Project 333: A Capsule Wardrobe Challenge

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I’m in a couple of Facebook groups where people are talking about sewing a capsule wardrobe. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea, but too overwhelmed by the thought of sewing an entire wardrobe for myself.

Can you relate?

A capsule wardrobe is a small collection of items that can be mixed and matched to create different outfits. You might have three pairs of pants, a skirt, a sweater, a few tops, and a handbag that all have coordinating colors that look good together. A capsule wardrobe is a fantastic idea for anyone who wants to live a more minimalist lifestyle or has a hard time coming up with styles to wear.

While I think it’s an admiral idea to sew an entire capsule wardrobe for yourself, I think a more feasible idea is to create a capsule wardrobe that includes some items that you have made and some that you have bought from the store…

How to Create a Capsule Wardrobe

When planning your capsule wardrobe, the first thing you need to do is choose your base colors. Typically, people choose black, navy, or gray because these colors are easy to match. However, you can choose whatever you want! Once you have your base colors, you can choose two or three accents that go well together.

Black and white is the easiest capsule wardrobe to pull off because practically everything goes with this color combination. It’s also easy add a pop of red or pink for a high contrast style. My personal favorite combination is fall colors — I love deep maroons with browns and greens.

The biggest challenge with planning and creating a capsule wardrobe is keeping the number of items in your capsule to a manageable amount. Most people have a lot of clothes, but they really only wear a core number of items.

Think about your own wardrobe… I’m willing to best your have 30+ items in your closet right now that you can’t remember the last time you’ve worn them.

In Courtney Carver’s book, Project 333, she challenges you to pick just 33 items from your wardrobe and wear them exclusively for three months. The challenge is to prove that you really don’t need as many clothes as you think. If you’re having a hard time narrowing down your capsule wardrobe, I highly suggest you read her book and give her challenge a try.

Capsule Wardrobe Patterns

If you’re looking for some good patterns to help you sew items for your capsule wardrobe, here are a few of my favorites:

Ellie & Mac also has a capsule wardrobe pattern set:

For more ideas, check out House of Pinheiro’s Work to Weekend Wardrobe: Sew Your Own Capsule Collection.

I’ve sewn a lot of items for myself over the years, but one thing that has really helped me step up my sewing game is a sewing subscription box. I like ThreadCrate because they send you a pattern and all the notions you need to sew a garment for yourself, but there are plenty of other sewing subscription boxes on the market, too.