a small challenge for myself

Ivan and I talk a lot about how we want to become more self sustaining and minimize the amount of things that we need to buy. We have been baking our own bread, brewing our own beer, preparing for a big garden this summer, eating at home as much as possible, looking into making our own soap, shampoo, etc.

But then, you know, I see some shoes online or an amazing dress that I feel like I need to have and all of those thoughts of minimizing consumerism kind of get thrown out the window for five minutes while I am making my purchase. This is something that I really want to change about myself. I don't need (and quite frankly, can't afford) to buy everything that I like.

I do love to add new things to my wardrobe but I will be doing it in a different way. Some of you may have heard me mention on Instagram a few weeks back that I made myself a dress. I have tons of fabric and tons of vintage patterns so why the heck have I been buying clothes?

I have decided to set a little challenge for myself not to spend any money on clothes or shoes unless it is an absolute necessity. For example, if an underwear bandit breaks into my house and steals all my undies I will probably have to restock. I feel like I will be able to do ok as I really do have a lot of clothes already in my closet and I am able to make a lot of things by using patterns and fabric I already have.

For my first project I decided to make myself a dress. I used this pattern:

And this fabric that I have been hoarding forever.

The only change I made to this pattern was to eliminate the zipper. This fabric has a bit of stretch to it so that I am able to easily pull it on over my head.

And just because I want to make this "not buying things" thing more fun I have decided to show you three different ways that I styled my dress based on different colour schemes because, let's be honest, I think about my outfits in terms of colour all the time.

:: necklace, c/o Dapper Toad :: belt, thrifted :: socks, Mom gift :: shoes, c/o Blowfish ::

:: scarf, vintage :: brooch, thrifted :: tights, mall :: shoes c/o Blowfish (last year) ::

:: glasses, Warby Parker :: cardigan c/o ModCloth :: necklace c/o Paper Sparrow :: belt, thrifted :: tights, Walmart :: shoes c/o ModCloth ::

I am really happy with my new dress and can't wait to make more things to free up some space in my fabric containers!

To be honest, I actually kind of feel like I'm cheating a little bit with this challenge because 1. I get a few c/o items here and there and 2. I am a mega hoarder and probably already have enough fabric to make myself clothing for the rest of my life. Realistically I'm sure there will be things that I buy just because they would be too much of a pain in the butt to make. I guess my main goal is just to think a little more before I spend.

I have been doing this for a few weeks already without any issues. Although...I have been avoiding thrift stores because it is really hard to turn down amazing thrift finds.

♥elycia