Just for funsies, I decided to take part in the 10×10 challenge, brainchild of Lee Vosburgh of Style Bee and co-hosted by Caroline of Un-fancy … the idea is that you select ten items of clothing that you will wear for the next ten days. I just heard about this cool challenge recently, apparently it’s been a big thing in the fashion blogging world for years! I thought it sound like fun, a good way to explore the versatility of your wardrobe, and not something that’s totally outside the realm of what us sewing bloggers do for me-made May and One Week One Pattern, my own 6 different ways roundups that I do, and other little wardrobe challenges that are sweet little diversions in the serious business of getting dressed… 
Technically, this round is called the Fall 10×10 but of course it is Spring time for us southern hemisphere-ers. I checked out our weather forecast and glumly noted that it was going to be all over the shop; we were expecting everything from a cold 18C roaring up to 31C in my ten day quota. So weather versatility was absolutely key!
I chose for my ten items; 1 dress, 4 tops, 2 skirts, 1 jacket, 1 pr winter boots and 1 pr oxford shoes; all navy blue and white, toasty brown and orange and my acid-yellow dress. I made everything except for my black boots. Yes, I could have chosen my own handmade black boots, but I really love my rtw ones so I plumped for those instead.
From left to right, and all items are linked back to the original construction post. The number in brackets after each item is the number of times it got worn during the 10 days of the challenge:
- blue and white check shirt … Burda 7767 I originally made this shirt for Tim; he recently did a wardrobe cleanout and lobbed it back to me. Score! (1)
- plain white Tshirt with navy blue edging ….Closet Case Nettie (5)
- tobacco brown silk blouse … MN Sudley (2)
- navy blue suedette blouse … MN Dove (2)
- navy gingham cropped jacket … Burda 10/2009/108 (3)
- terracotta pleather skirt … MN Axel (3)
- navy blue mini … Vogue 1247 (5)
- acid yellow dress … Vogue 1316 (2)
- rtw black boots, Roberto del Carlo, from Zomp shoes (6)
- my handmade white oxford shoes (4)
Accessories like bags, hats, umbrella, hosiery, jewellery and scarves aren’t counted in your 10 pieces… which is awesome because when you want, nay NEED tights and scarves so you don’t freeze to death, being able to add those things to the ten items helps a TONNE!!
SO! My outfits for the ten days…
Thoughts:
I did thoroughly enjoy planning my 10-piece mini-wardrobe… I LOVED my colour scheme and I really love all the pieces I picked and how well they worked together. I even enjoyed wearing my outfits for like, the first five days or so. After that I was kinda like; I wanna wear something different noooooow! inwardly whining like a spoilt little brat. I mean, I loved all of my combinations, but once I’d imagined them all in my head, then it felt like a bit of an anticlimax to actually wear them. I suppose I like a bit of surprise and spontaneity when it comes to getting dressed each morning.
On the plus side, there was no need for agonising “what to wear?!” and I could just toss on one of my outfits happily without worrying about it anymore. I did like the mix-and-matchability of my choices, was pleased it catered for both casual and nice-ish, and was a little sad I didn’t get to wear some of my planned combos due to weather unsuitability.
Several remarked on IG that it didn’t look like many clothes… it’s not! 10 pieces really is quite a challenging restriction. Laundry alone… well yes that’s an obvious issue too. I had to do several random “spring-cleaning” washes, just so I could toss in some of my 10×10 items that needed to be worn on consecutive and near-consecutive days. I guess that’s not a bad thing though, hehe; all my cushion covers and beach towels are fresh and sparkling ready for spring!
Only having two pairs of shoes was kinda difficult too. My feet often start to hurt a bit if I wear the same pair of shoes too many days in a row … and even though these boots and shoes are both very comfortable, I find that even with the most comfortable of shoes, I still need to mix it up every few days for my feet to really be happy little vegemites. Exception to this rule: thongs aka flip-flops but sadly it’s still too cold to wear thongs on the regular. On that note… COME ON SUMMER!! oh please excuse me, didn’t mean to shout. Oh, ok then, I did. Like everyone in Perth, I can’t stop whinging about the awfully cold and wet spring we’re having and everyone’s desperate for some more summery weather. We keep getting little tastes of totally glorious sunshine-y warmth but then it reverts back to cold and rainy again. Booooo!
So, will I do a 10×10 again? Maybe. Maybe not. I’m moaning here a bit, picking out all the negatives, but it was a fun diversion, really. It’s always a good exercise to explore the possibilities of a restricted wardrobe for a little while. Almost like a little mini-travel wardrobe! Oh, except without the fun, actual travelling part, of course, haha.
All said and done, I enjoyed it. I’ll see how I feel about it when the next one rolls around.
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