2018 in review - The Year of 'LIGHT'

In the spirit of writing more for this  blog, I have decided to start with a few posts reviewing my year of 2018.  I like to set a word for each year as a focus for my life, following Ali Edwards 'One Little Word'.  Last year I chose the word 'LIGHT', and I think it is the best word yet!  (Words I  have chosen in the past include: SIMPLIFY, CREATE, ACTION, GROW, DEVELOP, FLOURISH SLOW).

I thought that the word LIGHT would be a focus for all areas of my life, and decided to focus on these 3 areas:

LIGHT touch on the planet  
Letting my LIGHT shine 
LIGHT and airy home


LIGHT touch on the planet
I focused my efforts on recycling as much as possible.  We are lucky in that our local recycling centre is very good and takes most things that can be recycled.  I tried to reduce my consumption of single use plastics, and picked up at least 3 items of plastic rubbish on the beach every time I went down there.

I also cut down on buying new clothes, although I did have a little splurge in the summer with new summer tops!  I used up some of my fabric stash to make new clothes, and refashioned items bought from charity shops.  (More on sewing projects coming soon!)

Letting my LIGHT shine
I started meditating using a meditation app - which I really enjoyed, but I have not done so much lately.  I took better care of my skin, instigating a routine of a twice weekly scrub and facepack.  I started using jojoba oil on my face every morning and night.  I wanted to lose some weight, but have failed miserably in that regard!  
I tried out a 'capsule wardrobe' following Style Bee 10x10.  I made a much more concerted effort to wear smarter casual clothes and make up whenever I went out.

LIGHT and airy home
I persuaded OH to paint our bedroom, and our feature wall is now a calming green.  Along with new bedding and curtains, the room looks much lighter and brighter.

I did a lot of decluttering and had some success with selling unwanted items on eBay.  I decluttered my craft stash (again!), and gave some of it away using Freecycle.

It's been a great year for me, and I hope for you too!  I'll write more about sewing projects and our travels soon.

Slow Fashion - Top 5

Having read a few books on the subject of 'Slow Fashion', I became quite concerned at the amount of Fast Fashion consumed, not only for the cost to the planet of using up resources, pollution and adding to greenhouse gases, and therefore climate change, but also the poor conditions of the workers.  I started looking at labels in my clothes to see where they were made - India, Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan.   It didn't seem to matter whether they were bought from Primark or Marks and Spencer, our clothes are now mostly made in third world countries with very much third world working conditions. 

This got me wondering what I could do as an individual.  I decided to have a year of not buying any new clothes.  It was quite an adventure!  I have been sewing my own clothes for a few years now, and this year had enough 'me-made' items to properly join in with 'Me-Made May'.  Here's my blog post about it.  But I had not really ventured into buying second hand clothes much before.   I am not much of a 'rummager', I find it a bit embarrassing!

However, with the plethora of charity shops locally, I gave it a go and had some successful buying trips.   Notably, this coat.  It is an Eastex coat, and hardly worn.  It is lovely quality wool, and very comfortable to wear.  It cost me £10, just in time to wear to a day out in London in March.

 Other successes include jeans that fit!  These jeans have not got a label in them, so I am assuming they would have been quite cheap brand new.  I wear them all the time!  This jacket was an ebay purchase and I added the embroideries as embellishment to try to bring it up to date.

I wore this combo of cream trousers and top a lot in the summer.  I really love this top! 

I bought this orange t-shirt because I loved the colours.  I altered it as it had elastic around the hem which I didn't like.  It means that the t-shirt is a little short, but I still wore it a lot in the summer.  Here it is with some black linen trousers that I previously bought from a charity shop and altered to fit.

I did buy new shoes and boots, a new handbag, and new underwear.  I am sure I could find shoes and boots in charity shops, but I am not too sure about wearing second hand shoes yet!  I have noticed lots of handbags for sale, but they tend to be rather old fashioned.  I also must confess to buying a couple of new items - a brand new faux leather jacket (because I love the look!) and some new black trousers to wear at Christmas (because I didn't have time to make trousers to go with the top I made)

I would like to carry on not buying new clothes, but I don't think I will be so fastidious about it in the future, although I must admit that I am out of the habit of shopping for new clothes now!

My goal originally was to learn about global warming and climate change.  But I found that it was such a big subject that I didn't know where to start!  By starting with learning about the fashion industry, and Slow Fashion, I am inspired to live a more sustainable lifestyle in more areas of my life.  My goal for 2018 is to reduce the amount of plastic that I use.

I will be back to show you my Top 5 makes soon! 

Me Made May 2017

I am joining in with Zoe's Me Made May again this year.    I love that Zoe picks the month of May to do this, as hopefully we will get some nice warm days later in the month and we will be able to wear Summer clothes as well!

I am pledging to wear either an item made by me, or an item refashioned by me every day during the month of May.


During this month, I am hoping to:
*wear all my Me Made clothes
*wear different combinations, and discover new outfits
*identify clothes I don't wear and why
*discover 'holes' in my wardrobe and plan to fill them with Me Made clothes
*celebrate that I have enough Me Made clothes to wear every day!
*learn how to use my phone camera on timer (DONE!  See day 2 photo below)
*learn more about my new Panasonic camera, especially how to use it on the timer

I have decided to add in 'refashioned clothes' as I am pledging not to buy any new clothes this year, but am allowing myself to buy and refashion preowned clothes from charity shops and ebay.

Here's a look at what I wore for days 1 and 2:

Day 1 I wore the top I made with Kwik Sew 4026.  I have made 2 dresses with this pattern.  You might see at least 1 of them later this month.

Today I wore a top I bought from a charity shop and refashioned.  It was the simplest refashion, I simply took the elastic out of the bottom!  It is a great top for this time of year, loose fitting, and cool, but covering up enough for cooler days.