Wardrobe adventures

So, along with my weight loss journey has come the clothing dilemma. How do you afford to keep up with the downsizing of your waist and bust lines? It can get expensive, even at thrift store prices if you have a limited budget. Also, I happen to love the clothes I have. I love unique, artsy clothes for the most part. You know, those "special" ones you just don't find anywhere. Or, ones that just resonate with you. I don't want to part with them so easily.

But taking my wardrobe to the tailors just isn't a realistic financial alternative either. Well, an ah-ha moment. I'm a sewer, have made my own clothes in the past many times, even had my own line of resort ware I made and sold on South Beach in the boutiques. Granted, nothing complicated, but cute and unique. But hadn't considered it because it seemed like such a complicated task, altering clothes. Well, I decided to plug in the search for a U-tube video (gotta love U-tube, you can learn how to build/make/run just about ANYTHING on a U-tube video). Well, there it was! A cute chic with a huge tee shirt showing how she cuts a 1X tee shirt down to a small. Really simple....... just sew up the sides, try it on until it fits, cut the excess and wa-lah! New tee shirt tailor fit. Amazing!

So, out comes the old sewing machine. I pull my simple tops out of the closet and drawers. Let's start there and see how it goes. Well, went pretty well actually. Just like the girl in the video, new shirts that fit perfectly, every time! Loving it! Ran through those tops really quickly and got braver with each positive outcome.

So I decided to expand the methodology to a more complicated top, one that wasn't a tee shirt, but kind of had the same lines as a tee shirt if you really looked at it. I decided, what's the worst that could happen? A shirt I couldn't wear anymore? Well, it pretty much was close to that now anyway. Off I went, zooming along an invisible line I had laid out for a trimming down seam. Tried the shirt on, looked okay, but still not small enough, so made another seam further in. Another seam, and low and behold, a trimmer shirt that fit my new figure! Exciting! Off to the races!

So with each more complicated piece of clothing the braver and more confident I got. It took a couple of weeks, and some pretty creative ideas on how to make a larger dress or top smaller, but I finally finished my wardrobe, saved a bundle of money AND get to keep wearing my cute clothes for a while longer.

Tah Dah!