Operation Dress Nicer

Have you ever woken up one day, gone to get dressed, and realized that you hate all your clothes? I don't know how it happened, it sort of snuck up on me, but I started to really look at the things I was wearing and I realized they were all, torn, stained, didn't fit right, or I just didn't like them anymore. This realization came to me in November, and that was when I came up with a new mission: Operation Dress Nicer. So this year I've got a simple goal, spruce up my wardrobe.

Now, I know I could just go out and spend a couple hundred dollars (that I really don't have) on some new clothes, but that idea doesn't really appeal. Clothes these days are made to be disposable. Spending my hard-earned money on something that is designed to only last a couple of months and then be thrown away rubs me the wrong way. And frankly a lot of what is available is really ugly. Call me old-fashioned, but I'm still not convinced that leggings can be worn as a substitute for pants, and a lot of the shirts I'm seeing seem to be missing the bottom half. The prints are odd, the colors even weirder. I just wanted some good, basic staples that I can wear to work. Jeans, t-shirts, some button ups. The more clothing I tried on, the more frustrated I got though. And finding anything that was actually made in the United States? Forget about it.

So, realization number two: if I want nice clothes, I'm just going to have to make them myself. I've started this blog to keep track of what I make over the course of the year, and to help me figure out what clothing I actually use, and what I can live without. I've been using Ravelry to track my knitting for a few years, but I'm curious what my year of sewing looks like, or how much time I spend doing other crafts. Operation Dress Nicer begins now.