Last week, on a whim; I randomly decided to mini-wardrobe-challenge myself to wear this khaki/olive suede tee for one whole week, styling it differently each day … I’d made it five years ago! back in 2014 and it’s been such a great versatile piece! It’s mostly a winter-y sort of a thing to wear, though it’s quite nice to pop on for a half-warm but not hot day. A transitional piece, is what the cool kids of fashion would say, yeah. Although, what am I talking about?? I’m the cool kid, well I can dub myself so here in the realm of my own funny little blog at least, anyway! #imtheONLYkid
So yeah, I made this 5 yrs ago, using Burda 10/2009;121 and a very realistic dark olive green suedette that I bought in Tokyo during a holiday there; original post is here. I remember Yoshimi bought the same stuff in pale pink at the same time, and made herself a top too. I’ve worn my own top lots over the past five years, ‘cos it pretty much went with everything I own, though I still did develop favourite ensembles with it. One of those I included in my previous 6-different ways post, with my terracotta skirt! but I decided it would be sorta cheating to include that outfit in with this six too. Although it totally should be here too really, because it still ranks amongst my favourites for this year.
Anyway! without further chitchat! I made every item of clothing I’m wearing in the following pictures, with the exception of my shoes. All items are linked to their original construction post.
Below left: worn with my over-dyed Nettie tee, sage green wool tweed skirt, and my self-designed chenille scarf and black tights; and my old black booties. I love love LOVE the olive green and raspberry colour combination together… Need to establish more opportunities for such in Ye Olde Wardrobe….
Below right; worn with an ivory wool Nettie tee, my purple Jade miniskirt, ivory hand knit möbius scarf, black tights, and my beloved motorcycle boots. I guess purple is basically a variation on raspberry, because the olive/purple colour combo similarly speaks to my soul too! Sadly this little skirt bit the dust last year too…
Below left; proving that chambray goes with everything. I wore this outfit on a warmish day during my recent Week of the Olive Suede Top. My blue chambray shirt is an oldie but a goodie, and the little blue denim skirt is another staple. Also wearing unseen sockettes made by moi.
Below right; with my over-dyed Nettie tee, my once yellow, over-dyed corduroy skirt, a scarf knitted by Mum – oh, ok, there is one item of clothing not made by me! – my over-dyed khaki leggings, and hand knit socks. And my favourite desert boots.
Below left; This is my outfit from just yesterday, an unexpectedly very wintery day. Worn with my mustard merino Nettie, my outback wife barkcloth skirt, hand knit mustard cowl, black tights, and my mustard raincoat. Did I mention that olive green and mustard is another favourite colour combination?! Maybe I should amend that to say, olive green and anything?
Below right; I paired the olive green top pretty frequently with white, black to black-and-white combinations; all of which it looked pretty good with, I thought, lending warmth and life to the general colourless-ness, however chic said colourless-ness may be! I picked this outfit for this post though, because it was one of the few times I tried belting the tunic. I actually like it a lot belted; slightly 80s-inspired in a look that makes me nostalgic, in a good way. I think I should have done this more often I think!
Worn with my Eve dress, black tights. and the lovely suede booties Craig bought for my last birthday…
So! Sadly, the tunic has pretty much done its dash now… while the fabric seemed reasonably sturdy it actually was not; and over years of use it eventually developed a few holes from rubbing and little tears, particular around the side splits and the underarm area. I haven’t actually tossed it out, but I may think about repurposing the fabric for something else sometime. Because I still really really love the fabric!
I’ve loved this skirt so much! but it’s been worn and worn and worn and the placky-dack fabric got so crazed and brittle in places towards the end there, I’ve finally been forced, forced I say! to bid it adieu; because my husband was like, that skirt is AWFUL. And I had to sadly admit; dear, thou speaketh the truth.
So, I made these cropped trousers last year, using the Closet Case Patterns Sasha trousers pattern, and a khaki/grey stretch gabardine from Fabulous Fabrics; and they have been heavily worn over the past year, so heavily in fact that they have reached the ecologically recommended magic number of thirty wears in less than one year’s residence in my wardrobe! That’s pretty amazing, I think! It’s funny to me, because I actually wasn’t 100% keen on them when I first made them; thinking the fabric was a tad on the thin and plasticky side. I liked my blue version more, in a more satisfyingly heftier-weight fabric. However! I just wore them and wore them and WORE THEM! The fabric was very comfortable, but I think never destined for a long life; by the end of it they were getting quite stretched out but I forced them into just a coupla extra wears more than they should have had, just so I could say they got up to that magic number 30. I don’t know if it’s just me, but that 30 wears thing? has totally guilt-tripped me into being unable to even think of tossing a thing out, unless I can be quite sure it’s had that number of wears. I know, seems like such a good idea, ecologically sound and all that, but feels little silly in execution?! Mmm-hmm!
So, this is one of the things Craig picked out during our 
During another of my sometimes brutal wardrobe clean outs, I parted ways with this little purple skirt… I have to admit it was a little gut-wrenching to get rid of this one because it had only been in existence for one sad little winter, albeit a glorious one, since I wore it at least once every week! Aah! little purple mini skirt, the light that burns twice as bright burns but half as long… and your light has burned so very very bright… *
just felt vaguely frumpy in them and peeled them off straight away. I’m just not feeling this style any more, feel like it’s becoming a little bit dated. Is it just me, or are skinny jeans appearing decidedly passé right now? Anyway; OUT THEY GO!!! Well… maybe just to the time-out box for a while. I have this box you see, that I chuck doubtful clothes into, and in a few months or a year or so I’ll check them out to see if it’s easier to make a decision then. Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I even have that box since it’s a kind of hoarder-ish thing to have and really nine times out of ten the items within get the flick! but for the one item that gets a reprieve I’ve always been glad I kept it after all. Sometimes, you and your clothing just need a bit of a break from each other. A trial separation. A conscious uncoupling, with the door open to re-coupling. Yeah. *madly justifying hoarding tendencies to oneself*
I found this post in my drafts, and came thisclose to deleting it but then hesitated… see, I stopped writing these 6 different ways posts because I started to worry they were boring
I discovered it looked really good when worn over a longer sleeved Tshirt, like as a tunic, and this became my most preferred way to wear it.
