white_hart | Entries tagged with clothes

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I managed to get to the office today, after three days working from home, and was so delighted to see my team again I'd almost start to wonder if I was secretly an extrovert if I wasn't so very obviously an introvert. I do like my team a great deal, though, and I also suspect that at the moment working from home just has too many associations with the pandemic for me to enjoy it.

Thursdays are also doughnut day in the cafe in our building. Sadly, by the time I got up there the passionfruit curd doughnuts had sold out (another black mark to chalk up against the "managers' briefing" which actually turned out to be "getting managers to workshop ideas for improving induction", which was not what it was billed as at all, though I probably wouldn't have gone up before 10 anyway), but my vanilla doughnut was very good.

I have also worked out that the way to stop my blue Pietra trousers from looking frumpy is simply to fold the hems up. Somehow, bright blue tapered trousers unrolled feel like scrubs whatever I wear them with, but bright blue tapered trousers rolled look fun and relaxed and cute in a workwear-inspired way. Especially with chunky boots.

So, quite a good day, really. Though I'm conscious that I deliberately put off attempting to formulate a response to the academic who appears to think it's reasonable to ask for "at least 10 hours a week" of support from a half-time employee...

I'd been thinking that I'd like to make a waistcoat ever since waistcoats were the pattern challenge on the Sewing Bee, and I managed to find a women's waistcoat pattern which had what looked like a classic enough option (Jalie 3129) that it seemed worth giving it a go. I printed off the pattern last weekend, and cut out the pieces in a tweedy fabric I bought from John Lewis years ago intending to make a skirt out of it. I remember the label saying it was a wool blend, but from the smell and handle I'd say it was mostly polyester. It was also quite thick and textured and altogether a pain in the arse to work with, and I couldn't press it properly without risking melting it.

I decided I'd try to do proper pockets rather than the mock welt pockets from the pattern, which wasn't entirely successful, mostly because the instructions in my reference book were unhelpfully vague on exactly where you should place the pocket lining over the welt and the pockets ended up much shorter than I'd intended (though I also came to the conclusion that waistcoat pockets are probably never going to be particularly functional unless you have a pocketwatch - too small, too high).

Sewing the waistcoat together was quite good fun (you sew everything together inside out and then pull the waistcoat through a hole in the lining, like a magic trick - on the Sewing Bee they referred to it as "bagging out", and it seems to have been the technique of the last series), but once I'd finished assembling it I realised that either I'd found it harder than I thought to sew straight on the nubbly fabric, or it had slipped when I was cutting or stretched after cutting, or possibly a combination of all three, because the front points had ended up all wonky and the tweed pattern made it very clear that it had strayed off-grain. It also turned out to be slightly too small to button up comfortably, and I also realised that the style that had looked like classic menswear on the pattern was actually more femme than I wanted - the v-neck too low, the tailoring lines accentuating curves. Basically, a fail from start to finish, but good learning: next time I try to make a waistcoat, I'll use a smoother fabric which can stand up to pressing, and I think I'd be better off starting with a men's pattern (probably the Belvedere Waistcoat) and adjusting the fit than assuming I can short-cut with a women's pattern. (Also a useful data point for the debate I'm currently having in my mind about whether I want to go for a more tailored look or stick with looser, more fluid garments; tailored clothes tend to be more strongly gendered.)

A few weeks ago, I bought myself a rain poncho. It is neon blue, long enough to come just below my knees, and wide enough to come to within about an inch of my wrists. It has a hood, poppers down the sides, and it packs away into a bag when I'm not wearing it.

I've never owned a rain poncho before. I used to use umbrellas, and then when I decided it was better to have waterproof clothing instead I had waterproof coats and jackets, and waterproof trousers for really heavy rain (though they always make me so hot and sticky I generally prefer to get wet). But my Seasalt summer mac has stopped being waterproof, and my waterproof jacket only comes to my hips, and as long as I'm driving and parking in Summertown instead of getting the bus I don't have any choice about the walking bit of my commute, and you can get very wet trousers in 1.8 miles. So I bought a poncho, and I love it. It's swooshy and makes me feel a bit like a wizard. It's easy to put on and take off, and because it's so roomy I can add and remove layers underneath without taking it off. I can sling it on over the top of my backpack, which may mean I look like the front half of a neon blue pantomime camel, but it keeps my backpack properly dry in a way that waterproof rucksack covers never do (they all have the fundamental design flaw that they don't cover the bit of the backpack that sits against your back, and therefore all the water running down the back of your raincoat seeps in that way and around the straps). I can open the poppers at the sides for extra ventilation so it doesn't get clammy in the way waterproof jackets do in hot weather. It makes walking in the rain a much more enjoyable experience than I've ever found it before (though I'm not sure it would really do for hillwalking). All in all, it really is the best outdoor garment ever.

It's a bit cooler today, which is good because I had a day's leave which meant that I was at home, rather than in the office, and spent the afternoon sewing, which meant being in the same room as a hot iron.

I also realised while crawling back up the A34 after swimming that if I switch the direction of the air conditioning in my car from "windscreen and footwells" to "footwells only", it blows cool air straight out of the dashboard vents at me and is generally much, much more effective at keeping me cool. I am not sure this is entirely obvious from the icons on the dial, but there you go.

Tomorrow, it is supposed to rain, and maybe even be cool enough not to wear shorts. Not that I don't like my shorts (and am surprised by the slightly ironic discovery that wearing shorts and exposing my hairy legs, something that I had a miserable time being bullied about in my teens, now results in massive gender/appearance euphoria. Fuck the people who told me that the only way to exist was to not be me for so long), but it would be nice to have a change.

Next week I'm planning to be in the office for all four of the days I'm working, which is exciting because it means my craft room can stay as a craft room all week, and I only have to remember one workday routine rather than having two and having to remember which one I'm supposed to be following. I've also taken my good mouse and headphones to the office and brought the less-good ones I was using there home. This may, of course, be entirely premature and we'll be pitched back into lockdown and working from home again soon, but I'm going to make the most of being able to have work and home in separate places while I can.

I suspect that my ground-floor office in a building with thick concrete walls is a better place to spend a day when temperatures were over 30C (31C according to my car on the way home just before 7) than my house, which gets very hot, especially upstairs.

I also decided that, given that insofar as we have a dress code, (a) I set it and (b) it's "No onesies" in normal circumstances and "clothes" in COVID times, knee-length cotton twill shorts and a button-down shirt definitely counted as appropriate officewear, hairy legs and all. I have to say, I rather enjoy just how masc a look that is, particularly finished off with rainbow Teva sandals and a Panama hat (with a rainbow ribbon). Or a recently rebuzzed buzzcut-with-quiff, when indoors.

I think I might go for a swim after dinner.

I was going to make a start on a new shirt today, but the weather is forecast to be in the high twenties for the next few days and I decided that what I really needed was more shorts, so I spent the day squeezing a pair out of what I was pleased to discover was just enough leftover dark teal cotton twill. (And when I say "just enough", I mean that the first fold of one of the hems is a bit wobbly because there wasn't quite enough fabric, and I had to sew up a cut into the edge of one of the pieces, fortunately mostly in the seam allowance, because there was no flexibility at all.)

A white person with short grey hair and glasses stands in a garden wearing a purple t-shirt with white printing and a pair of dark teal knee-length shorts.

I never used to wear shorts, except maybe for exercise (though I've got more wary of walking in shorts as I worry about ticks), but, having stopped wearing skirts, I found that there was a vacancy for something to wear when it was so hot having my legs covered with trousers is uncomfortable. I suppose I could have gone for cropped trousers instead, but shorts take less fabric and I do often find that I can squeeze them out of leftovers. And actually, I find I rather like them. They are cool and comfortable, and if anyone has a problem with a slightly fat middle-aged woman wearing just over the knee shorts, well, that's on them, not me.

After nearly 15 months of lockdown or semi-lockdown, there are so many things from the Before Times that feel like they belong to someone else's life.

I haven't worn any of my coats since March 2020. When I go out, it's either in the car, in which case I don't need a coat, or I'm walking, and wear a waterproof jacket instead.

I used to wear necklaces for work, but I haven't worn any jewellery apart from my wedding and engagement rings and watch since March 2020.

My office is full of my work shoes and boots, which I obviously haven't been able to wear while I've been working from home, but I look at them now and can't imagine wanting to wear any of them again. The main reason why they are in my office in the first place is because they're not comfortable enough to walk to and from work in, and most of them were bought when I was still someone who wore skirts and dresses. And now I have an office full of shoes I may never wear again.

I'd pretty much stopped using shoulder bags before the pandemic, because they always hurt to carry, but unless I have a backpack full of work stuff (or a bag full of swimming kit) I mostly just have my phone and keys with me these days. (My phone case has a slot for my debit card; I haven't been carrying my wallet, with my other cards, and haven't used cash at all since last March.)

In anticipation of visiting my parents! and spending time with a friend who's going to be holidaying near Oxford! I thought that possibly I needed something in between Massive Work Backpack and what I can fit in my pockets, looked at all the bags I currently own, decided that they definitely belonged to someone else's life, and ordered a small sling backpack. I apologise in advance if doing this turns out to jinx the reopening and we all have to spend another six months in lockdown.

A knitting designer I follow on Twitter, Karie Westermann, tweeted last night:

I'm really fascinated by minimalist capsule wardrobe plans. I mean, yay for create 45 looks out of 5 pieces, but I use my clothes to play with identity & so my wardrobe is full of weirdness.

This made me think a bit, and I realised that I am the complete opposite: I could have 45 pieces of clothing in my wardrobe (I probably do, or even more than that), and I'd just end up making versions of the exact same outfit out of them, and not wearing the ones that didn't fit that. What that outfit is has changed over the years; in the early to mid 00s, it was trouser suits, and then even though I thought I was playing with clothes and having fun with my appearance I was basically wearing A-line skirts with fitted tops, and then jersey dresses. Now I've stopped wanting to spend time thinking about what to wear and it's trousers and jersey tops (frequently stripy) all hte way. I still own quite a few of the jersey dresses, and even some of the A-line skirts (though the trouser suits are long gone), but I don't wear them because they don't feel like me any more.

Apparently my sense of who I am is very much wrapped up in having a consistent look.

I normally like swapping my winter and summer wardrobes. However much I struggle with the lengthening nights, being able to wear layers and warm jumpers and scarves and boots again always feels like it goes a long way towards making up for it (even if the actual positive effect on my mental health is negligible compared to the impact of the darkness). This year, though, I've spent the summer rotating four pairs of trousers and a fairly small number of tops and have been happier with summer dressing than I have for a very long time, and my winter wardrobe is full of dresses and even after substantial weeding still feels rather more feminine than I'd like.

In an attempt to rectify this, I have spent this wet Saturday afternoon making a pair of trousers - the 100 Acts of Sewing Pants No 1 in olive-green needlecord. I made a test pair of these in the summer, in some purple cotton poplin, and was very pleased with how they turned out; the pattern is very straightforward (not really being much different from pyjama trousers, apart from being a bit more fitted) and they really didn't take that long. I wouldn't choose an elastic waist if I was buying trousers (though saying that I did get a pair of elastic-waisted linen trousers from M&S this summer when I desperately wanted something as light as possible) but it certainly makes sewing them easier, and it's not as if I'd ever wear trousers with the waistband exposed. I'm still a little bit wary about wearing them to work, but I hope I manage to get over that.

I have rather lost interest in clothes recently*. At least part of this is because I can't find clothes that do what I want. My current work environment is definitely at the casual end of business casual, and a lot of the dresses I used to wear in my old job feel too formal; I've also found that I'm more attracted to clean, simple lines and minimalist outfits, rather than the layers I used to like. And I'm wary of looking too quirky, or girly, or cute; that was great when I was an accountant who wanted to convince non-finance people that she wasn't really like the other beancounters, but now I'm a person who runs the administration of a fairly large academic department. I want people to take me seriously, and I'm not convinced that dressing like a toddler or a Manic Pixie Dream Girl is really the best way to go about that***.

So I want to look professional but not remotely corporate, grown-up but not boring. I want my clothes to be comfortable and practical. They need to be machine washable as I don't do dry-cleaning. I like dresses because they're easy (especially on swimming days, when it's much easier to wear something that I can just pull over my head than have to step out of a skirt or trousers while trying not to let it touch the wet changing-room floor), but they have to be knee-length and have sleeves and high enough necklines not to show masses of cleavage without a camisole underneath, and at the moment most dresses seem to be super-short, sleeveless or low-cut, or all three at once. I prefer jersey dresses because stretchy fabrics minimise the fit issues inherent in the fact that most clothes aren't cut for someone my shape, but there seem to be fewer of those around than in recent years****. And I can't stand the feel of polyester, and there seems to be a lot of that about. I'm not actually short of clothes and everything I own has a fair amount of wear still in it, but I do miss having fun with what I wear. At the moment getting dressed in the mornings feels like a chore rather than a pleasure, and there are more days than I'd like when I find myself getting to work and wishing I'd put something else on.

So, does anyone have any tips on how to reinvigorate my interest in clothes? (I miss the style blogs of yesteryear, which used to be great sources of inspiration.) Or should I just keep scouring the shops (of which Oxford has fewer and fewer) until I have enough fall-out-of-bed-and-go dresses that I don't need to think about getting dressed at all?

*Actually, I have lost interest in lots of things - knitting, sewing, cooking - which I mostly put down to a combination of (a) having a job that's interesting and fulfilling enough that I don't need so many outside interests and (b) being so knackered most of the time that I don't really have the energy to do anything apart from working and absorbing fiction**.

**There may be a (c), viz. having somehow recovered the ability to read lots of books, which I had thought was lost and gone for ever, I have remembered that reading is the Best Hobby Ever and uterly diskard anything that would eat into my precious reading time.

***Today I am wearing a long-sleeved green t-shirt under a baggy black t-shirt with Little My on it, jeans, rainbow-striped socks and fluffy slippers, and I love it, but today I am not at work.

****My favourite dress at the moment is this one which I got from White Stuff this time last year and have probably worn once a week, or at the very least once every two weeks, since then. I have another one in the same style but a dark red floral print, which I wear just as often, but sadly they don't seem to have the same style this season.