So here's the deal: Over the last year, I've gained some weight. I've always been super duper skinny, so this weight gain has not been a bad thing. I feel better about my body now and it's easier for me to find grown-up clothes to fit me in stores. I'm not sure why I've suddenly been able to gain weight when it was always a struggle in the past, but I think it's partly just getting older and losing that youthful metabolism. I also had a serious intestinal infection at the end of 2013 that caused me to lose a lot of weight (I got to under 100 lbs for the first time since middle school, it was horrifying). Once I got over that infection I got to work putting on the weight I lost and ended up putting on an extra 10-15 lbs over what I lost.
So while I'm not unhappy with the shape of my body, I am irritated that so many of my clothes no longer fit. I had a recent panic the morning of the 17th realizing that I didn't have anything that was clean, green, work appropriate, AND fit me. St. Patrick's Day sneaks up on me every damn year. I finally just wore a dress that is definitely too small, but with a blazer over it and thick fleece-lined tights underneath it was passable for work. It's a good thing the over-layer of this dress is so poofy that it hid the fact that it was too small, but the built-in slip was tiny and riding up all day, and it was really tight around my arms.
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| That is not where the elastic waist is supposed to hit. And ignore my goofy face, this pic was intended for my mom. |
I'm going to have to go through my closet and try everything on. I'm not really looking forward to it, because I love my clothes. And the bigger issue- I don't know how I'm going to replace everything I get rid of. Now, I know that I have WAY TOO MANY clothes so I could definitely do with culling the herd (so to speak), but I'm still going to have to have something to wear. I'm guessing roughly half of my closet isn't going to fit. I can't keep wearing the same 3 pairs of pants and handful of tops to work.
But I'm not sure if my weight has plateaued yet, and I'm still living on a small-town librarian's salary. I don't want to spend tons of money on a new wardrobe, especially if it's not going to fit me in a year. I am willing to put out the money for a new business suit to wear for potential job interviews, but what about day dresses or new blouses? I've decided to take a page from the ReFashionista's playbook. I'm going to hit up garage sales and Goodwills, looking for those articles of clothing that may be way too big or way too old-fashioned, but that are made from fun fabrics or have hidden potential. If she can do it, I can do it. I was on the fence about giving this project a try, but then I watched a talk Jillian gave about refashioning. During the talk she said something along the line of "What are you afraid of? That you're going to ruin an ugly $1 thrift store dress?" She was exactly right, I had avoided refashioning in the past because I was worried I would screw it up. That was when I got the urge to finally fix those embroidered jeans, since I figured the worst that would happen was that I would end up with a pair of jeans I couldn't wear. Since they were already a pair of jeans I wouldn't wear, I really had nothing to lose. And they turned out great! I can't wait to give this project a try.
But of course, I am going to wait, because I'm currently starring in a play* and I just don't think I'll have the time to dedicate to thrift-store perusing and clothes refashioning for a few weeks yet.
*If you're in the Chicagoland area in April, come see Made of Stars at Bolingbrook's Theater-on-the-Hill. Abby, this is a hint. Coooommme tooooooo Chiiiiiiicaaaagoooo foooor myyyyy plaaaaay...
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