Wardrobe Refashion and me

I was pleased to see (via Craftchester) that Wardrobe Refashion got a mention in The Guardian the other week.

I took the Wardrobe Refashion pledge a while back, and soon realised that actually it wasn't the pledge that kept me from buying new clothes, it was my budget. I think it wasn't until I had a time frame to work in that I realised that I rarely buy new clothes. In a way, Wardrobe Refashion focused my mind on the lack of clothes I own, and worked it's magic in a rather back to front way, by making me feel like I really needed to get out and buy some clothes that weren't falling to bits, totally impractical or more importantly made by me!

I know the idea of WR is to encourage us to cut down on consumerism and re-use/ re-cycle the clothing resources we do have, but by having the time to focus on my wardrobe I realised how sorely lacking it was in the first place, and no amount of re-styling and re-fashioning was going to make up for that fact. Maybe that's just a cop out from me, a way to excuse the fact I didn't upload hundred's of wonderful photos of outfits I had given a new life to, in fact probably in the whole time my pledge lasted (3 months) I probably made less clothes for myself than I would do normally. Instead I wore my clothes into the ground, patched and re-patched pairs of cheap jeans, dug out t-shirts that I hadn't worn for years, and discovered a new love for £10 pairs of shoes from New Look (shoes are exempt from WR). For evidence of my sorely lacking wardrobe take a look at this set of photos for another clothes related on-line phenomenon Wardrobe Remix)

So, the next set of pledges for Wardrobe Refashion start again this June- and you know what, I think i'll be signing up again. This time I hope that the summer sunshine and my even worse financial situation will encourage inventive solutions to my clothing crisis. As I posted at the start of the month I am a girl after all, with a secret passion for pretty clothing and party dresses, maybe this summer is the year I start making some for myself, rather than for other people to buy).