Wardrobe Architect - Sketchbook

I made myself a small sketchbook to help make my capsule wardrobe. It's basically just some A4 print-outs of my capsule chart, capsule palette and my croquis for planning individual garments. I printed two pages per A4, which I then cut down the middle (to A5 size), and folded along the middle to form A6 pages. I cut a cover out of a cereal box, with little notches at both ends of the middle fold, to hold the elastic bands which 'bind' the book for me. Finally I added an extra elastic to keep the book closed.

My garment planning page. I made that croquis in Paint, starting with a picture in my undies which I traced bit by bit. I'm quite pear shaped and not exactly long-legged. I do have slender wrists and a nice face (which you can see in the last picture of this post).

My capsule sketchbook, with my palette on the cover (names of colors are in Dutch).

Hand sewing antique lace to my tunic.

Lace detail.

Planning a pleated skirt. When I go shopping for fabric and notions I know exactly what I need.

Once I've bought the fabric I add a swatch. This is a crunchy knit, to make a cardigan.

Ideas to pimp plain pants. I bought a polyester with a suede feel for this. New and exciting!

Center page of my sketch book gives an overview of the capsule and my progress.

In the back I keep my bills for fabric and notions, so I can calculate the total cost of each garment, and I keep notes on my progress.

You can't see the handstitching near teh neckline, because I hid it under teh facing, but the stitches of theouter rim of the lace show on the inside of the tunic.

Almost finished, just hemming to go! More (clearer, less cluttered) pictures will follow when the weather gets good enough to take this tunic outside!

I had fun sewing this tunic. It's my first time working from a Japanese pattern (Tunic A from Happy Homemade Sew Chic by Yoshiko Tsukiori) and I must say I like the diagrams. It helps me find my way around a pattern more easily. The fit of this tunic is very nice, it's wide and comfortable. The shoulder seams lie a little to the back, so the lace trim flows over the shoulder nicely. One thing I would alter in a next make is to add some darts to create a better fit around the bust. It's not that it pulls or anything, in fact it's so comfortable that I'm considering re-making it as a night gown, but I don't like the look of the folds around the bust 100%. I guess Japanese ladies have rather small busts and don't need darts? Or I could just stop breastfeeding and my breasts will go Japanese-sized! And then we come to the issue of finding an A cup bra for bust circumference of 95 cm... don't get me started.