Define Enough Clothes

Thanks to those who commented on the last blog post, you gave me quite a lot to think about and Ruthie's recent post about the kinds of garments she actually needed clarified some of my musings as well.

I'd have mused at length earlier in the week if my stupid broadband hadn't decided to collapse and die.  Never did find out what was up with it.  It just decided to come back on its own.  Anyhow.

Becki raised an interesting point about what constitutes enough.  I think that is dependent on the person.  But the things that made me decide I had enough were:

The wardrobe, drawers and sweater hanging device were stuffed to the gunnels.  The sweater hanging device has a teetering pile of knitwear on top of it as well.  I figured I had one body, that only needed a maximum of say, three sweaters on at once, even in very extreme climate situations, so possibly I had enough of those for the present moment. 

I have enough work  clothing to wear a different outfit every day for a fortnight.  If I took out all the clothes I was going to wear for this mythical fortnight there would still be more garments in the closet. Whether I would actually wear the ones that were left behind is a different issue.  One thing that came out of my lengthy musing was a realisation that I have a lot of stuff in there that I rarely wear, for all sorts of reasons. 

In terms of my casual wardrobe, I have enough garments to change into when I get in from work, and have a different outfit on each day of the weekend if I chose to do so, for the mythical fortnight that I mentioned earlier.  So I guess for me, a fortnight's worth of clothing seems enough.   

In terms of summer garments, I have more than I can wear for a typical summer in Yorkshire.  I have enough to wear a different outfit for a week.  I don't need a fortnight of summer clothes.  If its warm enough for me to wear something without sleeves, or dispense with a cardigan, then the weather forecasters will be warning about sunstroke, and it will be warm enough to wash out and get dry overnight, any item I might have a burning desire to wear again that week.  Though I must admit, I did notice a lack in the cupboard at this point.  No everyday dresses that I like enough to wear.  I have three "desperation" dresses which don't fit well and which I keep in case I feel an overwhelming need to wear a dress.  They will be gone as soon as I can actually make a pattern that fits me. 

The garments I do have, I thought at the time, met my needs in terms of colour, style, warmth and practicality.  They also mixed and matched well, so that I could make different outfits reasonably easily.  I felt this year's SWAP garments had really added a lot to the versatility of my wardrobe in this area and I think this is what triggered the feeling that I had enough. 

Then I started thinking about Becki's question about favourites, and realised that whilst I could make my clothes work that way, in reality, I drag out the same favourites over and over and pair them up in similar ways every time.  I realised that my red jacket looks worn for a reason, and the jeans with the red topstitching are always the "go to" pair, even when all seven pairs are sat in the wardrobe.  And those jeans really do love to be paired with the red polo top with the collar in the same fabric as the fly and pocket linings of the jeans, and the red aran sweater that is the exact colour of the top stitching.   And although almost all of my multiple pairs of trousers are from the same pattern, some are more comfortable than others.  And I like the ones that I bothered to put pockets into far more than the ones I just ran up without faffing with pockets. 

Also,  I am unbelievably attached to roll neck sweaters.  Apart from the heights of summer, I wear one at least once a week and that is a very conservative estimate because in winter I probably wear one every day.   I didn't even look in the roll neck sweater drawer when considering enough-ness because this is the one section of my wardrobe where other people's definition of enough may still not be enough.   But not all roll necks are created equal so even amongst a colony of them, there are still favourites.  And they come out more often than the others.   And there will always be a colour I don't have and feel I should acquire.  When considering updating my wardrobe for the new season, I start with whether or not my favourite roll-neck retailer has any roll necks in the season's signature colours. 

So I had a really good hard stare at my wardrobe.  And I dug about a bit.  And I thought a bit.  I still contend that I do, currently, technically, have enough clothes, on the basis that I can go for a fortnight without being naked or unhygienic.  But I also think there are some changes that need to be made; some things need to be let go.  I do know why each and every item that doesn't get worn is being left to hang unloved.  There are a variety of reasons, chief amongst them being difficulty of laundering, "too expensive to wear" syndrome, not having something to wear with the item (not many of those currently), only suitable for very specific occasions (cocktail dress and leopard print bias cut day dress), not practical (a coat with enormous sleeves that won't allow bags to be carried on my shoulder) and just a few "what the heck did I make/buy that for?". 

Oh yes, and finally, there is another category of garment.  The "I forgot I even owned that and its really very nice".  Having sufficient clothing that I can actually forget I own something, seems to me to indicate enough-ness, on its own. 

So you would of course think that this blog is going to become redundant as the poor girl has nothing she needs to sew or knit.  She will have to sit and twiddle her thumbs and we are going to be bored by the sound of frenzied thumb-twiddling.  Err, Nope.  Draped a sloper last night.  Well, if I don't need owt, the least I can do is use the time productively to learn something new, right?  It might become a summer dress, you never know. 
PS. When I ripped up the muslin piece, I did wonder why the yardage had a lovely hem and a channel at the top.  Ripped up my spare kitchen curtains I have.  Foolish girl.