BLOG

I Finished a Knitting Project – Sophie Hood Pattern Review

April 17, 2026

Beautifully knitted Sophie Hood in blue and teal shades.

Last May (almost a year ago!) I wrote this in the newsletter…

I’m learning how to knit!

Again. 🙄

The last time I tried, I thought I hated knitting. But what I did was make a very, very basic mistake.

I know how to help beginners learn. It’s what I do!

But I went against all of my own advice from this post about choosing an applique pattern for a beginner.

Friends – I chose a boring pattern. Truly, the most boring pattern ever.

Let me back up. . .

A few years ago I decided I wanted to learn how to knit. Jo (my daughter and now also my business partner) is an excellent knitter, and she offered to teach me.

I bought some inexpensive-but-nice-feeling yarn and started to make The Most Boring Scarf in the Whole Wide World.

A very simple, partially-knitted garter stitch scarf.

It was just knitting back and forth. Endless knitting. Boring knitting. That photo above is my progress after, I think, three years.

Yawn.

I don’t even wear this kind of scarf! I was making it just to learn how. There was nothing exciting about the thing itself.

This year [this was in March 2025] I decided to try again.

I chose the Sophie Hood, a very popular pattern from Petite Knit. It’s an intermediate-level pattern, with increases and decreases, and a built-in i-cord edge. I decided to complicate things even more by adding a second yarn and striping them. Some experienced knitters were dubious about choosing this for a first project, but it’s a thing I’ll actually wear, and I know I’m a patient learner. I’m okay with stopping to get help/watch some videos whenever I need to.

Jo and I went out and enjoyed the Rose City Yarn Crawl, and she helped me choose yarn. Look at how pretty it is!

Now I was ready to start again.

Here it is after (I think) a week.

I had to learn again how to cast on, how to knit, how to do that pretty i-cord edge, and how to change colors. I made some mistakes and had to learn how to un-knit my stitches. (It’s way harder than just pulling out crochet stitches!)

I’ve been making slow and steady progress, and now I’m halfway finished! [This was in May 2025.]

Look at those yummy color changes in the stripes!

So here’s the thing – all those things that make the project more difficult are also making it more interesting.

Yes, sometimes I forget to switch to the i-cord stitch and I have to un-knit stitches and do it the right way – but that i-cord edge looks so finished and nice! And knitting with two balls of yarn is annoying and I have to keep untwisting them, but I love the stripes! And every time my contrast yarn changes color I get a little frisson of excitement.

I’m having fun, and I can’t wait to wear my finished scarf.

A long time ago, I heard someone (I don’t remember who) speaking about kids learning to read. Learning to read is hard, and he was talking about the importance of writing books that kids will enjoy, because putting a lot of effort into decoding a boring book is not very rewarding. But if a book is a pleasure to read, the kid will be more willing to practice, and that practice will make them more proficient, which will, in turn, make the activity more pleasant, and around and around we go.

All of this is a very long way of saying that if you want to learn something new – whether it’s knitting, quilting, crochet, embroidery, cooking, whittling, playing the cello, or whatever – do it with something you’re excited about!

So that’s the end of the original post, but today I have an update. I finished it!

I actually finished it in November, but it’s taken me this long to take a picture. 😂

Wendi wearing a knitted Sophie Hood in a tulip field.

Here it is from the side.

Woman wearing a blue knit hooded scarf in a vibrant field of tulips.

And here it is laid flat.

It’s a hood with long scarf ends that come to a nice, small taper at the tips. The scarf hangs down just past my knees – long enough to wrap around my neck from front to back, and around front again.

(It was very windy out at the tulip farm and the tip of the scarf has blown to my back in the side view photo, but you can see it in the front view.)

Here’s why the Sophie Hood is a great first knitting project…

There’s no purling. The entire scarf is just knitting and slipping stitches.
The i-cord edge is super easy and gives it a real pro look – very satisfying.
Knitting has (I am learning) a kajillion different ways to increase, but this pattern uses only one. And it’s easy. And the rows when you start are so short that you get lots of immediate opportunities to practice it. By the time the rows get longer with lots of stitches between your increases, you’ve got them down pat.
I highly recommend striping with two yarns. It’s not hard, and the stripes actually helped me keep track of where I was in the pattern at all times. That was especially helpful because I’m still learning how to “read” my knitting.

For those following along in my Wardrobe Project, I’m wearing this with my new blue dress, some me-made-pants (which I’ll blog about soon) and one of my favorite kimono-style jackets.

And I’m not done knitting! Or choosing what appear to be complicated projects!

I love the look of cables, so I’m working on a vest that’s basically all cables. Here’s my swatch.

Cable knit swatch showcasing intricate knitting pattern and vibrant blue yarn. Perfect for knitting.

I also wanted a smaller project that’s easier to schlep around. I love the socks that Jo has knit for me, so now I’m working on a pair of socks! There’s enough weird shaping to learn for them that I just picked a simple ribbed sock pattern. I’ve finished the first one (it fits perfectly!) and I’m well on my way through the cuff of the second, so there will be more knitting to report on soon.

I’m making clothing! I mean, I guess it’s technically an accessory – but I wear it, so it counts! 🙂

Upcycled Applique Silence of the Lambs T-shirt

April 13, 2026

Applique Silence of the Lambs T-shirt with moth design, perfect for fans of unique, themed apparel.

Well, Clarice? Have the lambs stopped screaming?

Silence of the Lambs is one of my favorite movies. I’ll never turn down a chance to watch it, and I quote it all the time.

One of my goals when I started re-doing my closet was to up my t-shirt game. I have a bunch of good movie t-shirts already, but sometimes I can’t find one for a specific movie that I like…like Silence of the Lambs.

My mom designed a death’s head moth quilt pattern recently (spoiler – it’ll be released soon) And since that features on the movie poster (and also in the movie) I thought it would be a great choice for a Silence of the Lambs shirt.

This whole project was basically one huge test, so this post will be longer than the previous ones I’ve written.

I, of course, didn’t take a picture of the t-shirt before I did all of this. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess. I was able to find a similar looking shirt on google. It looked like this, but the logo was beige and gray, and also flocked.

The logo was too big to cover with the moth alone. I would either need to take the logo off, or make a backing bigger than the moth to cover more of the shirt.

First, I tried to take the logo off. I thought it might have been an iron-on, so if I heated it up with an iron again, I could peel it off. No luck. My thought process was that taking the logo off would be better than covering it because adding an additional layer of backing behind the moth might make the front of the shirt stiff, which would make it hang weird.

Once I figured out that I couldn’t take the logo off, I knew I was going to have to add the extra backing. I’ll get back to that in a bit.

I printed the moth design onto a plain piece of paper and checked the size of it compared to the t-shirt. Even though it wouldn’t cover the logo on the shirt, I liked the size of the moth in proportion to the shirt. If I wanted it bigger, I would have had to print it on two separate pieces of paper, which would have been a pain, so I’m glad the original size worked out. After that I basically followed the normal instructions for one of Mom’s quilt patterns, except I cut the pieces out of t-shirt fabric (like she did for her snail dress) instead of quilting cotton.

One other change that I made was using Heat & Bond Featherlite fusible adhesive instead of the normal Lite weight that we usually use when quilting. I did this for the same reason that I tried to take the logo off the shirt. I wanted my design to be as thin as possible so it didn’t mess with the way the shirt hung. I WOULD NOT DO THIS AGAIN. The Featherlite was fine at first, but it didn’t stick great, and peeled up a bit while I was sewing. I didn’t have this problem using the normal Heat & Bond Lite with T-shirt fabric, so next time I’ll just use that.

Just a fun heads up. I spent most of this project paranoid that everything I was adding was too thick. It literally didn’t even matter a single bit. The shirt hangs fine, and I stressed over nothing.

I fused all the moth pieces together using a light box to position them, so I ended up with the moth assembled in one piece, ready to fuse to the shirt.

Now it was time to make an extra backing that would cover the logo.

I designed the backing by just cutting an oval out of a piece of printer paper. When it was the size and shape that I wanted (the moth fit nicely inside it and the oval fully covered the logo) I cut the shape out of fusible adhesive, fused it to black t-shirt fabric, and fused the moth to the oval. I thought about not putting fusible adhesive on the back of the oval, but I wanted it to be stabilized – both for sewing the moth to it and then sewing it to the shirt. I was worried that if I didn’t put the adhesive on the back that when I sewed the moth on it would stretch the backing oval out of shape. Same for if I sewed the oval to the shirt with no adhesive behind it to stabilize.

In the end, the front of the shirt turned out really well, so I think I made a good call by putting the adhesive on the back of the oval.

Time to do the outline stitching.

I sewed the outline of the moth in an orange and yellow variegated thread. Since the moth is mostly gray, I wanted to add a little pop of color. I was also inspired by the movie poster, which has both orange and yellow.

Close-up of a woman's face with red eyes and a moth with a skull on its back.

I did three passes with the outline, just like on our quilt samples. It made a nice bold outline, and I think it turned out really well.

Colorful moth applique on black fabric T-shirt. Unique handmade design inspired by Silence of the Lambs.

I kept the paper backing on the oval when I sewed the moth to it. I will warn you that sewing through the paper WILL dull your needle. If you do what I did, you should change your needle after. I didn’t, and it came back to bite me. Learn from my mistakes.

After I sewed the moth to the oval, I peeled off the backing paper, fused the oval to the shirt, and sewed it down with a zigzag stitch. I did this instead of a straight stitch because I didn’t want the edges of the oval to curl up, which would have happened with a straight stitch after a few washes. Since they’re both black fabrics, you can barely see where I sewed the oval to the shirt.

Silence of the Lambs moth applique T-shirt for adults or kids, featuring a spooky moth design.

Now that I was done with the front of the shirt, it was time for the back. I was inspired by a Swoodson Says post about ransom note letters from old t-shirts. I followed her instructions pretty much to the letter (no pun intended). It’s pretty easy. Just fuse Heat & Bond to the back of the t-shirt. Make sure to leave a margin around the letters. Then cut them down to size, peel the backs off, fuse them, sew them down, done!

This was my first time trying this out, and I learned a lot. Sometimes it’s hard to get the fusible adhesive completely on the back of the letters – especially if the word is curved. It’s crucial to have adhesive on every corner of the letter. This will save you grief later.

I also found that letters with a black background were harder to sew to the shirt because I couldn’t really see the edges. If you’re not sewing black letters onto a black t-shirt, I think you’ll be fine.

I laid my letters out on the back of the shirt, and fiddled with them until I liked the placement.

Custom applique Silence of the Lambs T-shirt with quote design.

I peeled off the backs and fused the letters down.

USE A PRESSCLOTH FOR THIS.

I should have, but I didn’t at first and the letters left a residue on my mother’s iron (don’t tell her). Use a presscloth just to be safe. And if you get something sticky on the iron, use a used dryer sheet to wipe it off the hot surface.

Once everything was fused down, I got to sewing. I opted for black thread for all of them. I thought that using the same variegated thread that I used on the front would make the back too busy, and color matching all of the letter squares would make me crazy.

I tried out just one outlining pass with the black, but it looked too thin for my taste, so I went ahead and did three passes like I did on the front of the shirt. When I started sewing the letters, I did three passes on one and then moved on to the next, did three passes, and so on. I wouldn’t recommend that, and I stopped doing it after the first word. I would recommend giving each letter a single pass. I really had to wrangle the t-shirt a lot to go around the small letters, and all that movement made the corners of some of the other letters peel up. I felt much more secure after I got a single pass of outlining on all the letters – then I could wrangle without worry.

Hey, remember how I said to change out your needle after sewing through that paper earlier? And also how I said that I didn’t do that? Yeah, now is the time that I learned my lesson. On my first pass on some of the letters—specifically ones with cheaper t-shirt fabric, or ones without adhesive in every corner—the machine sucked them down. This was totally the needle’s fault. It wasn’t piercing all the way through, instead pushing the t-shirt down into the bobbin area and making a huge mess. There are at least three letters that this happened to before I realized that I needed to change the needle.

Applique Silence of the Lambs T-shirt with letter blocks design.

It’s a bit hard to tell in the photos, but the places where the outline gets wonky are the places where the machine sucked the fabric down. Those spots are a hard knot of thread behind where the fabric bunched and the feed dogs didn’t get a good grip. If this happens to you, don’t try to seam-rip it. There’s a very high chance that you’ll end up ripping the fabric instead of the thread. My advice is to leave the snarl, but try your best to flatten it on the next pass by pulling the t-shirt tight, and basically pulling it through the machine so that it doesn’t have a chance to get stuck in the same place.

Once I got all the letters sewn down (which took like 2 hours of my Dune audiobook), I ironed the back again to set the stitches. Make sure to use a presscloth again.

Then I was all done!

Here’s the front…

Silence of the Lambs moth applique T-shirt, black casual wear for horror movie fans.

And here’s the back…

Applique Silence of the Lambs T-shirt with colorful letter blocks design.

In hindsight, I would have moved the letters over to the right a bit. I wanted them as far left as I could make them, but when I wear the shirt, I find that the first letters of the words disappear a bit.

Even though there are things I would change on the next project, I’m really happy with how this shirt turned out. I’m already thinking ahead to what other movies I could make shirts for. Maybe a bee for Candyman? Or a syringe filled with glowing green liquid for Re-Animator? If anyone else does a project like this, I’d love to know. There are so many possibilities!

Sewing Machine Needles Wear Out!

April 11, 2026

Cute moose with antlers and a small lemming, encouraging sewing machine needle changing.

Did you know that sewing machine needle wear out quickly and need to be replaced?

Most guidelines say to replace them after 4-6 hours of use, or every project.

Most people do not do this.

A worn out needle gets microscopic burrs and nicks and fractures – all of which will impact your sewing.

Whenever someone contacts me with a sewing problem, my first question is almost always, “Have your tried changing your needle?”

It’s the “Have you tried turning your computer off and on again?” of the sewing world. 😂

An old needle can cause skipped stitches, wobbly stitches, little nests of thread on the bottom of your stitching, broken thread, tension problems, snagged fabric, and more.

It can also cause fraying on the edges of your raw edge applique.

Take a look at the itty bitty lemming on this block.

Fabric applique featuring a cute moose and lemming for sewing and quilting projects.

If you want to see it closer, click on the image so you can zoom in. (You may need to right click the image and choose Open Image in New Tab, depending on your operating system.)

I used the same fabrics for both the moose and the lemming, the same fusible adhesive, carefully fused for the correct amount of time.

But the edges of the lemming are all frayed!

It’s not because it’s smaller pieces. It’s because my needle was so dull it was basically punching through the fabric, forcing the fibers apart.

Tip – when your needle gets super dull you can actually hear the difference. It sounds like it’s… well, like it’s punching through the fabric. I can’t think of any other way to describe it.

Sewing through heavier fabrics will make a needle wear out faster. So will sewing through paper – just like using your fabric scissors on paper will dull them.

Keep an old pill bottle by my machine to hold the spent needles, and don’t hesitate to change them frequently! Change them with every new project, and change them any time your machine acts “weird” and you can’t figure out what’s wrong.

Needles are cheap compared to having to redo something because a dull one messed it up. 🙁

I Made a Dress! And I Put a Snail on It!

April 2, 2026

Woman wearing a handmade dress with colorful applique, standing in front of a bookshelf.

My first step in fixing my wardrobe problem was to buy a couple of dresses.

I’ve never been a dress wearer, but I can’t stand things that are tight around my waist, and I thought a loose dress might be comfortable AND look batter than my sad yoga pants/tank top/cardigan uniform.

I was right! The loose dresses I bought are super comfy. I’ve been layering them up all winter, and I’m looking forward to a cool, breezy summer in them.

My next step was to make my own dress. I fully intended to trace this purple dress.

Woman smiling in a library surrounded by colorful bookshelves, wearing a purple dress and pink scarf.

But then I got sidetracked by an Instagram video for this dress from Sewing Therapy.

It’s pretty clever, with ties in the front and back so you can tie the dress multiple ways. Go to the listing and watch the videos and you’ll see.

So I bought the pattern and made one!

I… don’t love it. I want to love it! But I just don’t.

The ties are cool, but they kind of annoy me when I’m wearing it, and I don’t think I really want the slight waist shaping. The sleeves are ok, but I wish they were longer, and just a touch narrower (especially at the armholes) so they’ll fit better under my kimono-style jackets (some of the very few things I already own that I actually like).

The construction is BRILLIANT, with a clever technique that leaves nice, clean finished edges with no fuss or binding. The instructions are GREAT, with videos showing the whole process. A beginner can definitely make this.

The thing I really don’t like is the neckline. Because of the way the dress hangs from the shoulders, the neck spreads much wider than I like. Also, I really like to wear scarves, and it’s crazy annoying to have bare neck between the bottom of the scarf and the top of the back neckline. 🙁

These are things that will not be dealbreakers for most people, but for me they are. I’ll be tracing that purple dress soon so I can try to duplicate it. 🤞🏻

But before I move on, I have to show you the applique I added to this dress – because that was a huge win!

I made the dress out of a dark blue linen blend – fine, but kind of boring. That’s the perfect recipe for adding a little fancification!

I decided to applique Sullivan Snail and the simplest of the Wild Flowers all around the bottom of the dress.

Snail and flower applique design on a dark blue dress, showcasing colorful stitched details.

The dress looks gray here, but it’s actually dark blue. I photographed it in a really bright light so you’d be able to see the stitching as clearly as possible.

I’m thrilled with how they look! I’ve worn and washed this a number of times, and the applique has held up really well.

Instead of using quilting cotton, I used fabric from a stack of t-shirts I bought at the thrift store. I just wanted to try something a little different! By using t-shirt fabric I’m eliminating any fraying (knits don’t fray) and if the edges curl up a bit, it’s the same color on the back so it doesn’t matter.

I did my usual three rounds of all the outline stitching, but I did it in matching or slightly contrasting thread instead of black. Right-click on that image to open it in a new tab and you can really zoom in for a close-up.

The only thing I’d change is to make the snail a little smaller. Just a little. 🙂

So, all in all this project gets mixed results.

The dress pattern was well-designed and sewed up easily, but ultimately the shape isn’t for me. It’s fine and I’ll keep wearing it! It’s just not my favorite.

The applique gets an A+. I’ll definitely be doing more of that, on lots of different projects. I’m designing some things right now to applique on a men’s sports coat I thrifted, and Jo’s working on some appliqued t-shirts.

You can find all the posts in The Wardrobe Project here.

Sweater Dyeing – Semi Fail

March 30, 2026

Close-up of a dyed sweater with uneven color and texture issues.

This week I’m upcyling a sweater to change the color.

A few months ago, my grandmother gave me a sweater that she made but doesn’t wear anymore.

Dyeing a beige sweater with uneven color results, showing a semi-failed dyeing process.

I liked the fit of it, and I especially liked the lacy sleeves. I’m always overheating in full sweaters, so sleeves with a little more breathability are nice. The only thing I wanted to change about it was the color. I really only wear black clothing, or the occasional dark color or neon color. I don’t really wear earth tones. I thought that this sweater would be a great chance to try dyeing something. Despite the many many times that I’ve dyed my hair, I’ve never dyed my own clothing.

Since I didn’t make this sweater, I didn’t know what it was made out of. It felt like acrylic, but I still wanted to test it to make sure. (The fiber content will determine what kind of dye to use.)

This post has a great overview of how to test the fiber content of fabric, and you can use the same method for yarn.

I used a lighter, and held it against one of the loose tails on the inside of the sweater. It melted, and made a little hard lump at the end of the thread, so I knew it was acrylic. If it had been wool or another natural fiber, it would have burnt, and made a small bit of crushable ash.

If you’re doing this at home with a store-bought piece that doesn’t have any tails on the inside, hold the lighter against a bit of one of the inside seams. Try to pick a place that won’t rub against your skin, because if it’s acrylic and you melt it, it’ll be a bit rough.

Once I determined that it was acrylic, I went out and bought some synthetic dye. I used Rit Synthetic in the color graphite. (#NotSponsored)

I was a bit worried that it wasn’t going to be black like I wanted, because graphite is more of a dark gray. I went to two different places that were pretty well stocked with Rit dye, but I didn’t find any synthetic dye that was specifically called “black.” I mention this now because—spoiler—it’ll be a thing later.

I basically just followed the instructions on the bottle. It says to wash the clothing first to get rid of any fabric softener. It also says to wet the fabric before putting it in the dye bath. I was able to kill two birds with one stone. I took it straight out of my washing machine and added it to the pot.

Speaking of the pot. It didn’t say this on the bottle, but I’ve read that you’re not supposed to use a pot that you’ve dyed things in for food. I went out to a thrift store and bought the biggest soup pot they had. Now it’s going to live on as my designated dye-pot.

Pot with dark water for sweater dyeing, semi-failed result.

I simmered the sweater for about an hour, and then rinsed it in my sink until the water ran clear. Surprisingly, the dye didn’t stain my sink gray, but your mileage may vary. The instructions said to either wash the piece by hand or put it into the washing machine with an old towel. I opted for the washing machine and old towel, but I regret it now. In hindsight, for a hand-knit piece like this, I really should have hand washed and laid flat to dry. Being in the washer with just a towel was too aggressive, and it stretched the sweater out of shape and made the edges pill a bit. (A shame, because I don’t think the sweater had been worn before this.)

I popped the sweater in the dryer to try and shrink it back a bit. It worked, and confirmed that I was right about it being acrylic, but the collar was still wobbly and out of shape.

Dyeing a sweater with mixed results, showing uneven color and pattern.

Also, when I pulled it out of the dryer, I saw that it was gray, not black. It looks…like graphite, so I guess the bottle wasn’t lying.

Dyeing a sweater with a semi-failed result, showing uneven color and dye spots.

I tried to re-wet just the collar of the sweater so I could re-block it and try and fix the wobbly collar. It didn’t work great, but I’ll try it again with pins to hold it in place instead of just laying it out.

Hand-dyed sweater on a colorful quilt with a dog, showcasing semi-failed dyeing process.

Enjoy my photobombing dog, Fozzie, in this picture. He loves to check out any clothing that I leave unattended, especially if I lay it out on my bed like I did for this picture. 🙂

All in all, the color isn’t bad. It’s not the black that I was hoping for, but it’s a nice gray, and I do think I’ll wear it (if I can fix the collar). Honestly, the dyeing process was so easy that I’m already planning to dye more things from my closet.

Add A Fly – Free Applique Pattern

March 30, 2026

Free applique pattern for kids' craft projects.

Sometimes you just need to add some flies to your quilt. 😂

I added extra flies to my Pond Life sample by using the fly pattern that’s included with the Frasier Frog pattern in that bundle.

Cute, whimsical quilt with pond animals.

But what if you’re making a quilt that doesn’t include the frog?

Maybe you want to add some flies to your barnyard, or your arctic scene, or your garden.

Now there’s a free pattern just for the fly!

This is so easy to make.

Download the template sheet here.

It has enough pieces to make eighteen flies.

Trace or print the template pieces onto the paper side of paper-backed fusible adhesive. I use Heat & Bond Lite for all my quilts.

Cut the pieces out roughly and fuse them to the back of your fabric.

Applique pattern for a fly design, featuring a simple black outline on white fabric.

I used the ovals for wings and the circle for the body, but you can switch that around, use all ovals or all circles. You do you, and bugs come in all shapes and sizes and colors!

Cut the pieces out neatly.

Fly applique fabric pieces for sewing project.

Peel off the paper backing and stick the pieces where you want them, tucking the wings behind the body.

Fuse in place and outline the pieces.

Done!

Cute fly applique pattern for sewing projects and crafts. Perfect for kids' clothing, quilts, DIY.

I added this one to the muskox block for my new Arctic Chill bundle (coming soon).

Applique pattern featuring a cute muskox with a fly overhead, perfect for quilting and sewing.

You can add these to so many patterns! I already mentioned the Farm Animals. What about the Rainforest bundle? The rainforest is full of pesky bugs of all kinds! Hungry Birds like to eat bugs – they might appreciate some added to their quilt. Carter Chameleon might like some too!

And bugs don’t have to be pests! Use black and yellow striped fabric for the bodies and add a bunch of tiny bees buzzing around in your Wild Flowers quilts! Bumblebees are also really common in the arctic, along with black flies and midges.

I could keep going, but I think you get the idea. You could add some flies to almost any quilt!

Have fun with these guys!

New (Colorful!) Clothes for Wendi

March 23, 2026

Woman in colorful, layered clothing standing on one leg in a library.

Wendi here. Wearing purple!

I introduced The Wardrobe Project here (with Jo’s intro here).

Today I have my first step towards a solution. It’s kind of lame that it involves a purchase instead of making something, but this was actually a really good place to start.

For those who haven’t read the original post, my main problem is that I have very few clothes to wear, and I end up wearing the same black yoga pants, black tank top, and black cardigan every single day.

Snooze.

I bought some clothes! Colorful clothes! That (mostly) checked all my boxes.

They’re (mostly) comfortable.
I can wear them in layers.
They’re colorful, but not clownish.
They seem to be well made? I’ve had them for a few months now and I always hang to dry, but one shoulder seam on one dress is already popping open. It was easy enough to repair, and hopefully it’s a fluke.
They’re mix and matchable.

I did a TON of Google searching and eventually ended shopping at Gudrun Sjödén.

When I did the overview of what’s in my closet, I realized I owned NO dresses. None. Since I don’t like things to be tight around my waist, that seemed like a huge missed opportunity – so I deliberately went looking for dresses! I was hoping to find a dress I would like as is, with bonus points if it was a style that would be simple enough for me to copy – or at least to use as a guide when sewing my own.

I’ve tried sewing my own clothes before and it’s sooooo frustrating to spend all that time and money and end up with something that just doesn’t look good! Which you don’t really know until you’re finished. 😩

I thought if I could start with a ready-made dress I like, I could at least say, “I like this length. I like this much ease in the bust. I like this much ease around my hips. I like this kind of neckline.”

I also don’t like to have bare legs, so I was looking for pants or leggings to wear with those dresses.

I LOVE the Gudrun prints, but a lot of the garments I tried just didn’t look good on me. The knits were soft and comfy, but I didn’t like how they looked without a bra, and they tended to cling to each other when I tried layering them. The cotton dress I tried felt flimsy and kind of cheap – but the linen! The linen dresses were great! They were light and cool enough for summer, and layerable for cooler weather.

I bought two! One blue and one purple. And I bought leggings and linen pants in purple and blue too, so I could mix and match a bit.

You can see the purple dress and leggings in the top photo.

And look! The purple linen pants look great with the long purple cardigan I already had! (Plus one of my many identical black tank tops.) Yay for making something I already own more wearable!

Woman wearing vibrant, colorful clothes standing in front of a bookshelf.

And here’s the blue dress with the blue linen pants.

Wendi wearing vibrant, colorful clothes in front of a bookshelf filled with books.

I love the look of the pants with the dress, but right now the leggings are more comfortable. (Leggings are usually too tight to be really comfortable for me, but these aren’t bad at all.)

The pants would be better if the elastic waistband was just a little bit larger. The band is stitched through a few times – which is great to keep the elastic from twisting, but not great if I want to unpick it to replace with slightly longer elastic. 🫤 I’ll probably do it for these that I already have, but I don’t think I’ll order more in the future. They’re also a little wider in the leg than I’d choose, so I probably won’t try to copy them.

But the purple dress is simple enough that I think I can copy it!

That will be for another day and another post. 😁

For now – mission accomplished.

The Wardrobe Project – Jo’s Closet

March 16, 2026

I have a problem.

My closet is a mess.

But wait! There’s more!

I have too many clothes that I don’t wear. On a normal day, I wear something like this.

A graphic tee and black pants. It’s cool, comfortable, and casual. It’s also a little basic. But I have SO MUCH other clothing. It clutters up my whole closet. Right now, I don’t have enough hangers to hang up everything that I have.

I have a few goals for my closet. I want to clear out everything that I don’t wear. If I haven’t worn it in the past year, it needs to be assessed in some way. Why haven’t I worn it? If it doesn’t fit well, can I alter it? If I don’t like the color, can I dye it? If it fits well, but it’s boring, can I embellish it? If I look at it, and I don’t think I can change it to fit my style, it’s time for it to go.

Everything red has to go, regardless of fit or comfort. I like red as a color, but if I wear it, I look sunburnt. Also, it clashes with the whole black and neon green thing I have going on.

Once I clear everything out, I want to start adding in new pieces. I want to have a mix of interest pieces and basics.

For interest pieces, I want more things like this…

Here’s the back…

I LOVE this coat! I wear it all the time, and I always get compliments on it. I want more pieces that make people stop me on the street.

But I also need more basics, like the black pants that I was wearing in the first picture. I love those pants. They’re pretty much the only pants I wear, and I dread the day that they finally wear out.

A different, but slightly related goal for this year is to not buy any new clothing. What I mean by that is no clothing from a place like Target or Gap or anything like that. Something that I make or something that I thrift is totally fine. I want to be more intentional and mindful of where my clothing is coming from. I want to be modifying clothing to suit my body and my aesthetic so that I can have a truly unique wardrobe.

Here’s what’s on my wardrobe wishlist:

Shorts or skirts for the summer. I am ALWAYS too warm, but I have a hard time finding shorts that I like.
Interest pieces! Not everything can be neon, but I’d like to have a handful of things that can go with my basics and add a pop of color. I love neon green, but I’m not opposed to purple or blue. I’d love to add to plain black clothing with bright embroidery, beadwork, applique, or something else!
This isn’t exactly a specific item, but I’d like to make sure that everything in my closet goes with everything else. I hate having a shirt that I can ONLY wear with one specific pair of pants. It makes it super unlikely that I’ll ever reach for it. I want my closet to be easy to wear, and easy to style. I really don’t want to be putting too much work into my outfits, but I still want to look cool.

I went on a MAJOR thrift run recently, and got a lot of cool clothing that I’m planning to modify and embellish. I’m super excited to get into it. (As soon as I clear out my closet.) I’ll be posting lots of before and afters, and sharing tutorials. It’s going to be so fun!

The Wardrobe Project

March 9, 2026

Wardrobe project sign on colorful clothing rack.

Folks – I have a problem.

If you look at my designs, you’d probably guess that I like bright colors and whimsy. I do!

But this is what I wear.

Every. Single. Day.

Black yoga pants. Black tank top. Black cardigan.

It’s very comfortable, but I’m bored out of my mind!

If I’m leaving the house I wear this.

Bookstore owner in front of a vibrant, well-stocked bookshelf with books and art supplies.

Black stretchy trousers. Black tank top. One of four (I’m not kidding) identical shirts. I have it in that dark green you see in the photo, two light blues, and one light purple.

In fact, here is a list of everything in my closet.

Those four identical buttondown shirts (which I have been wearing in rotation for TEN YEARS). I’m sick to death of them.
Three soccer jerseys for wearing to games (Asheville City SC, Portland Thorns, Portland Timbers) – all uncomfortably small.
One very ratty corduroy shirt to wear for messy outdoor work.
A loose, flowered tank top that I hardly ever wear. It’s pretty, but I have to wear a bra with it.
One handmade crinkle gauze kimono jacket – too small.
One dark purple linen kimono jacket (also handmade) which I love.
One colorful purchased kantha jacket which I love, but have no idea what to wear it with.
One hoodie printed with the doors from Monsters, Inc. It looks awful on me, but I won’t get rid of it because it was expensive and I love the print.
One lightweight black linen buttondown shirt which I wear in the summer as a jacket to keep the sun off my arms.
One handmade patchwork A-line skirt which I love, but is now too small.
One handmade green Estuary Skirt which I love, but I have no idea what to wear with it.
Six Pranayama wraps from Athleta (two black, one lavender, one teal, one pine green, and one long one in dark purple) – this is what I’m wearing in the top photo. I love them, so I have them in a bunch of colors, but I don’t wear them out of the house in winter because they’re all way longer than my coat and look weird sticking out the bottom.
Seven identical black tank tops from Target. I don’t like to wear a bra, so I wear these every single day.
One outfit for the gym – pants, T-shirt, zip-up hoodie jacket.
Eleven cute graphic T-shirts – all too small for me. Like, way too small.
Four long-sleeved T-shirts (one black, one green, one blue, one purple) – I think I will layer them under my buttondown shirt when I have to leave the house on cold days, but I don’t because then there’s too much fabric around my arms and it bugs me when I bend my elbows.
Two identical pairs of lightweight cargo pants (one black, one olive green) that are too tight, but I won’t get rid of them because they’re very thin and I think I can wear them on really hot days, but I don’t.
Two identical pairs of very lightweight capri pants (one black, one lavender). Capri-length looks terrible on me, but I keep them because I think I might layer them under a dress or skirt on a hot day. But I don’t own any dresses, and they don’t look good under the one skirt I own.
One pair of patchwork linen baggy pants that I wear on the hottest days of summer. They’re definitely the most interesting thing I own, but they’re a lotta look, bordering on clownish.
One pair of black yoga pants from Target that I’ve been wearing almost every day for probably fifteen years. It’s a miracle they’ve lasted this long, but at some point they will wear out, and then I will have an even worse problem than I have now.
One pair of gray pajama pants printed with lavender pine trees that I wear on laundry days when I can’t wear my black yoga pants. Then I wear my lavender cardigan instead of one of my black ones, so it looks like an actual outfit instead of laundry day leftovers.

That’s it!

No shirts that I love. Twelve shirts that are ok (seven of which are identical black tank tops). Twenty shirts that don’t fit/don’t work with anything else/have some other problem.

Eight jackets/cardigans that I love (mostly identical), one that’s ok, and one that doesn’t fit.

Two skirts that don’t fit or that I have no shirts to wear with them.

One pair of pants that I love but won’t leave the house in, two that are just ok, and four that don’t fit or don’t look good.

About twenty years ago my mother-in-law came to visit a new house we had just moved into. When she saw our closet, she asked where my clothes were. We had to tell her that small closet held both our clothes. 😂

Not much has changed! I still don’t have a lot of clothes – but that’s not the problem. I don’t need a lot of clothes.

The problem is that I have mostly stuff that looks bad/doesn’t fit anymore, a few things that are fine/boring, and a handful of things I love, but don’t have anything to go with them to make an actual outfit.

I don’t have a single outfit that I love. Not one.

Heck – I don’t even have a single outfit that I like!

I’ve resolved to fix my wardrobe in the past, but I never actually follow through on it. This year is going to be different.

It really is!

I know it’s going to be different because I’ve made a list, and once I make a list – watch out! 😂

(Also – I’ve already made some progress. I wrote this post when I was at rock bottom, but I waited to post it after I had already made a few steps forward – so more posts coming soon!)

Here’s my wardrobe wishlist:

Comfortable clothes. Nothing too tight, especially around my waist and arms. And nothing that requires me to wear a bra.
Layers! I’m the annoying person who’s always cold – unless I’m having a hot flash. So I need layers that I can add and remove as needed.
Color! But not clownish. I like monochrome looks with a lot of texture and maybe on occasional pop of a brighter, contrasting color, so I’m going to try to make that work.
Well-made, durable clothes. I don’t love to hand wash, but I’m happy to hang things to dry if it will help them last longer. I can do simple alterations and mending, and I’d love to make a lot of my own pieces if I can find the right patterns and fabric.
Mix and matchable pieces. I don’t need a huge wardrobe (obviously) but I want to love every piece in it, and be able to wear most everything with most everything else so I can stop looking the same every day.

That seems doable, right?

Like I said, I’ve already made some progress, but I still have a LONG way to go! And before I share the first of my successful baby steps, Jo’s going to introduce her wardrobe problem and wishlist.

Our fixes will be a mix of buying, upcycling, and making – something for everyone! You’ll be able to follow both our posts with the new “clothing” tag, and the new “Life” category in the top menu bar. That tab will drop down to Food, Clothing, and Books – everything you need for a Shiny Happy Life. 😄

Books!

March 9, 2026

I read a lot and I share my favorites in the newsletter. People have been asking me to compile those recommendations in one place and I’ve decided to use Bookshop. Here are the lists I’ve transferred from my notebooks so far. . .