ONE YEAR WEAR COUNT PROJECT | DECEMBER UPDATE

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What I will be covering in this post:

• The numbers!
• Key insights from this months and overall
• My favourite outfits from December

In terms of context, the weather was quite mild in the UK in December, with a bit of rain and getting cold in the very last days of the month. I was off for Christmas from the 21st to the 3rd Jan, and quite a lot of that time was spent at home in pyjama or loungewear or other forms of home attire (which I am not counting). We also had a few parties and went out a bit, so there was a good mix of outfit types.

THE NUMBERS

MY MOST WORN ITEMS

TOTAL INDIVIDUAL ITEMS WORN:  48 (last month: 41)

TOTAL INDIVIDUAL ME-MADE ITEMS WORN: 17 (last month 16)

ME-MADE: 38% (last month 39%); RTW: 62% (last month 59%)

DAYS WITH NO ME-MADE ITEMS: 5 (last month 3)

PYJAMA DAYS: 1 (last month 1)

NUMBER OF ITEMS WORN ONLY ONCE: 26 (last month 24)

INSIGHTS

My wool coat continues to be the most worn item. At the beginning of December, I went to visit my family in Denmark, so I had to wear my puffer jacket, it was cold over there! In spite of wearing the colour-block me-made coat one time more often than last month, I managed to have two more no me-made days. That’s because I stayed at home quite a lot and all my wear-at-home clothes are RTW.

I also wore slightly more unique items, I’m assuming because of the variation resulting from the party season requirements. I wore 22 new items (that were not worn in previous months), three of which were brand new (I made them in December).

I have continued to stick to my 3 shoes, wearing them consistently. I clearly wear them a lot, as all three of my winter footwear have made the top 5. I also have 7 items that were worn every single month since September and 5 were me-mades: the oversized coat, the pinstripe culottes, the pink culottes, the green sheath dress and the jersey turtleneck.

In terms of types of items, quite surprisingly, dresses were the number one, followed by jumpers and tops (based on the number of unique items). I did say this last month too, but it’s weird that I keep on wearing so many dresses, as I feel that I have not got out of the jeans and jumpers combo all month.

Key insight: It’s really interesting how the perception differs from the hard numbers! I’m so glad I’m doing this exercise to have the evidence to back up my impressions. I am also glad that although I am wearing quite a lot of RTW, my go-to items seem to be me-mades.

FAVOURITE DECEMBER OUTFITS

LOOK 1

I really wanted to bring this dress back into circulation as I used to really love it and wear it all the time back in the day, then I completely forgot about it. It has a bit of a funny story, as well as sentimental value.

It’s made with fabric I bought in Komolka, in Vienna, one of the most amazing fabric shops ever! (You can check it out in my Fabric Shop Guide) I was visiting my best friend who lives there and of course, I could not help myself getting a piece of fabric as a souvenir. The original version has the colour block in pleather, my first attempt to work with that material. Unfortunately, it was upholstery pleather and it did not fare very well in such a tight dress. So I ended up swapping the pleather with a great quality scuba in 2015, for the current view. I much prefer the change, to be honest, as the scuba is spongy and tight, but also very stretchy.

It was one of the first times I used the coverstitch machine, so really proud of the bottom finishing as well.

I wore this to dinner with friends, and it was a nice and comfortable with a bit of an expanding belly from too many Japanese flesh buns! Yumm!

A word about the bag as well. I got this last year from M&S and it’s been my constant bag until I made the Niizo one, a really great everyday bag that easily doubles as shopping for dinner bag or laptop bag or carry my shoes to work bag. So far, holding on really well!

I’m wearing: COLOUR BLOCK DRESS – me-made | LEATHER TOTE BAG – *Marks & Spencer (old) | SUEDE ANKLE BOOTS -*Office Shoes, old | BALL DROP EARRINGS –*Marks & Spencer

LOOK 2

Perhaps not the most spectacular look of them all, but this was a month favourite for keeping warm and looking vaguely stylish and put together. I wore this look several times, to work and also for casual going outs like the cinema.

I particularly like the way the wide collar of the jumper works with the collarless coat and the fact that the dark greens complement each other.

The culottes work very well with the knee-high boots and I’m so glad that I can wear a bit of heel and still be able to walk around the whole day without my feet killing me.

Of course, I normally wear a cami underneath the jumper for warmth, but looking at this pics, it’s a good thing I do. Man, this is see-through!

I’m wearing:

OVERSIZED COLOUR BLOCK COAT – Me-made | KNEE LENGTH SUEDE BOOTS – *Marks & Spencer | WOOL CULOTTES – Me-made | DARK GREEN JUMPER – old | EARRINGS – old

LOOK 3

This is another walk down memory lane! I made this top at the peak of my beginner sewing when my skills were definitely surpassed by my enthusiasm. However, I still keep this top in my wardrobe and wear it every now and again. It’s a nice dressy top to throw on for fancier outings and such. I like to pair it with shorts or black high waist trousers, as it’s quite short. And I reached the age where I can’t deal with a bare midriff.

I am quite a fan of shorts in the winter, especially when paired with thick tights and they are not obviously made with something too thin. I also really like pairing them with boots, and these ones seem just high enough not to scream go-go boots.

I wore this look to a fancy pub outing with friends, with a wrap and of course, a very warm coat.

I’m wearing:

CHINESE-LIKE TOP – Me-made | SHORTS –*H&M (old) | KNEE LENGTH SUEDE BOOTS – *Marks & Spencer | EARRINGS *Marks & Spencer

LOOK 4

Well, if ever two patterns were meant to go together, it’s these two: a pleated midi-skirt and the Astoria jumper! This was yet again a Christmas outfit, this time for my holiday special team lunch. I like to think that green also means Christmas as much as red!

This skirt was definitely one of my solid favourites in 2018 and probably one of my most worn items (other than coats & jackets) and I’m glad that I found yet another outfit to build around it!

I can’t decide if it goes better tucked in or out? I had lengthened the Astoria a tiny bit, so probably it would have been perfect in the original length.

I’m wearing:

ASTORIA JUMPER – Me-made | MIDI PLEATED SKIRT – me-made |  | CROSS OVER BAG – *H&M | EARRINGS –  old

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE OUTFITS OF THE FOUR? HOW DID YOU DRESS FOR CHRISTMAS AND NYE? PLEASE TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

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