the clothes horse

sometimes i think all i think about is clothes. okay that's not really true. but i do go through periods now and then when all that seems to hold my attention is clothes - making them, sketching them, planning my wardrobe.

it's a confluence of of my complete love of planning, plotting and list-making, plus my obsession with fabric and delight in sewing. i shouldn't judge myself. it's okay, it's my "creative outlet!"

the tricky bit is that as a planner and a plotter, i do love preparedness and simplicity - not minimalism in the fashionable sense, but the idea that you can have one perfect thing that serves a multiplicity of needs is just so deeply satisfying. like those all-in-one camping pots, or a swiss army knife (come to think of it, this may also go some way to explain my love of camping). i like neatness and i don't like excess - at least in theory.

thus my goal is, quite reasonably i think, to have a pared-down wardrobe of really perfect items, just the things i really need and wear, to be perfectly and appropriately dressed for all occasions. this conflicts wildly with my desire, as a sewer, to have and to hold all the pretty fabrics.

right now i really want to make a suit, but when on earth will i ever wear a suit?! how do you do it without looking like a grandma/melanie griffith?? but they're so beautiful (at least to look at) and it would be such a triumph to make!

it's not easy being a clothes horse and an efficiency maniac in one.