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Closet Clean Out

It was time, time to clean and organize my closet.  I've been meaning to organize it since before Charlotte was born and yesterday it happened.

I should have taken a before but it was really bad.  There were piles of shirts, sweatshirts, work clothes, jammies, sweaters, hangers full of skirts, dresses, shirts and jackets.  I'd say I only wear about 25% or less of what's in my closet.

I had pre-Samuel and pre-Charlotte clothes as well as some pre-Tyrone clothes.  Halloween costumes, my wedding dress, dresses I wore to other people's weddings, and more.

Because of my new obsession, Pinterest, I looked at each item coming out and tried to figure out if I could save it.  I tried almost everything on and thought outside the box.  I now have some great ideas and will be attempting to repurpose as much of my wardrobe as possible.

I have always loved playing with fabric, it's genetic.  My Grandma B sewed lots of her own clothes, and my Grandma H made her own clothes as well as for her kids.  When I came along they both made me doll clothes and quilts.  My mom and her best friend, Vicki, also love to sew and craft.  I grew up with a mom-designed wardrobe, stenciling crafts, and buying fabric.  My mom taught me to use her sewing machine and serger, and in the 8th grade I taught my home-ed teacher how to use a serger.  I was even Home-Ed/Tech Ed Girl of the Year in 8th grade.

My love of fabric has cause me to buy lots without a plan in mind because as Grandma H used to say, "fabric needs to age."  I think that was just so Grandpa H would let her buy more.

So last week I dived into my stash of fabric, which includes 3 bolts I bought at a bolt sale 8 or 9 years ago and started crafting.

My first project - Diaper Strap

http://cally-cruze.blogspot.com/2009/08/diaper-strap-tutorial.html
The fabric used was from one of my bolts.  I had so much fun I made 10 and gave them to my the moms at my MOPS table.

So back to my closet...

I have a few outfits I want to cut up and change up.


The cute easter dress that will probably never fit again and some of the seams are starting to rip.

I'm thinking cute skirt.
 The Candle-lighting dress I wore in a friend's wedding.  My mom actually made this dress and sadly the skirt still fits which means I'm the same size as I was at 19.  Must lose weight!

I'm thinking shorter skirt and maybe a dress for Charlotte out of the top.
 Not a maternity, maternity dress.  I bought this to wear to a wedding 3 weeks before Charlotte was born, thinking I would wear it more that summer.  Nope only wore it once.

I'm thinking cute shorter skirt and maybe a cute empire waist tank out of the top.  Any left over fabric and maybe a matching top for Charlotte.

After reading too much Pinterest, I've changed how I look at clothes.  So I went to Target and cruised the clearance racks and I didn't care what size it was just if I liked the color.

This is a $5 strapless dress with a bow in a medium.  I would never wear strapless or fit in a medium but I bought it anyway.  After taking this picture I saw that it might look good as a cape.  So I put it on over my head and looked in the mirror.  It looked like a cute cowl necked dress, so I grabbed the scissors and cut arm holes.










Tada!  New shirt and possible new skirt.

New shirt out of a ugly dress
This is just the prototype but I look forward to finishing it and posting another picture.


















Closet Aftermath...

My closet is now almost empty and ready for new cute stuff.  I sorted my massive amount of shirts in to types and am now looking for projects on Pinterest.

Bottoms that don't fit

Knit shirts that don't fit or aren't long enough

Thermal shirts so to be 3/4 length sleeve cute shirts

Sweatshirts...

Maternity shirts that I will convert to nursing shirts
So stay tuned for a new no-cost wardrobe!

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