrifted), brown linen (thrifted eileen fisher, ethical, sustainable), American Apparel brown (ethical, 10+), raw edge (not pictured, thrifted).

1 skirt - tea length (10+)

3 cardigans - light grey (hand me down), brown (hand me down), dark grey (hand me down).

4 sweaters - teal (not pictured, 5+ ), black eye (thrifted, vintage), black and white (7+), orange vest (thrifted, hand made, vintage).

5 button down - red and blue (10+), white (15+), blue henley (5+), brown (5+), blue chambray (found).

3 long sleeve - lace sweat shirt (thrifted), talulas baseball (work tee, local, ethical sustainable), leopard mock neck (vintage and thrifted).

4 waffle tees - dark grey henley (10+), AA light grey (10+, ethical, sustainable), dark grey (5+, hand me down), brown (15+).

4 “nice” tees - rainbow (vintage and thrifted), pleated black (hand me down), brown silk (vintage and thrifted), yellow silk (vintage and thrifted).

7 tee shirts (not pictured) - aa grey (10+, ethical, sustainable), black mets (thrifted), blue mets (thrifted), spiritualized (band, artist), sounds tee (aaa baseball, gifted), talulas hugging pizzas (work, locally printed, local artist).

4 tanks (not pictured) - white lace (7+), black crop (15+), grey (10+), purple (5+).

that’s about 45 pieces, but I’m sure there are one and two that escaped me as I made this post. A lot of these are staple items, but that’s what was inspiring this quarter! Since this capsule took me a long time to put together, I will be only swapping out a few items for my next capsule this winter. I’m already feeling happy with that idea. And I already have a few of the swaps in mind…

What does your capsule look like this quarter?

Mad Cat Capsule | Times Flies!

Just the other day I was thinking how much I was excited to start looking thru my reserve clothes to start my Fall Capsule Wardrobe.

“It’s too early for that!” I thought to myself

But lo and behold, September is almost over!!

Sometimes I’m ready to move on to my next capsule right away. Other times, I’m perfectly happy with the current capsule and it’s working for me and the weather.

What’s great about creating and keeping a capsule wardrobe is that you can change the rules at any time, or make them up as you go along.

My advice to those new to this technique is choose your method and stick to it. When first starting out it’s good to have more parameters, more rules. But for those who have the basics down, go nuts. Give your self challenges, keep it interesting, but also keep learning.

For my Fall capsule, I’m ready for sweaters and leggings and long socks. I’ve started pulling a few items, but am getting excited to really go thru my clothing stock and see what cozy items I can find. Shopping my closet certainly fulfills the urge for “new school clothes shopping” I get around this time. It’s better for my wallet and the environment to pull out old favorites rather than buy new. It’s turned really chilly by us and wrapping up in a well worn thermal tee, my favorite jeans, and a chunky sweater sounds just fine.

Have you started creating your next capsule? Do you change it up every quarter or stick to the same routine? What season are you in where you live?

Mad Cat Capsule | Summer 2020 (July, Aug, Sept)

This year of capsule wardrobes started on a high note, but by now, Summer, I’m kinda blah on it. At the beginning of the year I felt rejuvinated about my caspule, lately I’m unmotivated for anything that takes me out of the house. Even thinking about leaving the house fills me with ennui. While making my capsule I have to think about where I’m going and how I’m going to use the capsule. All I really want to wear these days is biker shorts and a tank top. Loungewear, cutoffs, oversized tees. But the reality is that I do need to leave the house sometimes. So here’s what I came up with for my Summer Capsule Wardrobe.

10 t shirts - AA green crewneck (10+ years old, ethical), elephant band tee (6+, local artist), ford crop (vintage, thrifted), minutemen tee (10+), Happy Bday Sandwiches! (handmade, thrifted, 10+), grey hypo color (vintage), grey AA crewneck (10+, ethical), california raisins (vintage, thrifted), talulas cream tee (5+, local biz), talulas pool party (local biz).

8 tops - talulas baseball (local biz), white sheer geo print (thrifted), white floral (thifted), white longsleeve (10+), linen floral (thrifted), silk floral (vintage), holey stripe (10+), xx.

8 tanks - circle flower (10+), unicorn (5+), green stripe (found), floral crop (10+), grey (10+), black (10+), Surf crop (10+), xx.

2 sweaters - grey cardigan (vintage, hand me down), green (5+).

4 dresses - silver (thrifted, ethical), black and white (5+, ethical), bird (8+, small biz), xx.

2 skirts - black (10+, small biz), blue short skirt (5+).

3 pants - black “linen” (5+), blue joggers (hand me down), xx.

5 shorts - cut offs (vintage, thrifted), levis “cut offs” (3+), white (5+), grey biker (5+), anchor (vintage, thrifted).

6 jeans - white (thrifted), green (thrifted), teal (thrifted), everlane blue (sustainable, ethical?), fray bottom (thrifted), xx.

I left a few blank spaces in there, bc I haven’t had a chance to go thru all my back up clothes, yet. I wanted to leave room to find a few more items and shop my closet. That leaves this capsule right around 50 pieces, which is pretty normal for me.

I kept a similar color scheme to spring; cream, peach, green, denim, white, teal, some black and of course, grey. I love how my three masks fit perfectly with my capsule. As always when making this post, I finalized and took out a few pieces. Getting everything out of the closet to photograph and count always brings the capsule into sharp focus and shows what doesn’t quite fit, or inspires for a few more items.

I didn’t include shoes in this capsule bc I have only been wearing an old pair of flops that have recently died (RIP), and an old pair of vans that are on their way out. Since my flops are no longer, I’ve been taking the opportunity to go bare foot more.

I’m interested to see how this capsule serves me for the next little over 2 months. Did you make a Capsule Wardrobe this season?

Summer Capsule Wardrobe Inspiration

I’m having a little trouble getting motivated to make my Summer (Jul, Aug, Sept) Capsule Wardrobe this month. I usually start planning towards the end of the last month of the quarter, and by the first month of the current capsule I am pretty set. Finalization happens as I write my capsule blog. But this month, I’m like eh about it.

I thought this would be a good time to do one of my favorite things: watch capsule videos on youtube! If you’re not feeling making your capsule this quarter, or if you’re looking for a little closet inspo, you might enjoy these creators and videos.

The Anna Edit (video posted above) consistently posts Capsule Wardrobe videos every few months, and I love them. Her videos might not be drastically different each season, but I love how happy she gets when she brings out old favorites.

Jaime at Mademoiselle, like The Anna Edit, has a vastly different style than I do, which might be why I like their videos. They both buy many clothes, usually new, which is something I literally never do. I really appreciate the attention to detail and the reasoning and perserverence with which Jaime approaches her capsules. She posts a lot of 10x10 challanges, but I also love her weekly outfit videos.

Meghan’s wardrobe, approach to shopping, and lifestyle is far closer to mine but her fashion style is so different. I love all the bright colors she wears and how easily she purges items! I also love the ease and comfort she exudes when talking to the camera. She often approaches her videos as if she were your big sister and I want her to me mine.

When I was watching vids to get inspired I watched so many! But I think the three above creators are a good overviews of several ways to clean, declutter, challenge or capsule a wardrobe. Who do you most identify with? Who are some of your favorite Capsule Wardrobe youtubers or bloggers?

When was the last time you decluttered your closet or changed over your capsule?

Mad Cat Capsule | My Three Face Masks

I would never have believed, back in the beginning of the year, that face masks would be part of my capsule wardrobe in the 2020.

When we first knew that we would have to wear face masks while in public, my husband looked up a bunch of tutorials and made a variety of different masks. He is the machine sewer in the family. Most of the masks he made we ended up giving away to friends and family, some of them we still use as back ups. He was never quite satisfied with the pattern. By a few months in, we had sort of come up with our mask routine and he stopped making them, so never perfected his pattern. Personally, I went the easy route, a bandana.

I now have three bandanas that I wear and wash in rotation. These were all items that I already had. One is actually a vintage pocket square. I like the bandana bc it’s two layers of cotton, I can tuck the tail into my shirt collar, it’s easy to hand wash and dries quickly if needed, and honestly, it feels kinda cool, like I’m an outlaw.

Without meaning to, I picked three masks that fit perfectly into my spring capsule wardrobe. Somehow without trying, when I pick a mask each day, I know it will work well with whatever outfit I’m wearing from my capsule. That’s one of the joys of a capsule and one of it’s goals: to never have to think much about what you pull from your closet bc it all works together.

In a time when adding one more thing to the list you have to remember to carry out of the house each day (phone, keys, wallet… mask!), taking away the decision fatigue of which mask to wear is great.

How have you incorporated masks into your daily wardrobe?

Mad Cat Capsule | Spring 2020 (April, May June)

Here we are at the 4th Spring that I have made a Capsule Wardrobe. When I write it down like that, it doesn’t seem too long, but think about it, that means I’ve made 16 Capsules. Making a capsule each season is something I look forward to, and I don’t think, until I have pared down my clothes to only have 1 small wardrobe, that I’ll ever go back to a conventional closet. Spring is always a special marker for me, bc it was the first season that I ever started a capsule.

This Spring will be a weird one. We’ve had an early Spring here on the East Coast of USA (thanks groundhog!) but the weather was still rainy and grey in the beginning of April. I was all set to go thru absolutely all my clothes in the beginning of March, picking items to wear to work, wear out and about and wear at home, since those are the places that I mostly am.

Or was. Once we got our stay at home order, my idea for this capsule changed. I didn’t feel that I needed to go thru everything before the month my capsule started. I also didn’t feel the need to have my capsule complete and set my the beginging of the spring season. I’ve been slowly swapping out items, seeing what I’m drawn to wearing, and what makes me feel great now that I’m spending my time differently than I thought I would be.

One of the main ideas of having a capsule is having a complete wardope that makes it easy to get ready every day. Having a limited amount of items that all go together make it very easy to not think too hard about what one is going to wear every day. To choose these items, I go by season and weather, by where I plan to be and what I plan to be doing, and how I’m feeling at the time of making the Capsule (this might effect color and style choice). taking into consideration I might be out of work and isolating (with my husband, of course, ) for a while (perhaps the whole capsule?), here’s what I’ve come up with:

8 pants - Grey wool slacks (thrifted and vintage), green holey jeans (thrifted), everlane blue (ethical, sustainable), everlane button grey (ethical, sustainable), blue linen sailor (thrifted, vintage), tan pleated (thifted, vintage), engineer (thrifted), mens levis (thrifted).

4 dresses - grey sweatshirt (10+ years), burnout (hand me down), silver eileen fisher (thrifted, ethical , sustainable), blue denim (thrifted).

2 skirts - black tea length (8+ years), black leather (thrifted, vintage).

10 sweaters - Cropped mock neck (thrifted), confetti (thrifted), grey wool (thrifted), black and white (8+ years), black holey (5+ years), anchors (thrifted), teal (5+ years), grey cardigan (vintage, hand me down), green cardigan (vintage, hand me down), cashmere (thrifted).

5 long sleeved tops - striped henley (10+ years), blue button down (hand me down), grey lace sweatshirt (thrifted), cropped with elbow patch (clothing swap), grey waffle (8+ years),

3 tops - sheer patterned (thrifted), cropped floral (thrifted), grey waffle (8+ years).

9 t shirts - ford crop (vintage, thrifted), pachyderm (local artist, 8+ years), pizza! (work shirt, local, 4+ years), green v neck (ethical, 10+years), green crew (ethical, 10+ years), grey crew (ethical, 10+ years), minutemen (10+ years), spiritualized (band t, 10+ years, artist), happy bday sandwiches (homemade by a stanger, thrifted).

3 tanks - grey (10+ years), black crop (10+ years), TBD.

4 shoes - floran vans, flops (ethical, recycled), velcro vans (3+ years), blue/black vans (thrifted).

So this season’s capsule sits right around 50 pieces, not including outerwear, or incidentals (maybe I want to wear some boots, but prob not). Spring is a tough month already, bc one never knows what the weather will be, but factoring in the wild changes in the world, it’s almost impossible to tell what will be most used. I tried to go with a lot of my favorite items for this capsule, but also comfort was key. Sweaters, easy pants, loose dresses are all in the capsule. This Spring I also have an honorable mentions pile. This is something I have never done. It consists of clothes that I wear, but are not really in my capsule, or items that might go in it.

Honorable mention pile - Velvet skirt. This is a short skirt, and I don’t know if I’ll get to use it (hand me down). Floral top. This one needs some modifications for me to wear it. Will I do them in time for this capsule? (vintage, thrifted). Going out PJs. These are 3+ years old, and they are just sweats, but presentable enough to wear to the grocery. Grey slacks. I’m not sure I need these, but if I take to wearing them, I might swap something out of the above capsule (vintage, thrifted). Garden pants. My pants for gardening (thrifted). Silver sweater. I love this very moth eaten sweater, but not sure I’ll wear it for this capsule (10+ years).

What will you be doing over the next three months? Maybe your Spring wardrobe is all loungewear, since you know you’ll be staying home, maybe you are still working and only need professional clothes…

Whatever the case may be, a Capsule Wardrobe can keep you prepared. Are you making one this season?

Mad Cat Capsule: Nostalgic Clothes

I’ve started pulling from my stockpile of clothes, shopping my storage if you will, to prep for changing over my Winter Capsule Wardrobe to Spring.

Whenever I do this, I end up with a few piles. One to go into my capsule, one to stay in storage, one to donate or get rid of, and one that are clothes that I prob won’t every wear again, but don’t want to part with. Maybe my size has changed and they don’t fit me any more, maybe they are no longer my style.

But these items have a sentimental value to me and I want to have them as keepsakes. I’m not a minimalist, I’m not trying to get rid of all my objects, so it doesn’t bother me to keep a small bin of clothes I love but aren’t useful. I like to look thru this in from time to time like one would a photo album.

My favorite flannel that no longer fits, a dashiki that I could never figure out how to wear but I love, and a dead stock sweater from the 70s that I thrifted when I was a teenager.

One of the main reasons people keep clothes that they no longer wear is bc these items remind them of a time or place, a feeling, or a version of their former selves. Most people in the minimalist, capsule, sustainable wardrobe community would say to let go of these pieces, but I don’t think that’s necessary as long as you keep them in a mindful way.

I dearly loved these studded jeans, one of my first ever purchases from Target when they were a new store.

Keeping hoards of clothing that you don’t want to part with with no thought is not wise. But keeping a select memory box of curated items can be a time capsule. (No pun intended). Just like any other part of your wardrobe and indeed all your possessions, it’s important to go thru these items from time to time, not let them rot in a forgotten box or bin.

Do you keep a fashion time capsule? What are some of the old clothing you can’t bare to part with? Is there a story attached to them?

Mad Cat Capsule | Winter 2020 (Jan Feb Mar)

In Fall, the weather was all over the map. I think my capsule treated me well, but all I really wanted was big snuggly sweaters. I was excited to go thru my sweaters in Winter and get more of that cozy vibe. That’s where my head was at when starting my Winter Capsule.

I‘ve been doing capsules for several years now, trying not to buy any new clothes and trying to limit the second hand clothes that come into my closet. Every season I pare down my back stock of clothing. But I’m still surprised every three months about what I have, or in Winter’s case, what I don’t have. I was pretty surprised that I thought I didn’t have very many cozy sweaters.

This made me think about a few things: Where did all my sweaters go? How many sweaters do I need? Am I going to get some new sweaters?

I love making a post for each season’s capsule bc this is the time that I really get to answer those questions or any questions I’m having.

Here’s my Winter 2020 Capsule.

5 Jeans - Can I do three months with only 5 pairs of pants? Everlane blue high waisted (ethical, sustainable) , everlane grey button fly (ethical, sustainable), white button fly (thrifted), black wide leg (vintage and thrifted), fleece lined wranglers (vintage and thrifted).

11 tops - Mostly long sleeve and for layering. American Apparel green waffle (ethical, sustainable, 10 years +), grey stripe (10 year +), blue henley (hand me down), grey ribbed henley (5 year +), Grey waffle henley (5 year+), Baseball tee (local biz), floral waffle (10year +), green waffle (10 year +), snake skin turtleneck (vintage and thrifted), ribbed mock neck (vintage and thrifted), rainbow mock neck (thrifted).

10 Sweaters - To answer some of my earlier questions: I have plenty of sweaters! And quite a variety. Sparkly mock neck (vintage and thrifted), teal (5 years+), chenille (hand me down), eye sweater (vintage and thrifted), grey light (5 year +), grey kimono (thirfted, 3 year +), John cardigan (vintage, hand me down), grey wool (hand me down), black cardigan (5+ years), Katie sweater (hand me down).

3 dresses - Denim (10 year +), silver (ethical and thrifted), burn out (hand me down).

4 tanks and under shirts - I mostly use these for layering. Salmon crop (thrifted), grey tank (10+ years), teal (5 year +). black (10 year +).

1 shirt - I’ve used this black skirt (8 years +) in just about every capsule.

12 t shirts - Again, I layer with these a ton in every season. Teal talula’s (local biz, gifted), white floral (thrifted), minutemen (10 years +), grey waffle (10 years +), AA green crew (ethical, sustainable, 10 year +), AA grey crew (ethical, sustainable, 10 year +), green band (local artist, 5 years +), spiritualized (artist tee, AA ethical, sustainable, 10 year +), Happy Birthday Sandwiches (thrifted, AA ethical, sustainable, 10 year +), Mets (thrifted, 10 year +), long sleeve black (local biz, gifted)

4 shoes - velcro vans (3 years +), floral vans (3 years +), brown boots (thrifted), black boots (3 years +).

This capsule rounds out at 50 pieces. The color theme is grey (as always), black, sage green, teal, with a bit of white. I would like there to be a few more pops of salmon, so if I find anything like that, I might swap some items out. I feel good about this capsule, I’m interested to see how it treats me for the next three months. I’ve got plenty of cozy sweaters!

Are you switching out your capsule every three months? Do you change it seasonally? What arre some of your Winter staples?

Mat Cat Capsule | All the Clothes I Didn't Wear in Fall

As I was sitting down (ok, running up and down the basement stairs) to create my Winter 2020 Capsule Wardrobe, I realized just how many clothes that were in my Fall Capsule that I hadn’t worn once. Many might think that 65 items of clothing is too few to get them through 3 months of wear. But I only actually wore 48 between Oct and Dec bc there were 17 items that I didn’t even touch.

Here’s what I didn’t wear and my thoughts on why not.

I didn’t wear any of these white tops. Each of them is not my favorite for different reasons. The Bahamas shirt is too tight at the collar, the floral is cropped, the Japan shirt is very fitted.

I’ve never worn this vintage wrap shirt/over shirt but I would like to fit it into my wardrobe.

A few more t shirts taht I didn’t wear. I love the deep v, and they used to be my uniform for many years, but now it can be too tricky. I often wear the other two shirts, but always ended up grabbing other shirts in my capsule.

This new hyper color t is also tricky to wear. The tank was just too summery.

This cardigan is not overly easy to wear or match with other items. It works really well over lighter clothing, but is hard to pare with fall/winter items.

I love this dress, it has pockets! I never reached for it this Fall.

I got this Eileen Fisher silver dress this summer, but haven’t worn it yet.

I thrifted these leather joggers a long while ago, but I have never worn them. I really want to, I think it would be a look. This super soft leather skirt was bought at a stoop sale many years ago, and I wish I wore it more.

I love this light over shirt that was found at my old bar but it never worked out this Fall. The next shirt is just a little tight around the middle and a little stiff. I This I’ll like it when I can wear it in, but I haven’t yet, The last denim dress, I really enjoy, but it wasn’t right for this capsule.

Setting aside the clothes that I didn’t wear in my capsule was an interesting experiment. I would like to try it again at the end of Winter. I ended up putting some of these items into Winter, let’s see if they end up on the didn’t wear pile again in three months.

What My Capsule Wardrobe Has Taught Me About My Personal Style

I’ve been keeping a capsule wardrobe for about 10 seasons now . I don’t see anything that would make me stop keeping one. I can see a point in the future where I have pared down my clothes to the extent where I only have one capsule that encompasses everything I need. At the moment, I have way too many clothes for that.

There are many aspects of capsuling that I enjoy, but one that I have found the most helpful is how much it has taught me about my own style and the direction I want it to grow in. Here are some things that I have learned.

Plain and simple - I’m attracted to ruffles, to baubles, to puff sleeves, embellishments, fringe. I’ve probably bought clothing with these accents at some point, but I’ve hardly ever worn them. I find the clothes I like most are those that are simple, plain and easy to wear.

Well worn and loved - Once I started going thru all my clothes every few month, I saw how many of my clothes had holes, rips, bleach stains, or were thread bare. Many might want to get rid of these, but I found they were some of my favorites. I love when clothes tell the talle of how well they have been worn and loved.

Monochrome - I love to wear all the same color. Picking out all different hues of all the same color is something that seems to often happen when I’m getting dressed. Keeping a capsule wardrobe often means paring down your clothes to only the colors that you love and that go with everything. That often means you have a lot of the same colors no matter what the season.

Pattern mixing - I love wear like colors together but I also love patterns. And mixing them up is my favorite! I love the unexpectedness of this style. It adds some boldness to my otherwise tame wardrobe. Any pattern will so, but vintage and thrifted finds are usually my style.

One of the reasons that I started a capsule wardrobe was bc I felt that I had no personal style. But in doing so I found that I had merely lost touch with my style and was able to easily get back on track. One reason to keep a capsule wardrobe is to make it easier to get dressed each day knowing that everything you have fits in with your personal style. I was happy to reconnect with my style and feel confident that all my capsules will make me feel that way.

I highly recommend a capsule wardrobe if you’re feeling like you’ve lost your style, or are not sure what it is.

What are some of the elements of your style? If you have a capsule, how has it helped you identify your style?

Mad Cat Capsule | Autumn 2019 (October, November, December)

For Fall, I wanted to get back to a more traditional Capsule Wardrobe. I wanted to make sure to go thru most of my clothes, get rid of things I’m not going to use, and to pull out old favorites to wear for the next three months. I wanted to keep to a set number of items, include shoes.

In the past few capsules, I mainly used the same clothing, some of my all time favorites. For Fall, I wanted to bring out some new (old) items. When I first started making capsules, I would have everything ready by mid month but now it takes me longer and longer to finalize my capsule. Here’s what my capsule is looking like Mid October.

6 Jeans - Everlane blue (sustainable, ethical), everlane grey (sustainable, eithical), raw edge dark blue (thifted), engineer jeans (thrifted), wide leg black (thrifted, vintage), F21 teal (thrifted)

10 Sweaters - Teal (3+ years), rainbow (3+ years), dark grey (3+ years, hand me down), black holey (3+ years), black cardigan (5+ years), grey and blue (3+ years), grey lacy cardigan (thrifted, 10+ years), grey cashmear (vintage, thrifted), grey John cardi (vintage, hand me down), one undecided

6 Tanks - Teal (5+ years), grey (10+ years), black (10+ years), black strappy (10+ years), black cropped (15+ years), one undecided

12 T Shirts - Spiritualized (10+ years), Happy Bday Sandwhiches (ethical, thrifted, 9+ years), bones (10+years), grey aa (ethical, 10+ years), blue aa (eithical 10+ years), aa grey v neck (ethical. 10+ years), bahamas (thrifted 10+ years), japan (thrifted), ford (thrifted, vintage), hypercolor, blue forgotten boardwalk cat (supports local biz), one undecided

8 Long Sleeved Shirts - Grey turtle neck (thrifted), light green waffle (ethical, 10+ years), talula’s baseball T (supports local biz), denim henley (3+ years old), blue over shirt (found in bar), lavender over shirt (thrifted), grey waffle shirt (10+ years old), one undecided

4 Other Shirts - Felix the cat (thrifted), blue silk (thrifted, vintage), black Emily shirt (hand me down), white over shirt (thrifted, vintage, hand made)

4 Skirts - Black leather (thrifted, vintage), grey leather (thrifted, 10+ years), long black (8+ years), black velvet (thrifted, vintage)

4 pants - Bone leggings (10+ years), 3 undecided,

4 Dresses - Eileen Fisher silver (ethical, sustainable, thrifted), blue denim (thrifted), black and white floral (thrifted), one undecided

6 Shoes - Velcro Vans (3+ years), Emily boots 3+ years old), slip on vans (3+ years), two undecided

Bc this isn’t a complete capsule, the final number might change but it looks like 65 pieces. Almost all of them are slow fashion or approaching it. This might be my first capsule of which I can say that. I’m looking forward to using this capsule and getting back into making my capsules every 3 months.

How long does it take you to create each season’s capsule? Do you create four per year? Do you ‘Shop” your closet or stored clothes?

Mad Cat Capsule | Summer 2019 (July, August, September)

I have gotten to the place with my capsule wardrobe where I’m pretty tired of making them. I still really like having a capsule, but actually making it is tiresome. I certainly have enough clothes to make 10 or more capsules so making one only requires going through my stock. Even that has become quite overwhelming. Part of the reason to make a capsule is to have less options and pare down to only having clothes that you love. I love so many of my clothes that, while each time I go through my back stock I do let go of several items, there are so many that I cannot let go.

For my Summer wardrobe, I sort of wanted to go through every item of clothing, but I only made it about half way. Not only did I have enough clothes for my current capsule, but I was exhausted from looking through all the clothes. I gave up mid way and decided that most of the items that were in my Spring Capsule would work for Summer as well.

The result of which is that I never felt like Summer was a true capsule. Sure, I had a limited amount of clothes that I re-wore, instead of buying new or adding to my closet from the back stock of clothing I already own. I had this feeling a bit in Spring as well, Even though they were almost opposite conditions. In Spring I made the capsule a more fluid capsule, taking things freely from the back stock.

Instead of listing every items of my Summer Capsule, I’m sharing some of my key pieces, either those that I really enjoy or were the most worn.

For future capsules, I oscillate between the idea of only using my favorite pieces, most of which were in many of my capsule, and the idea of returning to my stock pile and creating a totally new wardrobe. I also have become aware that I require less items in my capsule over all. Having less items means that I might get a little more bored with my wardrobe and also that I use each piece more over the season.

What was your plan for your capsule this Season? Were you satisfied with it? What will you do differently next time?

I bought the tank tops at least 15-20 years ago. Still good and fun to wear!

A hand me down sweater that didn’t get much wear until Sept, but it’s getting wear now.

New favorite jeans, silk/linen thrifted pants (fully lined), perfect summer shorts now 10+ years old.

Mad Cat Capsule | Spring 2019 (April, May, June)

Spring of 2019 sees the two year mark of my capsule wardrobes. Two full years of culling my clothes, dividing them into more manageable capsules, grouped by season. Two years of trying not to buy fast fashion and close to that of buying barely any new clothes at all. two years of being aware of the impact fast fashion has on our environment and economy. Two years of choosing to still buy certain things knowing they are fast fashion (the shoes that are most comfortable to me for instance) but also seeking out alternatives. Two years of getting back into thrifting, and enjoying the challenge of finding what I need that way, two years of researching sustainable fashion.

I feel like I have used the same method for picking my capsules more or less the entire time I’ve made them. I take all my clothes out, go thru them, put anything and everything I might want into a pile. I then cull that pile down to around 40 to 50 items.

Over the last few seasons I tracked how often I wore each item over the 3 month. It wasn’t many time for each piece. This got me thinking about how I can better utilize my capsule. I’ve forgone going thru all my clothes this time and used my last capsule and a few key pieces I picked up to start a more fluid Spring Capsule.

I waited to create this post to see if this spring would eventually be a complete capsule. So far that hasn’t happened. I’m only sharing what I’ve worn until now. I’m planning on making this capsule more like a long trial for my Summer Capsule.

I didn’t choose a color scheme, an inspiration item, or have any clear plan for the clothing I pulled for this capsule. But I like how the colors do come together and combine to make it a coherent capsule.

Looks like now, I’m at around 35 pieces. At least 30 of those are slow fashion. This doesn’t count shoes. I’m still picking pieces and adding them, and I’ve been taking items I don’t use away as well. I don’t have an exact goal with this capsule experiment, except the larger goal of always moving towards a more sustainable, more useful wardrobe.

What methods and experiments have you tried with your capsule wardrobe?

6 Month of Zero Waste: April was for Composting

Before working towards zero waste, I didn’t know that people were scared of composting. I grew up composting and never thought much of it. Once I started learning about zero waste, I realized that food waste is a huge problem but that most people don’t know much about composting and how that can help.

Many of us don’t think anything of tossing old food in the garbage. If it goes to landfill, whats the harm? Most people don’t think about what happens to our trash after it gets taken away off the curb. Once you start to think about zero waste, you realize that nothing that gets thrown our actually goes away. Doesn’t food just decompose? Landfills don’t allow anything within them to decompose or biodegrade in a healthy way. Bc modern landfills are so packed, food waste doesn’t decompose in the natural way, instead turning to methane gas which can be harmful to the environment.

An easy way to reduce our overall waste is to think abut our food waste. Once we start to examine what food we are throwing away we can start to reduce. This might mean that we buy less, buy unpackaged items, cook only what we need, change the way we eat, grow our own food, shop locally, or seasonally.

A good first step to looking at and reducing food waste is to compost instead of throwing away our unused or rotten food. So what is composting? Composting food is essentially letting food waste rot in a natural way and turn back into dirt. This dirt, or soil, can the be used in food gardens, plant gardens, indoor plants, community plots and gardens, etc…

To make compost, one simply had to find a place to put the rotting food until it turns into dirt. You can buy some fancy containers, or you can dig a hole in the back yard. If you live in a city or apartment, there’s usually a farmers market, or city initiative to take your food waste and make it into compost. Try seeking out community gardens in your area. If you do have a patch of land there are also a lot of resources to learn about composting.

My own compost is just a pile in the back yard. I throw all food waste in there excluding meat (not that we have much of that), dairy, and a few other non palatable food scraps.

January - Trash Audit
We separated and looked our trash to see what we are throwing away and what we can reduce.
February - Declutter Everything
We went thru what we have to declutter and reduce.
March - Switch to Paper
This month we moved to paper to get one step closer to reusables.
April - Compost
May - Meatless Monday
June - No Bottled Water

We’re still catching up on our 6 months of zero waste, leading up to Plastic Free July. The idea is simple, take a step every month to reduce our waste and disposable plastic consumption. You can follow along or choose your own steps, but remember to start where you are and do what you can. Even little steps are better than none.

Mad Cat Capsule: Thinking About Spring

I’m starting to think about my Spring wardrobe and getting ready to create it this month. This is always an exciting time in any capsule wardrobers life. But Spring is especially exciting for me, as my first ever capsule wardrobe was created in Spring 20xx.

Since tracking my capsule more carefully, I have definitely noticed that the usual amount of items I have in my closet (between 40-50 pieces) is way too much. each piece only got worn once or twice per month (if that) with the exception of my favorite items. I started wondering if I could just have a capsule with only my favorite items. This is not a new thought, but one that has been made more clear since tracking each items that I wear.

This leaves me with three dilemmas: 1) I have so many awesome clothes! I was getting excited, especially after a very dark earth toned winter capsule, to add a ton of my colorful and crazy clothing back into my life with my Spring capsule. But not all my colorful clothes are my favorites.
2) I have a lot of favorites! I’m sure if I pulled all my faves from all four seasons, I would have well over 50 items.
3) I don’t really know what my favorites are and it might take me a log time for find out.

Isn’t that one of the points of capsule wardrobe: to find out what you love to wear and want to wear all the time?

When thinking about all this, making my capsule the way I usually do seemed daunting. The method I usually use involves starting by taking a few key pieces out and rotating them into my last capsule, then taking all items of clothing I have out of storage and picking out the rest of the 3 month capsule. What usually results from this is that I have lots and lots of items that could go in my capsule, and I narrow it down to about 40-50 items.

My dream during this process is always to create a favorites bin. My dream would be to identify and separate the most worn and favorite items and be left with a a perfect wardrobe. But I can never seem to make that happen. Space, clutter, indecision, and organization seem to make it an impossible task. But it might be worth it to have a”perfect” capsule.

So will I have a bright, colorful, eclectic Spring capsule or will I have a utilitarian capsule with all my most worn, most loved clothing? I haven’t decided yet, but I will try to make it one with less clothing than in past capsules.

What does your perfect capsule wardrobe look like?

Bullet Journal Check In: February Clothing Tracker

Starting this year, I was curious to see how often I was wearing each item in my capsule wardrobe. The size of my current bullet journal is perfect to be able to write down each item!

I used a very simple layout, in January, writing down all the items first and filling in when I wore them.

For February, I am writing them down as I wear them. And marking where I repeat items.

As for the wardrobe side of this experiment, so far, I’m very intrigued by the results. Since I have so many pieces in my winter capsule, they only each get worn a few times each month. It has really given me pause about including so many pieces in each capsule. I was also surprised that I really do try to wear just about everything I have included. I was not surprised at what pieces were my go to items that I returned to again and again. I’ll be interested to track the last 1.5 months of this capsule and see what changes in my next capsule wardrobe as a result of this tracker!

As for the bullet journal aspect of this experiment, I haven’t found a tracker layout that I really like. This feels like something I would like to continue for a few more months, at least, but this tracker is pretty boring to fill out. It’s also a little hard to read. I’m sure if I had less items to list, it would look less cluttered, but I’m not convinced that will happen! My BuJo style is very minimal, so I’m not sure what other type of layout I could use. Does anyone have any ideas for me?

Do you tack your wardrobe?

Mad Cat Capsule | Winter 2019 (Jan, Feb, Mar)

For this Winter capsule, I started collecting some of the items I wanted to include early, and yet it still snuck up on me! That’s kind of how I’ve felt about Winter in general.

I knew months and months ago that I wanted the weird cat dress two piece that I found thrifting to be a focus of an upcoming capsule. In Winter I got to bring it out and use it as inspiration! I’ve liked black and white in the last few capsules and I was happy that this piece had those colors. I also picked up the dark red, teal and navy blue. The main colors in my Winter capsule are black & white, brown, navy blue, maroon, dark grey with pops of teal and light pink.

For this capsule, I think I chose far too many dresses and skirts. I really love them all and I want to wear them, but I know myself and I doubt I’ll use all the ones I picked out in the next three months. But I really want to have the option of wearing them, so I did include them. The way that I use my capsule, I could always go to my back stock of clothing, but I prefer to only use what’s in my current capsule if possible.

10 dresses - Black and white rabbit dress (3+ years old), “new house” dress (3+ years old), velvet dress (new second hand vintage find), blue floral dress (5+ years), black sweater dress (3+ years), denim dress with pockets (10+ years), spaghetti strap midi dress (not pictured, thrifted), brown floral wrap dress (not pictured, 10+ years), grey long sleeve (hand me down, 10+ years), cat dress (thrifted and vintage).

6 skirts - midi black skirt (5+ years), leather (vintage, thrifted), velvet (vintage, thrifted), sweater (new to me but vintage and thrifted), blue cord (vintage and thrifted), red with pockets (new to me but vintage and thrifted).

10 pants - Cat leggings (these are part of the set with the cat dress but together they are a look and a little hard to wear. Vintage, thrifted). silk harem pants with pockets (new to me, vintage, thrifted), engineer jeans (thrifted), brown pants (thrifted), black skinnies (thrifted), levis (thrifted), black wide leg (vintage and thrifted), eileen fisher brown linen (sustainable, ethical, thrifted, new to me), high waisted plaid (new to me, thrifted and vintage), black AA leggings (ethical, sustainable, 10+ years).

9 sweaters - teal (3+ years), wool raindeer (10+ years), wool turtleneck (new to me, vintage and thrifted), black eye (vintage, thrifted), dark gray “katie” (gifted, second hand), cashmere (thrifted, new to me), blue stripes (10+ years), brown floral crewel (from one of my first jobs, vintage), black turtleneck (not pictured, new to me but a new favorite!! Vintage and thrifted).

12 “fancy” tops - brown silk (thrifted, vintage), blue silk (thrifted, vintage), nubby blue silk (thrifted, vintage), gold secretary (vintage thrifted), “versace” print (new to me, vintage, thrifted), levis tunic (thrifted), stars button down (10+ years), b&w floral (5+ years), brown floral (vintage, thrifted), everlane pocket top (ethical, sustainable), silk mock neck (thrifted, vintage), grey mock neck (thrifted, vintage)

11 layering tops, tees, tanks - grey waffle tee (10+ years), brown waffle tee (10+ years), brown henley waffle tee (10+ years), work tee (locally made), AA dark grey v neck (10+ years, ethical, sustainable), Happy Birthday Sandwiches tee (thrifted), the following are not pictured: maroon crew neck (ethical, sustainable, 10+ years), teal v neck (ethical, sustainable, 10+ years), 2 black tanks (10+ years), another black tank (5+ years).

9 shoes - velcro vans, brown pointy booties (vintage, thrifted), zipper boots (thrifted), emily boots, black flats, white vans, black snow boots, feral robbins buckle boots (small business, 10+ years), high suede boots (vintage and thrifted).

I don’t usually count leggings in my capsules, but I want to really pare down and make sure that I am only keeping what I actually wear. I don’t yet include outer wear, sleep wear or intimates. This capsule comes in at 57 pieces which is right around where my capsules usually land. Around 45 of the items are slow fashion with many being second hand. I think this capsule is very much different than my last one and I’m excited to wear it!

Once I complete my capsule, I try to leave it alone. I often find pieces to add or substitute but I never try to find them. For this capsule, I will keep my eye out for a few new to me items. I would love to have a few more light pink accents. I’ll look for a tank top or tee for layering, or a cozy sweater.

What are you wearing this season?