A Spring Capsule

If you've been reading here for a while, you know that almost two years ago now, I started establishing a capsule wardrobe. I've blogged about it several times and have to say I've really loved this change in lifestyle. I've enjoyed not having so much stuff to contend with and so many choices to plod through each day. I've also enjoyed the blessing of focusing on things that work well together in so many different combinations. (I have a Pinterest board about it here...with my inspirations and all my previous posts on the subject.)

But in order to make that work, I've sacrificed a lot of color variety from my wardrobe. Most of my clothes are black, white, and gray, with a handful of blue and teal accents. I started to sort of miss the chance to wear different colors. I didn't want to abandon the capsule project, since so many things about it are working well for me. But I started doing a little research to see if I had spice-it-up options, and decided to try a seasonal capsule wardrobe.

With a seasonal capsule, I'll take the year and divide it into four quarters (or seasons) and pick a color scheme for each season. Some of my pieces will come from the plain capsule I have now and might even rotate through multiple seasonal capsules too, and then I'll add accent pieces in each season's color schemes to complete it. For the sake of cost and convenience, I'll keep my black/white/gray base, and then I'll just add from there.

SO! For the spring capsule, I used this example as my template and decided to use a sage(ish) green and coral as my accent colors. I wanted to keep this as cost-effective as possible, so I relied heavily on the Goodwill to fill in the blanks for me. (And thankfully I hit the jackpot the day I went. Took me an hour and a half of scouring, but I found almost everything! And it took me f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to find the remaining few missing pieces after that day.) I also had to make just a few modifications from this exact template, but it was a good guide.

This was my inspiration collection.

2 Dresses.

These two stinkin' dresses proved to be my nemesis in capsule creation. I only own a small handful of dresses and none fit the bill for the spring capsule, because I wanted some with print/excitement. I'm still damaged from the floral prints of the 90s, so every dress I owned was plain. Since I had to shop, I wanted to find dresses that worked for dressing up when I am out speaking BUT weren't so overly dressy that I would feel weird wearing them at home when I'm just hanging out. That's a lot to ask out of a dress, and then to take that times two felt nearly impossible. The Goodwill failed me entirely, as did almost every single store in town. I finally found the Chevron dress at K-Mart  for $12.00 and the striped dress at JC Penney for $26.00. (That was way more than I wanted to pay, but I do love the dress, and I was desperate.) The Chevron dress is an extra large in the Joe Boxer brand. I really needed a large for it to be long enough, but they didn't have large in stock, and medium was WAY too short. So I swallowed my pride and got an extra large - comforted only by knowing it's a junior dress. The striped dress is a medium a.n.a. brand. Both are very comfortable and feel like jammies.

2 Button Down Shirts.

I had been looking for a good basic white button-down shirt anyway, so finding it as a piece of this capsule was a good nudge for me to actually GET the thing. Button-down shirts are hard for me to find because of how I'm built. It's hard to find one that's big enough in the bust/shoulders/back without being too flowy in the middle.I thought finding a coral button down to mimic the inspiration capsule was going to be hard, but I actually hit the jackpot and found both shirts at Goodwill for $4.00 each. The white button-down has TONS of buttons, which means I don't have to worry about it gapping at the chest, like button-downs tend to do one me. It's a Dress Barn shirt and looked brand new with a little angled striped pattern on it that makes it a bit slimming. The coral shirt is actually a Tractor Supply Company shirt that still had tags on it. Both shirts are 3/4 length sleeves, and the coral one has tabs to roll the sleeves up and hold them.


2 Sleeveless Shirts. 

In the example capsule, one of the sleeveless shirts was a bold print and one was gingham. I was pretty sure I wouldn't find a gingham one in coral, so my goal was just to do the best I could. I found one sleeveless shirt at the Goodwill that had a fun flowery print in green (Basic Editions brand, size medium and looked brand new) for $3.50, so I got that.  Though I wanted to buy another brighter option, I couldn't find one that fit (literally or figuratively) so I decided to use a gray and white striped sleeveless shirt I already owned. I got it at Kohl's last year (Sonoma brand, size small) when I was building my basic capsule. The good part about that was...it was free! I will probably keep my eyes open, and if I find a better option for a future year, I'll snatch it up.


1 Plain Shirt.

Although the inspiration capsule featured a lacy navy tee as a dressier shirt option, I really wanted to find a dressy shirt in coral or green to pull in more of the spring colors. Alas, I couldn't find one that flattered my figure, so I decided to pull a plain navy v-neck (Rock & Republic, size medium) from my existing capsule that I got last year at Kohl's while building the basic capsule. It's not perfect, and maybe along the way I'll end up replacing this one, but for now it works. And it was free! (And who knows? I might find that having the blue is a good mix-in even though it's not truly springy.)

2 Patterned Shirts.

In the inspiration capsule, one patterned shirt was gray and white striped and one was brighter in color. I actually had a gray and white striped shirt at home, but it didn't fit in the most flattering way, so I kept my eye out for a new striped shirt option as well as something brighter. Again, I rocked it on the new striped find when I shopped at the Goodwill (Rough Hewn brand, size medium), so I snatched that up for $4. It's a true t-shirt, but it's comfy! Sadly, I couldn't find another pattered shirt that fit right, but I did find a gray patterned tee at Goodwill for $4 (Mossimo Brand size medium), so I got that one.


3 Sweaters.

Confession: I am actually not much of a sweater lover. I feel like an old lady in them even though I know they are no longer "old lady clothes." I went shopping with an open mind, looking for a white, coral, and navy sweater. The coral search was a bust, but I did find a green one at the Goodwill for $4 (Maurices, size medium) that was lightweight and had short sleeves, so I got that. Unable to find any others that looked right, I decided to use a gray sweater I already owned (and love and wear a lot!) and instead of a sweater for the third one, I decided to throw in the chambray shirt I already owned. The gray sweater was a gift from my Mom for Christmas a year ago and came from Gordman's (B Design, size medium), and the Chambray shirt was one I bought as an early-on capsule piece. Got it at Cato (size large)!


3 Skirts.

The inspiration capsule featured a shorter denim skirt, a mid-length white skirt, and a pencil coral skirt, but I made some modifications. I owned a denim skirt already (Cato, size 10), so I threw that in. (It looks awfully boxy on me though, so whenever I find one that is a better fit, I'm getting it.) I couldn't find a white skirt I loved, but I did find a cute one at the Goodwill for $4 that had white, green, and tan in it (Daisy Fuentes, size 8), so I went with that. It was quirky and unusual and kind of a long tennis feeling style. Since both of those skirts hit above the knee, I decided to go with a maxi skirt for the third one. I found one at the Goodwill for between $3.50 (Tryst brand, size small) that was white and gray and fit well, so I added it to the cart.


2 Pairs of Pants.

Before I put this capsule together, Ryan bought me two new pairs of jeans because some of mine were rather (ahem) baggy in the back end. So I pulled out a pair from that purchase from Kohl's (although confession: I own more than just that pair and can fill in with one of the others if this pair happens to be dirty). The ones I pulled out were Lauren Conrad Brand, skinny size 8. Then I went on the hunt for white jeans. I'd been wanting some anyway, and Goodwill to the rescue! Found a practically new pair for $2.00 (Bandolino Brand, size 8)!


1 Pair of Shorts. 

Shorts are rough in the spring in Indiana. It's hard to have days that are warm enough for them, but we're having such an unseasonably warm spring that I thought it just might work! I pulled a pair of dark denim shorts (Kohl's last year size 8) from my capsule and threw them in. If the days are too cold, I'll supplement with extra jeans.


Shoes

The capsule called for three pairs of tan/nude shoes. Two flats and wedges. But I went a totally different direction. I actually found 2 new super cute pairs of shoes at Cato! Both are gray. Lace up casual shoes for $15.99 and dressy slip-ons for $9.99. I owned a pair of goldish ballet flats already (ironically also from Cato), so I put those in as my third pair! 

NOTE:
Because we have had such a cold start to spring, I also added a white and black pair of leggings to help on the skirt days (already owned both, so no additional spending) and I threw in a white and black cami I already owned to wear under a couple of the shirts that are a bit on the thin side. I skipped getting new purses, and I also use a variety of my existing jewelry to spice it all up. 

So...this is my spring capsule! For six weeks (five days a week), I'm rotating different combinations of what you see above, and I'll report in with those combos every couple of weeks so you can see how it works! I have to say that so far, I'm loving it (really loving some outfits more than others but haven't HATED any outfits yet) and I'm enjoying some new pieces!

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