Hey there, here for another Capsule Wardrobe project. I’m really liking these. Everyone
has different tastes, lives in different climates,
and has different needs. So far it’s been really fun and interesting to work all of
those threads together into one cohesive wardrobe plan. So, let’s get started.
This capsule has a very practical daily-wear purpose, but with a few limitations.
It was designed for Kenzie, who quite likes layered looks, and particularly likes 1910’s
Titanic Fashion, which, yes, those people were great at elegant layered looks. However, Kenzie
lives in Texas, which is pretty hot year-round, so the challenge is how to make a layered look
that is still very lightweight and comfortable to wear. The other limitation is that Kenzie
needs to wear compression socks or tights, so she wants her wardrobe to mostly be comprised of
ankle-length skirts and pants to cover the socks. This led me to visualize a wardrobe really leaning
in on the long-line effect of the 1910’s, with more narrow skirts, and long, lightweight layering
pieces. Kenzie is more of a beginner sewer, so I wanted each piece to be relatively simple to
fit and sew. For other inspirations, Kenzie sent me pictures of pants and skirts she liked, and
a selection of tops. She does like clothes that button up, and she especially likes buttons off
to the side and other asymmetrical details, which can work well with the 1910’s style. Other things
we noted, she liked these ruffly blouses, but she was concerned by how complex something like
that would be to actually make. She sent me this modern dress, and this little caplet idea, hoping
we could work both in. And she sent me these three color palettes, which gave me the idea that she
generally likes neutral summer earth-tones, with pops of color in blues and greens and pale pinks.
So, starting from the ground up, Kenzie wants to stick with a modern silhouette, which honestly,
I’m in favor of. Making historybounding clothing to be specifically worn with
historical underpinnings is a huge commitment, and I feel like it’s a great idea to get a practical
wardrobe together first, before experimenting with silhouettes. Did I do that? No. But I
will be working towards that goal in the future. So for the initial design sketches, I didn’t feel
like I had a solid grasp on what the 12 pieces should be. There were a lot of inspiration photos,
plus other ideas I came up with drawn from the 1910’s inspiration. I wasn’t sure what pieces
were most important to Kenzie, and what we wanted to be sure to include. I was also struggling to
combine some of the 1910’s inspired pieces with the modern pieces. So I drew a lot more
sketches than would end up actually making the cut, so that Kenzie could see them all together
and let me know her thoughts before I started digitizing. But the general idea was that we
divide the capsule into 4 bottoms, 4 tops, and 4 layering pieces. 2 of the bottoms would be skirts,
2 would be pants. With the tops, I tried to disperse sleeve lengths, keeping in mind how
the necklines would look beneath the layering pieces, which I planned on making more V-shaped.
And for the layering pieces, I thought maybe 1 dress, a combination of the modern dress and this
1910’s dress. I thought maybe we’d do 2 layering vests, long, lightweight, sleeveless pieces that
would serve a much more aesthetic function than one of practicality, which is perfectly alright
and something historical clothing taught me to appreciate, simple wardrobe additions for
building variety into your preexisting outfits. And the final piece would be some sort of coverup,
and I was debating between the little hooded caplet, and a lightweight Edwardian style jacket.
The blue stared pieces are the ones we decided to start with, so I got to digitizing.
Here are some of the initial designs I sent Kenzie, and there wasn’t really that much she
wanted to adjust. She liked the general colors I went with, and she hopes that since some of the
colors and pieces are so basic, she might be able to find similar alternatives to buy, instead of
having to sew all twelve pieces from scratch. She didn’t care for the color of the dress,
and I realized that since it didn’t need to match the pants or the skirts,
it really only needed to work with blue and green. So I sent her a whole bunch of color options,
and she went with a pale blush pink. And then for the coverup, even though she
liked the caplet on its own, she realized that it didn’t go well with the general aesthetic of the
other pieces, which is good, that’s part of the point of this exercise. So that people don’t—like
me—waste time sewing really cool one-off pieces that are hard to integrate and actually wear.
So we decided to nix the caplet and instead go with a lightweight jacket,
based off of the 1910’s images again, with a contrast collar and cuffs and maybe some
simple embroidery, if Kenzie feels so inclined. One thing I do want to clarify: I drew all of
these pieces very close fitting, and a lot of them I drew tucked in and the waist accentuated
with a belt of matching gathered sash. I don’t actually mean for these pieces to all be that
fitted. I see them a bit looser, but for the sake of digitizing the layers to work with each other,
the silhouettes needed to match up. But this is an important distinction for comfort. Nice,
comfy, loose fitting tunics and blouses could be worn untucked when home alone, but tucked in
or cinched in with the belt if going about in public and wanting to look more put-together.
Looser fitting tops will also be easier to sew than tight fitting ones,
and if they are made to be tucked in or belted, no one will know the difference.
So, I’d like to go through the final twelve pieces we settled on,
and my fabric recommendations for each. This is not counting the modern underwear, or the socks,
or the shoes, or the belt and sash I used with some of the outfits.
First, let’s go through the bottoms. For the buttoned-up sailor pants, you could use a nice
neutral linen, but I sort of feel they’d be better as a cotton, a bottom weight or twill
or something that will hold shape, since these pants are slightly more fitted and sleek looking.
Then there is a pair of pants in a darker olive. These pants are wide and flowing,
and I would use something with a great drape. They would be very comfortable in a lightweight knit,
rayon if you could find it. Something to watch for though, would be to make sure any heavier shirt
tucked in didn’t show through a too thin knit. If you didn’t want to use knit, at least make
sure the fabric you choose has a heavier drape, so all of the folds of the pants flow nicely.
The next bottom is a simple maxi skirt. I gave it a small green pattern. For fabric, my thoughts
are basically the same as the olive pants. I think knit would be nice and something with a good drape
is essential. Of all of the polyester fabrics I’ve stopped using, chiffon is one I keep going
back to. Poly chiffon doesn’t feel that bad, and maybe because it’s so thin it doesn’t make me as
hot. The main reason I love it is because of the drape, but you do have to use a lining with it,
so on second thought, maybe not for this skirt. The final bottom piece is a side-buttoned
skirt in indigo. I think this piece would be excellent in linen, or maybe a cotton chambray?
The buttons would also be practical too, because if it was particularly hot or you were home,
you could unbutton it below the knees or so and get a bit more airflow.
Next, the tops. The first top is a fairly simple off-white blouse, with 3/4 length gathered
sleeves, a squared neckline and side buttons. I drew all of the tops with side bust darts, but not
vertical darts. This is so they would be fitted at the bust, but loose below, for comfort and
flexibility, depending on how you wear them. The fabric for this could be a medium weight cotton,
or a medium weight linen. And I say medium weight for two reasons: whites tend to be more sheer,
and this has longer sleeves, so it would work for slightly cooler weather anyways.
The pale sage green top is similar, but with a back closure and a smooth front. The gathered
sleeves have been replaced with a little ruffle, which is a dainty way to cover the shoulders from
sun exposure without wearing actual sleeves. This one would also be great in lightweight cotton,
but I definitely see it as a linen. This will be a very linen-heavy capsule. Which might technically
be overdoing it, but I’ve never been to Texas, and Illinois is currently in the middle of a two
week heat wave, where the phone says it’s in the 90’s, but then it factors in humidity and decides
it feels like 108 out. So… if I’m overdoing it on the heat consideration please feel free to ignore.
The next top will be a bit of a longer tunic, made from the same fabric as the maxi skirt,
so they have matching prints. It has a bit of contrast at the neckline,
which maybe is unnecessary, I just thought it helped to break up the print, especially when
the printed top and skirt are paired together. The sleeves are more fitted, however, so if
you end up not using a knit for this top, I’d recommend making them a bit looser than pictured.
Maybe even short and gathered if you’d prefer. And the final top is a blouse. Kenzie did like
blouses, but she was intimidated by all the ruffles, so I went more with the vibes of the
shirtwaists beneath so many 1910’s getups. It has a high collar and sleeves, fitted, but made from
lace, which should help with the airflow. The rest of the blouse is gathered into the neckline. For
the body of the blouse, I did love the idea of it being lace too, but then you wouldn’t really
be able to wear it by itself, unless you always wore a tank-top beneath, so maybe instead the top
is a lightweight cotton or linen, such as cotton lawn. Something just heavy enough not to be sheer.
Then for the final pieces, let’s start with the pink dress. It crosses in the front and
has a wrapped skirt with two buttons at the base, which would function like a kilt pin, to keep them
from flying up in the breeze. Of course, you could leave them unbuttoned if you wanted more breeze.
The V-neckline will be good whenever the dress is worn over another top with a squared neck. This
one I definitely see as linen, and not super lightweight. Something with a bit more body,
so the overlaps and peaks and pockets hold their shape. If you needed to use cotton,
I’d recommend something a bit heavier weight, for the same reason.
Next we have the two vests. One is green, with an open front and rows of decorative buttons.
Referencing the sheer layers of Titanic dresses, I’ve digitized it to be sheer,
and something super lightweight but with a nice drape would be ideal. Actually,
silk chiffon would be perfect, but that’s not within everyone’s budget. So poly chiffon would
work, and maybe some lightweight cottons. The other vest is in a cool blue, made of
a similar fabric. This piece would have a deep V-neck, gathering into a waistband which could
latch with a frog closure. The hemline angles down, and the peaks are tipped with tassels,
to help weigh them down. You could skip the tassels, but then the peaks might
not show as well, especially on a windy day. And for the final piece, we have the lightweight
jacket. This one could be a heavier linen, or maybe even a lightweight wool, if you are
confident enough to invest in wool. A quality lightweight wool is often extremely soft and
I can see it working well for the brief winters in Texas. I do like that, because the jacket has
the same waist as most of the other pieces, you could wear the belt or sash overtop it as well.
It should also be noted that a lot of these pieces could be extrapolated from the same base patterns.
The four tops could all come from the same pattern. With these blouses, you would just need
to shorten or widen the sleeves, and relocate the closure. For the lace blouse, you’d need to bring
in the neckline and add width to the front for the gathers, plus find a collar pattern you like.
Skirt patterns are pretty easy, but for the pants you could start with a more fitted pattern,
then just widen it out for the olive pair. And the two vests could easily be the same pattern,
just changing the hemline, and gathering one into a waistband. So the only real challenging
pieces would be the dress and the jacket, which, fair enough. A little bit of challenge is good.
So here are the final combinations. On a hot summer day, Kenzie might choose her sage tank
top. She can pair it with any of her pants or skirts, depending on the weather and her plans
for the day. I quite love the olive pant pairing. It just looks really casual but classy to me.
On a cooler day, when she wants a little more coverage, Kenzie could pick her side-buttoned
shirt. It also works with all of the bottoms, but on an aesthetic level, I love it most with the
indigo skirt. I love the matching offset buttons, and it just looks really comfortable and casual.
Then we have the patterned tunic. Kenzie could tuck it in like the rest, or leave it untucked,
and have it contribute to that long-line effect. I think I like it best with the sailor pants,
since they are the lightest bottoms, and this is the darkest top. I think the colors
just contrast really well with each other. And finally we have the lace blouse. Not to
pat myself on the back too enthusiastically, but it’s a really great piece. It is white,
so the color won’t detract from anything it’s paired with, and the mix of textures would make
it really stand out. I love it with all of the bottoms, but paired with that patterned skirt,
especially with the green sash, it really shows the Edwardian/Titanic/Historybounding
vibes we were after. Now for the green vest, you can
layer it over a lot of pairings, to different effects. I like that you could cinch it in or
leave it hanging free. Again, these vests don’t serve a practical purpose, except they kind of do,
if you consider it practical to widen the range of outfits you can make out of an existing wardrobe.
The blue vest is slightly less versatile than the green, but I think that mostly comes down
to color. I really restricted the color palette, since when layered with the vests,
things had to combine three ways. The blue is alright with green,
and I think it would be better in real life, with contrasting textures playing off each other.
The pink dress is pretty versatile, for a dress. Because it is sleeveless, it works like a jumper
dress, and can be worn alone, or worn just as well with a blouse or shirt beneath, or one of
the vests overtop, or with the belt or sash. And the jacket, which covers most of the
tops it gets paired with. But that’s alright, since it is meant to be more
of a practical cool-weather piece anyways. And here it is, the complete wardrobe. If
you are on my patreon, this capsule will be uploaded in the original .ai format, and I’ve
also started uploading printable versions, for those who do not have access to adobe illustrator.
So, thanks for watching. I hope this gives Kenzie some useful, practical advice and direction when
she gets around to making her wardrobe. I expect that her plans will evolve as she
starts searching for pieces and fabric and sewing them, but I hope she now has a starting place.
And for the rest of the audience watching today, if you are interested in Edwardian
or Titanic era fashion, I hope this gave you some ideas for how the general style could be
incorporated into a Historybounding wardrobe, even without all the layers of underpinnings.
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