Maggie and her daughters would have worn simple, but well made, homemade clothes, and when they wore out they would have been repaired or the fabric recycled and made into something else. Few people repair their clothes today much less make them. In fact, the mass production of what is deemed fashionable can lead to much waste as cheaply made clothes, that do not wear well, get thrown out and replaced all too often. I myself have often had to buy what is affordable, rather than what is well made. Economy must be prioritized. But, in recent years I have discovered the value of investing in a few quality foundation pieces of clothing that fit well, and shopping for equally well made items at thrift stores and on eBay. These pieces are also ones that I take the time to repair. For more on repairing clothing, go to my Recycled Sewing page.

This quest for transitioning my wardrobe to well made clothes began in September 2022 when I got this flyer in the mail:

Wool& is a company that focuses on producing high quality, comfortable merino clothing for men and women. It is merino wool, so by most people’s standards, it is pricey. More money than I would ever pay for a dress. But, as I flipped through the flyer, I saw a note about their 100-Day Challenge. I read on. If you purchase a dress from them for full-price, and wear it for 100 consecutive days, you get $100 gift card at the end of it.

The challenge peaked my interest. Not necessarily for the gift card, but for the challenge of it. But, I set it aside. I’d never spent that much money on a piece of clothing before. I didn’t even pay that much for my wedding dress off eBay. But, I kept thinking about it and coming back to it in my mind. So, I decided to try it. I ordered a Garnet Summer dress. I chose it for the versatility, midi length, and cut. This particular dress is reversible, can be worn alone as a tank style, or layered for cold weather. The midi length was important to me as I don’t wear short dresses. I wanted something below the knee but didn’t want something so long that I couldn’t also wear it in summer. I wore this dress for 100-days through the fall and winter and I had such a good time! Below are a photos of some of my favorite outfits. Maybe you can get some styling ideas from some of my photos below.

I learned that I can create a myriad of outfits with what I already owned. I so enjoyed being forced to be creative and put new I’m outfits together. I took it as a personal challenge and actually never repeated an exact outfit for the whole 100-days. And my laundry dwindled to practically nothing. Wool is naturally antibacterial and so rarely needs to be washed just from regular wear. I spot cleaned it with dish soap for food spills or small soiled areas but in general, I probably only washed the dress ever 2-3 weeks. Granted I did my challenge in the fall/winter so I’m sure I would have washed it a little more frequently had I done a challenge in the summer, but the only laundry I did the entire challenge period was basically socks and underwear. The fact that it needs to be washed so infrequently means that it was great for traveling. I wore it to my in-laws for Thanksgiving which means I had a light suitcase for our holiday travels. I was able to mix up my outfits enough with just a few other pieces of clothing that my very observant mother-in-law never noticed that I was wearing the same dress over our visits at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

If you are intrigued, check out the Wool& Challenge Facebook group to lurk and find out more about capsule wardrobes, the advantages of traveling with wool, and styling options. I love my Wool& dress and even kept wearing it even after my 100 days were complete. Having some base wardrobe pieces makes getting dressed in the morning that much easier, and having a quality piece of clothing makes me feel beautiful and put together each day. My biggest surprise over the course of the challenge was learning that I really like the crew neck side of the reversible dress. I expected to almost exclusively wear the v-neck side of the dress when I bought it, but have actually found the exact opposite to be the case. I almost always wear low scoop necks or v-neck tops. This is a leftover from my nursing days and needed easy access while babywearing, so I guess I just got used to v-necklines, but I actually find that low crew necklines are very flattering on me and almost always wear that side of the dress.

If you’ve read this far and you are nervous to try a wool dress, don’t be. I actually have fiber allergies to silk, polyester, and some other synthetics. So, don’t be scared to try wool. This merino is not scratchy at all. It is soft and silky. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a piece of clothing that I truly love, but putting on my wool dress feels like a cozy hug to me.

January 2024 – Using what you have in your closet

I decided to complete a Wool& 30-Day Challenge this winter in Cerise Cora. I rarely wear pink but I think this color is so beautiful so I saved up my Christmas money to buy it! I’m taking it as a personal challenge to use just what I have in my wardrobe and see how many different outfits I can come up with. My outfits are catalogued below. Perhaps you can use them as inspiration.

Wool& Capsule Outfits with Mauve Cora – How many outfits can I make with four base pieces of clothing?

Summer 2024 – Traveling with Wool

We traveled over 5,000 miles this summer. Of course two of my wool dresses came with me. We traveled from the Northeast to Texas to the mountains of Colorado and then to Pennsylvania. My dresses travelled well, didn’t need to be washed the entire trip, and took me from 100 degree temperatures to mountain weather comfortably. This trip, I found one of my new favorite scarves to particularly useful not just from a fashion standpoint, but for comfort as well. Broadstreet Clothing is an all American made clothing brand that focuses on high-quality fabrics that wear well, are washable, and durable. I have two of their scarves and they were so useful to make my outfit feel put together, give me an extra layer of sun protection, add a layer when the weather was chilly, and give me something to snuggle up with for those long stretches in the car. I even used it to block the sun in my eyes so I could nap while my husband took a turn driving. It’s one of my favorite pieces now and even though I don’t wear pastels, I find these scarves to be surprisingly neutral in my wardrobe of jewel tones.

Wool& Travel Capsule Wardrobe – 5 days, 7 pieces of clothing plus pajamas

We traveled this year for Thanksgiving 2024. This a photo of my travel capsule. I was away for 5 days and brought the following items (from bottom right to left, counter clockwise):

• Black Merino blend slipper socks
• Levi stretch, boot cut blue jeans
• Segments merino wool long sleeved leafy green t-shirt
• Wool& Marionberry Melanie long-sleeved ruched tee
• Old Navy base layer merino blend leggings and cotton green t-shirt for pajamas
• Naot Helm leather and suede boots
• Wool& Marionberry Summer reversible dress
• Wool& Pine Hazel button up sweater
• Purple thrifted wool blend long cardigan
• Thrifted purple scarf
• Wool& Pine Natalia wrap top
• Crocodile Merino Snag Tights

From Capsule to Outfits:

Here are the outfits I came up with. I felt like I had variety and comfort for the trip. Hope you can gain some inspiration from the photos below.

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