Making my own wardrobe: Part 1

I am a serial gift knitter and as a result I have a pitifully small number of handmade items in my own wardrobe. I spent the second half of 2025 working on Christmas gifts and as much as I loved making something for each of my family and friends I feel that 2026 is the year I should embrace making things for myself.

Why?:

There is a little more to it than simply focusing on myself and enjoying my skills. Particularly close to my heart is sustainability, and the slower pace of living it lends itself to. I started trying to live in a greener and less wasteful way back in 2018, but it is an ongoing journey that takes continued effort and consideration. The challenges of new parenthood in 2025 left me feeling like caring for myself and for the planet were very low on my list of priorities. This new mission is actually a return to a previous way of life.

I've tried thrifting, vinted, ebay and charity shops but I often find the same fast fashion, low quality brands are sold on the second-hand market. I usually wear my preloved clothes into oblivion to try to offset this, but I've stopped enjoying shopping as it's a minefield to navigate. I have also fallen into a trap where my clothes are tattered but I'm still holding on to them just so I don't feel like the last body they're on before the bin.

Going forward, I'm going to be making clothing for myself so that I can have some control over the quality, fiber content, longevity and fit for my body. I will share this journey with you in an ongoing series on the blog here so you can follow along.

This first post is about setting the foundations.

The colour palette:

The first thing I did was bring together a list of colours that suit me so that I could sharpen my eye when looking for new yarn and fabrics. I didn't start with patterns, styles or aesthetics as I felt like I would enjoy exploring this as I went along, but having a colour palette would help me to bring some cohesion to my new handmade wardrobe. I want these clothes to last me a lifetime, beyond any fashions or trends.

I have a fair, rosy complexion, blue eyes and red hair. I did a little reading about colour theory and discovered that this strongly suits a "warm autumn" palette. This is ideal as I have been wearing some of these colours already, they feel richly pigmented and welcoming to me.

I started looking through different palette suggestions online in order to cherry pick the shades and colours that I gravitated towards for my own curated list, a sample is shown above. I added extras, such as cornflower blue. Typically, this shade of blue isn't in most autumn palettes but it is my favourite colour and to miss it out would be too forced.

Capsule wardrobe:

Next, I started researching capsule wardrobes as I felt that this would help me to create a very versatile set of clothes where outfits are easy to create - less thinking needed! Capsule wardrobes go back to the 1970s. The idea was for each item of clothing to be mixed and matched with all, or almost all the other items you own. This way you had a broad range of possibilities from fewer actual items.

Guides and suggestions for creating your own capsule wardrobe often present neutral colours and minimalist styles. If I'm honest, I find this off-putting. If I'm spending many hours on my craft, I want to feel excited about the colours, textures and techniques involved. Digging around a bit more I found a really helpful youtube video by Christie Ressel. Modules (or mini-collections of 6 pieces) appealed to me as the items work interchangeably together but don't necessarily need to work with everything else you own. Each module should create 12 outfits, and can be made to bridge changing seasons.

According to Christie Ressel, a module should contain -

• 1 Outerwear

• 3 Tops

• 2 Bottoms

The joyful part of this approach is that it makes room for pattern, colour and textures rather than only focusing on neutral/minimalist styles. Having a focal piece in the module is the key to it's success, even if it is bright, bold or very textured you can create balanced outfits by drawing out elements for the other items. It can be one of the colours or some of the texture, so long as it links back to the focal piece.

Next steps:

1 - Declutter.

I have clothes in my wardrobe and supplies in my stash that don't work for me anymore. I am going to collect as much as I can to donate so that it can be useful to someone else.

2 - Day to day needs.

After the decluttering comes the reflections. I want to take a good look at what I do day to day and the kind of clothing that I'll need to feel comfortable in those activities. Comfort is going to be a running theme, this is about finding what looks and feels good to wear.

3 - Clothing care.

One thing that is going to be make or break for this adventure will be learning to take better care of my handmade clothing. Knowing best practice for washing, drying, blocking and storing my clothes for longevity will help to keep them looking beautiful between wears.

I hope that I might have shared something helpful in this short introduction post, but there is plenty more to come if you're feeling inspired to do something similar.

Happy crafting!

Katie