Curating and Culling My Handmade Dresses

 A few posts ago I mentioned I wanted to get rid of some of my handmade dresses.  There's really some problems with several of them and I'm on the fence about whether to keep or toss a few.  So here is a collection of my dresses and what my current thoughts on them are!

I actually forgot to include this dress.  I'm keeping it though!

I decided to take photos of them all and list what I love and hate about them, and think about how I feel when I wear them.

I took photos of the front and back of each piece and included a photo of myself wearing it.  

Purple Gingham JSK (made for a school project)

What I love about it:
💖Nice for casual wear
💖 Comfortable
💖 Reminds me of good times
💖 Can twin with my teddy bear (she has one too)

What I hate about it:
💔Back is rather plain

What I decided: Keep it! 💖

Pearls and Perfumes JSK

What I love about it:
💖Love the print!
💖Pearl detail I added
💖Casual wear

What I hate about it:
💔Torso is ill-fitting
💔Skirt is a bit too short (requires underskirt)
💔Construction is poor!
💔Chest detail doesn't look how I envisioned

What I decided: This seems to be a case of "the vision was there, but the execution was not" and I'm still on the fence about it... What do you think?

Military Detail Punky JSK

What I love about it:
💖Love the print!!!
💖Love the trim!
💖Love the buttons!
💖Love the slightly shimmery black fabric!
💖IT'S GOT A POCKET (the mannequin arm is in it)
💖Nice casual dress

What I hate about it:
💔The waist ties are a bit thick and bulky because I made them double-sided with the fashion fabric instead of using a thinner fabric for one layer

What I decided: I'm keeping this one for sure!  I actually like this a lot.  I also didn't remember I put loops on the back for ribbons to do a corset-style back 😹I need to find some white ribbon!

Mermaid JSK

What I love about it:
💖The lace! It was very expensive imported lace
💖The print
💖The fit

What I hate about it:
💔Skirt is too short and doesn't flow well into the underskirt if I wear one
💔Torso is incredibly plain and boring

💔Back is also plain and boring

What I decided: Haha I haven't decided.  I'm leaning towards getting rid of it because I don't feel cute in it, but I also feel like if I could just decorate the torso it would be better?  The "step" between the skirt and underskirt bothers me too.... Does anybody have any ideas?

Blue gingham JSK

What I love about it:
💖Casual wear

💖Reminds me of happy times because I made this for a Pokemon-themed Lolita meetup

💖Open front

💖Comfortable

What I hate about it:
💔I didn't interface the scallops so they are a bit floppy

What I decided: I'll keep this one!  The Forest Song underskirt looks nice with this I think (better than the underskirt I made myself)

Forest Friends JSK

What I love about it:

💖The print!

💖I pattern-matched the dress

What I hate about it:
💔The zipper/opening is ugly

💔The skirt strips flip over easily (I should have added reinforcement to the hem)

💔The straps are INCREDIBLY ugly!!

What I decided: This is the ultimate "idea was there, execution was not" dress.  I didn't think through the whole construction process before starting and that's why the zipper is upside down and in the center back rather than being in the side where it'd be better hidden.  I think it looks fine on, but ultimately I just hate how many flaws there are so I'll be getting rid of this.

Red Punk Skirt

What I love about it:

💖The print!

💖The scallops

💖The lace

💖The fit

What I hate about it:

💔Not really a hate, but the zipper is kind of backwards. In the photo you can see the hook tab is left-over-right, but the zipper cover side is right-over-left 😹

What I decided: Definitely keeping it!

Pink Punky Skirt

What I love about it:

💖The print!

💖The lace!

💖The fit

What I hate about it:

💔Fully-elastic waistband

What I decided: I'm keeping it!  It's a good comfy-casual skirt, even if I find the waistband a bit bulky.  Yes, I got this same fabric in three colors 😹

Fully Elastic Tartan JSK

What I love about it:

💖Very comfortable because it's fully elastic

💖Casual wear

What I hate about it:

💔I don't think I look particularly good in full-elastic top.... there isn't even a photo of me wearing it because it would require scrolling back YEARS

💔The inner fabric of the skirt is actually spare printed fabric I had that I flipped around

What I decided: Uh... I didn't decide yet 😹Maybe I should wear it today? It does require more pressing/steaming due to all the ruffled layers.  I think I need to wear it again before truly deciding.

Bunny Tea Party JSK

What I love about it:
💖The print!!!!!
💖The scallops on the top
💖The fit
💖Looks so cute on!

What I hate about it:
💔I CAN'T GET IT OFF!!!  You can see that it is half-elastic in the back, but I used a strong elastic and NO side zip opening so getting it off is a STRUGGLE every time and that makes me not want to wear it.
💔The scallops are not interfaced so they're really floppy and not nice.

What I decided: I think I'm actually going to get rid of it... As much as I love this fabric, which I got in a group order with friends, the process of getting it on and, most importantly, off, is just too frustrating.  I'm really sad about that to be honest.

WHEW that was a long post!  Thanks to everybody who stuck through!  I need to curate the rest of my closet as well to prepare for more shopping later this year 😈

How often do you do a closet cleanout?  Do you donate your clothes, recycle them, or sell them?

I think as fashionistas, we need to keep in mind what is practical for us to keep, and what we should let go of. 

 

In that vein, I personally feel it's important to buy quality clothes that can last a long time and try to avoid microplastics so as to not add to the pollution in the world.  Of course, there is no way to be "perfect" in this sense, so don't put too much pressure on yourself.  The balance between being environmentally-conscious (e.g., fast fashion, clothing care) and self-expression should be maintained!