I’ve reached the point of the winter where I have a pretty good idea of what I am and am not going to wear, so I’ve started the process of weeding things out. I always have a hard time with this process, but I’m trying very hard to be more ruthless than I usually am, since I do have a move to think about. Most of the things I’m ditching are things that were either store-bought or passed along to me, but I do have several me-mades that are on the chopping block as well. So here’s what’s going, and here’s why:
1. The silver skirt that I’d posted about before. This decision was actually made for me– I pulled it out around Christmas with the intent to wear it to church one day, and found that the elastic is shot. I wear it so little that it’s really not worth it to me to replace it. So I’m sending this one to the refashion pile–it’s bias-cut anyway, so maybe I can turn it into some strips for a fancy Hong Kong finish or something. It would be a shame to waste such perfectly good shiny fabric, don’t you think?

2. The Kaylee top. This one is more of a durability issue than disliking the top itself–sadly, the fabric is pulling out of the darts, and I’ve noticed a run in the actual fabric starting to form on one of the back shoulders. Which is really odd, since this is a woven! I’m thinking that this one is a candidate for the refashion bin as well, because it could make a really nice lining for a small bag or pouch.
3. The Lizzie top. I liked the concept, but found the execution to be somewhat lacking–I always had trouble getting the neckline to stay in place, even after hand-sewing it down, and it was always really saggy on that one side that’s facing out in the photo from the attempt to pleat it. Refashioning it is probably more trouble than it’s worth, given the thinness of the fabric to begin with (I’m not sure it would stand up to being taken apart again to try and tweak those things), so I’m just going to let it go.

4. The jacket portion of the band teacher pantsuit. Because let’s be honest, now that I’m not doing that job anymore, I really don’t need a pantsuit in my wardrobe. When I do reach for a black layering piece, it’s always either my military jacket or a purchased cardigan that I have. I am keeping the pants (for now), because they fit decently enough and black pants are definitely a wardrobe staple for me, to the point where I do need a backup pair when my one purchased pair that actually fits is in the laundry hamper.
5. A white shrug that I made pre-blog. You can tell this is an old picture, since it’s on Donna 1.0! I think it’s been at least 2 years since I’ve worn this, and I have a short-sleeved white cardigan that I tend to wear instead. It’s warmer in the air conditioning, and I need it because I’m pathetic about being cold like that. Also, the longer length of the sweater makes it more versatile–I think I only had about 2 things that this looked good with. (To be perfectly honest, I’ve noticed that I’m tending to keep things that are a cream color over things that are white–I think it’s a more flattering color on me, and less likely to get ruined if, say, I spill some tea on myself. In fact, the only reason I’m going more white instead of ivory for my wedding dress is my inability to pass up that sunflower lace!)

6. And finally, the pirate t-shirt that I stenciled. It’s too short for my comfort, and I have lots of t-shirts that I like better. Too many t-shirts, actually, but I do still regularly wear those!
There’s also these three tops–sadly, I started this pile to go to the thrift store back in August, and I haven’t gone yet! My “Autumn In Asia” bag, which I’ve been using for the last 3 fall/winter seasons, has also gotten too worn out to keep using–the strap is totally falling to pieces! But I do have enough usable quilted fabric in there that I think I can recycle it into a new checkbook cover, which I do need. So that one is going to the refashion bin as well.
All in all, I’ve managed to purge 3 jackety-type things, 3 dresses, 1 skirt, 2 pairs of shoes, 3 sweaters, a bag, and a whopping 17 tops so far. (This does not include the couple of things I’m sending to the refashion bin.) My closet still looks pretty full, but this is actually quite good for me.I still need to go through my refashion bin as well, to see if there’s anything there that I just don’t want to bother with anymore. I should probably go through my bags and scarves as well….it may be possible that I have too many winter scarves, but the truth is that I do rotate through them (depending on my mood and what colors I’m wearing that day) and wear nearly all of them!
Edit, 1/7: Gail talked me into keeping the pantsuit jacket. But I’ve also managed to pull out about 5 scarves to get rid of, as well as a few purses and bags. Out of what I’ve made, I basically salvaged the slide buckles off of the Diana bag and am just tossing that one–I’ve kept it for the last 4 years thinking that I might be able to go back and reinforce it to the point where it might be usable, but I think it’s time to admit that it was a wadder. I still had the Gothic Rose bag and the Daisy Chain bag— both are worn out and kind of dingy, but I’m going to try running them through the washer to see if the fabric will clean up enough to recycle some of the fabric, at least. (The Daisy Chain may be a lost cause, but I do think there’s still some decent usable fabric on the Gothic Rose, too!) Finally, I also have one pre-blog messenger-style bag that was black denim and a blue gore-tex lining, that I made to carry my supplies, namely some very thick books of music, a cd case, and my lesson plans, when I was working as an early childhood music educator at a local Montessori school. (I wanted something easy to wipe out, since I was dealing with very young kids.) It’s way too open at the top to be very functional for other things, I haven’t used it for awhile, and I have other me-made bags that I think would work better for things that I would need messenger-style bags for.