The perfect match.
Yes, I was feeling swallowed up by all my things after being sheltered-in-place for the last 5 (or was it 6?) months now.
Especially by my hand-made clothes and that unrelenting fabric stash. Oh, my.
I pulled out all my clothes in one place...
No, I didn't make an art installation out of it (darn!), it was more like a mountain overflowing the bed. I did, however, manage it somewhat by excavating one sub-category of clothes at a time. That would be "tops." I did want to be able to sleep on the bed every night after all. And I have a lot of clothes.
No, I don't have any pictures of the process. I was too involved in it. You're supposed to gather all the clothes from wherever they might be in the house. (Excluding those of my spouse. He has the bare minimum anyway.)
I did include my mother's stuff that had been left untouched in the so-called guest room since she passed away 6 years ago. And the enclosed back porch off my sewing room which contained all the clothes I was going to recycled. aiyiyi. You can't imagine.
I actually ended up trying on everything to see if I liked it, if it fit, if I would wear it, and most importantly if it "sparked joy." If it did, it went into another pile in the adjoining room for saved "tops." The discarded items went into a black garbage bag for Goodwill. My husband put them in the car right away so I wouldn't be tempted to go through them again. They went to Goodwill at regular intervals.
I kept track of how many bags went out and how many piles stayed in. Tops: 4 out, 4 in. Of the 4 to keep: 2 summer, 1 winter & 1 to mend. The whole process for tops took 2 days.
Stay tuned for the next update.
p.s. I started tidying on Wednesday, July 8, 2020!
I am in awe of your process, and the swift removal of the decollected is a fine idea. I have tried to do this every year with the clothes, and been relatively successful. The stash has been culled.
ReplyDeleteThe workshop with the power tools and wood and metal.....is a tribute to everything my father gifted me in 2004. He died in 2005.
That one is super hard, and I can manage a container or so once a month if I really knuckle down.
I wrote a comment, but it seems to have disappeared. This new blogger format has been a real pain.
DeleteI haven't gotten to dealing with my fabric stash yet. yikes. But I have finished with the clothes. I'll be posting more about it in the coming days. I spent a total of 2 weeks going through every sub-category of clothes. And I would spend 6-8 hours a day doing it.
However some of the categories were really HARD, live unbelievably difficult. As you said, just doing 1 container a day was more than I could manage. Afterwords I would veg out reading novel after novel.
I have been tempted to do the "Big Closet Cull" ever since I read Marie Kondo's book, but the idea of seeing all of my clothes in one place kind of scares the s**t out of me, so I do mini culls every so often. There still never seems to be any empty space though. Good luck with your continued clearout!
ReplyDeleteHi Shelley, Believe it or not, this was my first reading of Marie Kondo and I went right into it. The timing was right. But I never could of done it with all the clothes all at once. I just have too many. But breaking it down into sub-categories of clothes was deal-able. And there were a lot of sub-categories, 10 altogether: dresses, pants/skirts, pjs/undies/sox, light jackets, outerwear, hats/scarves/gloves, bags/totes, jewelry, shoes/boots. Wait until you hear about how much left and how much stayed! The difference was pretty amazing.
DeleteI have often thought that you must have an AMAZING collection of shoes, which are hard to store! I'd be interested in seeing what you might have accomplished there! Congratulations on your accomplishments -- especially the "reading novel after novel" part.
ReplyDeleteYou are right there, jmsx3, I do have a collection of shoes and they are hard to store. That may be what I have the most of, well, maybe it's papers...but I did it! And they all fit now. I'll show you later. It was quite the task and I still have plenty, but plenty are gone now too.
DeleteGood for you! I can imagine this was quite the task. Plus, it seems like a lot of your clothing isn't conventional proportions, so must be a little more challenging to store and see what you have. I'm wondering if I could convince my husband the sorting was an art installation!
ReplyDeleteHi KimMalk, Good luck with the art installation round-about. I've gotta ask though...what are conventional proportions in terms of clothing? I have no idea what that would be, or how that would effect storing or showing clothes, etc. Just curious. Do I not know because I haven't bought any clothes for the last 10-12 years (or been in any stores) and just make my own???
DeleteIt is 8/24/2020 and I just found you in your wonderful garments. Thank you for posting all these, inspired by the colors and patterns and, well, I live in a southern state and the clothes seem so audacious. Pastels and solids seem to rule here.
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy and welcome to my blog. Audacious, oh my. I see them as fun! Who knew that there were color/pattern codes of dress in different areas of the U.S. I must be naive. Ah, maybe that's why KimMalk mentioned my lack of "conventional proportions" with clothes in the above comment - she's from Texas? Leaning something everyday.
DeletePat! Had you called me I would have been delighted to document this transformation with photography. It is still warm outside and if you have yet to complete your work, there's still time to do an art installation in the back yard! Seriously. (and yes I wear a mask and carry hand sanitizer all the time)
ReplyDeleteOh I see you finished the clothes... well consider my photo documentation for the fabric.
ReplyDeleteHi Sally, oh my goodness, it was such a mess, I don't think I could've dealt with photo-ing. I've been stuck on papers for over a month now. That has been surprisingly difficult. I think I'm pretty much through with it for now or vice versa. Next up is art supplies. Then the sewing stuff. At the moment I feel like it will be never ending.
DeleteYou are very courageous!
ReplyDeleteMore like overwhelmed, overflowing and stuffed to the gills.
Deleteoh my giddy aunt! i would have loved to have been at your driveway to catch your offcasts <3 i have some "storage" issues, and i have had some pretty hectic sorting sessions over the years...but that process does not spark joy, so now i do a little bit at a time and sew the rest of the time ;) it is inspiring to know you have been wearing made by you for so long...i am only 2 years in, but its the happiest i have been in my clothes. i am a constant lurker in your blog, your style is fabulous <3
ReplyDeleteHi Meg, you would have been welcome at my driveway, I tell you. Looking back at it, it seems going through my clothes was the easiest part of all this sorting. I was ruthless. With each category I've kondo-ed, I've got slower and slower. Books were okay. Paper was a real drag. No joy in that. Now I'm into art supplies and that's taken over a month and still going on.
DeleteI agree with you, I'm happiest wearing the clothes I've made and I've never, ever missed shopping. Glad you came out of the shadows to comment. I'd luv to see what you've made. Is there a blog???