Designing a CAPSULE WARDROBE

Rachel Pinheiro

Brazilian-born sewing blogger, Rachel Pinheiro shares how to create your own capsule wardrobe

My favourite part of making my own clothes is the planning, and imagining the final result, and which elements will make me joyfully exclaim “This garment is so me!” To help you on your journey, I’ve broken down some of the key principles of the design concept that you will need to consider:

Silhouettes

Silhouettes provide the first impact when people look at what you’re wearing from afar.

Lines

These are used to emphasize or conceal your body shape, such as seams. These direct our gaze and provide the tone. Does the garment promote the idea of femininity and flexible with curves or rigidity and strength?

Repetition

Simple things like distance between buttons can often improve a design’s aesthetics.

Graduation or radiation

Does the main design feature increase, decrease lines, shapes, colours, or textures from the centre? Is your eye drawn towards a particular area of a design?

Volume and texture

It’s important to choose the right fabrics both for sewing and to the touch. The way fabric behaves when sewn and manipulated takes a little time to learn.

Contrast

Challenge expectations on the focus areas. For example, a jacket that has sleeves could be transferred into a cape or a relaxed look using traditional menswear tweeds.

Harmony

This relates to the overall look of your garment, and how other elements such as shoes and accessories bring the whole look together to create a well designed outfit.

Balance

Symmetry and vertical balance such as mirroring – lapels, pockets and buttons; horizontal such as top or bottom heavy all provide symmetry.

Proportion

Look at how separate elements work together as a whole.

Each person’s body will have its weight differently distributed creating unique proportions.

The most common proportions in terms of body type are pear shape, hourglass, apple etc. Those visual representations often reflect a silhouette. Use those design lines to highlight your favourite body parts.

Matching your lifestyle

Above are some basic principles of fashion design to consider when designing your clothes but these won’t mean anything if the clothes you make don’t match your lifestyle.

It can take a little time to define the ‘formula’ that creates ‘you’. Have fun exploring when shopping and see how your favourite garment is cut, how it behaves on your body, and how comfortable it is.

What I love the most about sewing my own wardrobe is the ability to mix known design elements in a manner that feels authentic to my style.

When looking at a pattern try to separate the elements such as bodice, skirt, sleeve and neck-line, to explore the individual design possibilities.

With just a few small basic alterations such as hem height, neckline placement or changing from semi-fitted to fitted – you can transform a ‘meh’ outfit to a ‘wow!’

COLOUR

Colour plays an important influencer, and creating an interesting palette that suits your personality and lifestyle. It’s a fun part of planning your handmade wardrobe. Use your gut instinct and think about the hue that represents how light or dark a colour is, as well as saturation, which is the intensity of a colour.