Wardrobe Revamp | Detox Your Wardrobe

As you may have seen in my last post, I have finally decided to undertake a pretty major wardrobe revamp! Step 1 from Into Mind's 10 Step Wardrobe Revamp was to establish what you do not like about your current wardrobe (click here to see what I dislike about my current wardrobe!) Step 2 is to clean out your wardrobe, and get rid of anything that does not match your new wardrobe style. 

I finally had a chance on the weekend to detox my wardrobe. The first step was to get everything out on the bed into piles "keep, donate, trash, revamp" 

Not much left!!

I ended up with a big garbage bag full of clothes to donate, as well as a bag full of things to throw out (mostly shoes!) 

I am not completely finished going through my clothes, and there are still a few things I will probably end up giving away (once I come to terms I no longer need them!)

Into Mind includes a fantastic closet detox cheat sheet for this step to help you through those tricky decisions!!

Now I have a really good idea where my wardrobe is lacking and what things I need to think about restocking! I also had a few things I really like, but need to revamp so look out for a post with before and afters for these. The next step is to gather inspiration for new wardrobe pieces - that post will be up next week.

xx

 

Wardrobe Revamp | Rethink Your Strategy

I have finally decided it is time for a wardrobe revamp. I have been really unhappy with my wardrobe for a while now. Don't get me wrong, I have lots of nice clothes, but I can never seem to put together outfits I really love to wear!

I came across the blog / website Into Mind via Pinterest and found this amazing 10 Step Wardrobe Revamp guide. It breaks the process of a wardrobe revamp down into 10 easy steps which is great at making the process seem less overwhelming. Into Mind is a website full of amazing tips for the perfect style, minimalism and the perfect wardrobe. I will definitely be referring to the website for more than just this wardrobe revamp!

I will be writing a blog post for each step of the way and including a lot of progress pictures, links and helpful tips. I hope this will be helpful for people who want to undertake a wardrobe revamp but are not sure where to start!

The first step in the wardrobe revamp process is to establish what you do not like about your current wardrobe as this will help you find out where your wardrobe weaknesses are. Using the flow chart provided, I have worked out that my wardrobe no longer matches my personal style. My goals for this revamp will be to:

- Redefine my current style
- Introduce new elements (I am hoping to make quite a few pieces myself!)
- Get rid of clothing that no longer matches my current style

Step 2 is to detox your wardrobe. Keep an eye out for the post on this soon (as soon as I get a free afternoon to go through my wardrobe!)

Have you ever undertaken a major wardrobe revamp? I am excited to share my progress with you!

xx

 

Organising my Sewing Patterns | DIY

You will have noticed from this post on cleaning up my craft supplies, I am trying to get a bit more organised with fabric, wool, general craft supplies and patterns! I have just finished organising the paper / printed sewing patterns I have so I thought I would share what I did with you.      

A friend recently posted this article from Craftsy on my Facebook and after reading through, I found it had a few really good ideas for organising and storing your sewing patterns. I really liked the first and second ideas, but space wise decided that the first idea of storing patterns in a folder was the best one for me!

I had a look around for the expandable sheet protectors (you can find them here or here) however I found they were quite pricey. Instead I opted for these Premium Sheet Protectors from Marbig (I purchased mine here.) They are a lot thicker than normal sheet protectors and worked well for me!

To make things easier to see, I made up a cover sheet for each pattern which included a picture of the pattern and the items that are needed to make the item (i.e. fabric, zips, buttons etc.) This allows me to quickly refer to what I need for a pattern, without having to get the instructions out.

I find that having them in the folder makes them really easy to flick through, and saves me a lot of storage space.

How do you organise your pattern stash? Are you a fan of PDF patterns or do you prefer traditional paper patterns?

- J x

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Organising My Craft Supplies | The Beginnings

image from pinterest

I am finally getting around to organising my growing pile of craft supplies. One of the main reasons I have been putting this off is because I was unsure of how I wanted to organise everything. We are looking to own our first home this year so we won't be in our existing house for too much longer. However I have decided to bite the bullet for now and just organise everything as best I can. I will do an updated one of these once we move.

This is what my craft supplies storage looked like before. A complete mess I know! We really have limited storage in this house and are quickly outgrowing it.

This is the after! It is still not how I would really like to store all my supplies but it works for now.

I had to be completely ruthless when it came to organising all my craft supplies. I can sometimes be a bit of a fabric scrap hoarder (who knows, it may come in handy for something!) so I made myself chuck out any remnants I knew I would not be using.

My favourite part is how I have organised my fabric stash - it looks so pretty and utilises our filing cabinet which does not really get used. This idea came from Lauren from The Thinking Closet. It makes it so easy to see what I have on hand.

I found these great fabric stash tags by Sarai Mitnick from Colette Patterns. I love this idea as you can see exactly what you have at a quick glance. It gives you a place to write a description of the fabric, the length and the width. The big blank space down the bottom allows you to include a sample of the fabric so that you can see and feel the fabric without having to get the fabric out of the drawer.

Here is an example of my tags. I have written a general description about the fabric, written the length in pencil so that I can change it as I go (I have also included whether the material has been cut) and how wide the fabric is. I used a stapler to attach a small sample of each fabric.

I attached them to the drawer so that I can flip it out whenever I want to see what is in my stash. As Sarai states in her blog post, the hardest part will be to remember to change the length as you cut each piece of fabric! 

I used a fabric covered box to store my fat quarters and scrap material.

How do you organise your fabric supplies? I cannot wait to have proper storage for all my craft supplies. Watch out for an updated post sometime this year!

- J x

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1 Simple Way to Avoid Procrastination | Advice

image created by me using Canva

Confession - I am a massive procrastinator especially at home after work or on the weekends when all I want to do is nothing!

I have found it is so easy to get into the habit of procrastinating and justifying it by saying things like "I will do it tomorrow when I have more time", "it won't matter if I leave it one more night" etc (sound familiar?) In reality all this does is build up all of the things that need to be done until it all becomes too much and you wish you had just done it in the first place.

Over the years I have found there is 1 simple trick that helps me keep on track when I want to be productive...

Making a list!

I know. Such a simple concept. But lists are truly amazing when it comes to beating procrastination and being productive. Having everything written down and out of your head stops you from feeling overwhelmed by the thought of things you want to achieve. Lists allow you to look at everything you want to get done in a clear and concise manner, and help you to prioritise what you need to get done which in turn makes you a lot more productive.

I write lists for everything including:

- food Shopping
- cleaning
- what I want to do when I get home
- what I want to get done over the weekend
- birthday presents

(see what I did there...)

I personally find that lists give me a great feeling of satisfaction as I tick off each item one by one. I feel so good knowing I am actually achieving something, and am not getting bogged down by the million things I want to do in my head.

A few tips for good list making:

Make small, easy to achieve lists
The key with list making is to have small, manageable lists which actually encourage you to get things done. This may mean you have quite a few lists, but it allows you to break everything down into smaller chunks making you much more productive. It can be overwhelming to look at a long list of things to do.

Check off each item as you go
As I mentioned above, I love ticking off each item as I go as it makes me feel like I have actually achieved something.

Choose a system that works for you
Everyone has their own way of creating lists, so choose the one that works best for you. Personally, my lists usually consist of headers and indented dot points (see example below). This allows me to break everything down into even smaller steps.

Are you an avid list maker like me? How else do you avoid procrastination?

- J x


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Cleaning out your pins | Advice

image from pinterest (where else!)

Hands up if you are addicted to Pinterest *raises both hands.* How can you not be? There are so many pretty, amazing, interesting and yummy things to look at. As I am writing this post, I have 22 boards and 2,286 pins! (Feel free to stalk them here if you do not already)

This year I have been making it a habit to clean out my boards on a regular basis. There are 2 main reasons for this...

1. I forget about what I have Pinned!
How often do you actually go back and look at your pins? I find that by making myself clean up my boards, I am looking back at my own pins more often and rediscovering pins that I have totally forgotten about.

2. My taste changes.
There are quite a lot of things I have pinned previously that when I look back on them now, are no longer what I want / like / need. I believe your Pinterest boards should be kept up to date like everything else in your life. What is the point of keeping things that no longer apply to you anymore?

Just like when I clean out things in my home or life, I personally gain a real sense of satisfaction from cleaning out my Pinterest boards.

How often do you go back through your Pinterest boards? Do you need to have a clean out?

- J x


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Bike Makeover | DIY

A while ago I wrote this post about the vintage luxury ladies bike that I picked up from Castle Collectables. The makeover has finally been finished thanks to my very helpful partner (who did pretty much everything!) I am so happy with the results (considering we have never attempted to makeover a bike before!)

 

Before the makeover - in good condition but quite rusted
 

To remove the rust, we used a combination of coke and aluminuim foil! Weird I know but it really works as the pictures below show. See this video for a run down of the process.

Before

After

Once the rust was removed, we used a crome polish on the rims & other crome parts to make them stand out.

Before & After

My partner then had to remove all of the paint from the frame of the bike. For this step he used Selly's Kwik Strip which is a metal paint stripper. Gloves and being in a well ventilated area are a must for this product. You apply the product with a paint brush and once it starts to blister / bubble, you remove the paint and the product with a rough sponge / scrubber. This step took a while as he had to keep going over it a few times (especially where the stickers were.)

Before

 

Paint Stripper at work

  

After



 

To paint the bike, we used a spray gun which my lovely dad got for me! (I am beyond excited about this and have so many projects lined up using this already!) If you are painting a bike you seriously need one of these. It made the whole process so much easier! We used a primer firat and then applied a gloss top coat in an off white colour. You need to leave the gloss paint to dry for at least a couple of days - after this it will be pretty scratch resistant.

Putting it back together!

It took me a while to find the perfect basket for this bike - I ended up getting one from Super Elliots Cycles in Rundle Street (for those of you who live in South Australia!)

We were able to keep around 70 - 80% of the original bike. Some of the screws had to be replaced as they were rusted quite badly. I also purchased a new seat, new wheels and new handle bar grips. We were planning on keeping the wheels but unfortunately they fell apart when we put air in them. I managed to get the bell and the stand from my sisters old bike which Mum and Dad still had in the shed!

I am so happy with the end result - but I don't think we will be "upcycling" another bike anytime soon :)

- J x

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Moving out of Home | How to Stay Tidy!

Moving out of home is a very exciting, liberating time for many young people. No longer under their parents watch, they can do what they want, when they want and how they want! Don't want to make the bed? Don't worry about it. Can't be bothered doing the dishes? Who cares! Why did our parents want our rooms so tidy when, lets be honest, nobody sees them during the day anyway?!

When I was at home, I could never understand why my parents kept our house so clean and insisted we make the bed each morning. I was so excited to move out for a number of reasons, but one of them was so that I could leave my house however I wanted without the nagging from my parents.

Having lived out of home for over 2 years now, I have come to realise that Mum and Dad might have been on to something and I find myself getting annoyed when the house is untidy - who would have thought!

Over the years, I have learnt that getting into good routines will mean the house stays tidier and there is less work to do on the weekends! Obviously things don't always go to plan, and there are still some weeks where I just cannot be bothered! But believe me, you will be thankful in the long run.

I wanted to share with you some of the strategies / routines I use at home. You can employ these in your house whether you are living with your partner or especially if you are living with friends!

 

image from pinterest

Do the dishes straight away
Yes - a boring job I know! But wouldn't you rather wash a few dishes at a time rather than having to wash your whole dinner set?

you can find these at Woolworths here

This brush is definitely a must buy. It means you do not need to fill up the sink when you only have a few dishes to do as you put the detergent in to the handle.

image from pinterest

Do the washing every week
Again, you don't want a massive pile of dirty clothes to wash (and iron if you do!) I tend to wash my clothes throughout the week and whilst I am cleaning the house on the weekends, I will wash the towels, sheets etc. I still have no desire to iron, so my pile usually sits there for a week or so while I pick clothes out of there! I never said I was perfect :)

image from pinterest

Tidy the house throughout the week
Keeping the house tidy throughout the week will mean there is less to clean on the weekend! I tend to leave my major cleaning (vacuuming, washing the floors, cleaning the bathrooms etc) to the weekend as I have no time during the week, but if the house is tidy it takes no time on the weekend to complete these jobs.

image from pinterest

Clean every week
I know this is a job that can be put off because it is soooo boring, but if you clean every week it will be easier to keep the house tidy, and it will not take you as long when you do your big clean. I know that if I skip a week of cleaning, the next time I do it, it takes me twice as long and makes me regret not doing it the week before!

I hope this post inspires you to make your own cleaning routines - and has maybe helped you realise your parents might have been on to something!

- J x

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