Urban Self Sufficiency NZ

These are the general principles that I’ve worked out over time that have made sewing and maintaining a capsule wardrobe for myself and the kids SOOOO much easier!

A capsule wardrobe is one with minimal but cohesive items where every single top can be worn with every single bottom. There are no hard rules on the number of items in the capsule wardrobe as this really depends on your lifestyle, but the point is to have as few items as possible, with every item being able to be used in many different ways to create many different outfits.

The fun thing about the NZ climate is that because we get up to 4 seasons in a day, you can never really pack away the winter clothing in summer, so the wardrobe really needs to be multi-seasonal. Hence why we don’t have separate summer / winter wardrobes.

Of course I’m not 100% strict on all of these principles, but they have made my decision making easier, as well as the wardrobes less stressful. It makes it much easier to buy fabrics and patterns, and takes away some of the overwhelm and decision fatigue.

Tops are plain colours. Sometimes I do break this one slightly if it’s a plain subtle pattern or basic stripes that won’t interfere with point number 2 below.

Pants / dresses / dungarees are where we add patterns. This just means that there won’t be clashing top / bottom patterns. The main reason we have gone for plain tops and patterned bottoms rather than the other way around is because most of our tops are merino. Merino only really comes in plain colours, so it’s easier to just keep all tops plain colours.

Colours are all coordinated. This has actually helped keep my fabric stash low too because all clothing for everyone is sewn across the same palette. Hubby and I are both autumns, and love the earthy vibe, so it just made sense to stick to autumn tones for the kids clothes too. I 100% recommend finding out what your colours are. I used to think that was a bit silly, but honestly, it’s given me so much more confidence wearing items that actually suit me. It’s also stopped me not liking items after a few wears when I realise that they’re ‘not me’.

Tops are knit fabric. I just find layering is so much easier when we use knit fabric tops. The exception to this is jackets and button up shirts for my son (because boys don’t get much else ‘cute’ pattern-wise)

Pick classic / timeless sewing patterns. And patterns that are good basics that can be layered with things. Patterns that won’t go out of fashion, and that you’ll use again and again. It also makes the cost of the pattern more worthwhile.

All clothing is suited to layering. Except for obviously outer-wear. This mean no tops that can’t have a jacket or jersey worn over them. eg. no bat-wing tops.

No woven fabric for non-walking babies. Except for the outer layer and waterproof pants for crawling. Knit fabrics just sit better on babies.

Woven bottoms or synthetic fabric bottoms only for kids over 2yo. This is more to help stop the bottoms wearing out too quickly. Purely practical, not aesthetic reasons.

To keep things exciting for the kids, undies get the cool non-timeless vinyl shapes that the kids are into at the time (dinosaurs, diggers, mermaids etc) ironed on.

Let me know if you have any questions on the principles in the comments below! Or do you have your own set of principles you follow for sewing capsule wardrobes?