Have you ever started reading a book and found yourself wanting to go much deeper on a topic from a single chapter? That’s been my experience with Emily Ley’s “A Simplified Life“. I’ve read the first chapter on simplifying your home over the years and never got past it. The cool part is I’ve kept notes exactly three times at various points over the last several years before I picked it up again this past month. And once again, I wanted to go deeper.

That led me to picking up my “Apartment Therapy” book by Maxwell Ryan again that I haven’t touched in about a decade, to implement The Cure on our new home. I’ve nearly completed the first week and I’m ready to complete the process over the next couple of months as we get grounded in our new chapter in life.

But then, of course, there is the next chapter of “A Simplified Life” which is all about cultivating a simplified wardrobe. And yet again, I’m anticipating going down a long and winding path off the trail to totally revamp my wardrobe… by hand.

What I mean my revamp my wardrobe is I also have the book “The Curated Closet” by Anuschka Rees along with the accompanying workbook which I’ve only gotten to the first section with as well. Once I’m settled into my home, I want to curate a capsule wardrobe for my life in Florida as a corporate girlie who manages her home life, teaches Pilates as a side hustle and makes plenty of time for crafty things. What does that wardrobe look like? Well, not exactly what my current wardrobe represents.

And by hand… well, you know I just mentioned getting crafty and that’s kind of what this blog is all about. By hand, I mean I want to learn to sew my own wardrobe, custom designed for me and by me. And I found the perfect resource to connect in with a community just for that purpose. It’s called Seamwork and they have a Design Your Wardrobe Program, access to sewing patterns and fabric discounts as well as ongoing workshops.

To say I’m totally inspired is an understatement. I’ve been binging to the Seamwork Radio podcast series on Sewing by Design from 2022 every time I go for a solo drive lately.

And the funny thing is, I’m finally feeling settled enough in my career that I can devote my energies outside of work to something this expansive. I thought about it all day yesterday and once I got home from work (where I wore my navy slacks, kelly green blouse and navy blazer) I hopped into a cozy sundress. Apparently, I am now an analyst who moonlights as a tradwife in her free time 😂. Complete with a incoming sewing habit.

I will say that I’m not a total newbie at sewing. Over the summers when I was a pre-teen, I’d stay with my grandmother for a week or two and she would teach me how to sew. Now this wasn’t your JoAnne’s Fabric kind of sewing. Nope, she lived just outside of NYC, so we’d head to the garment district in Manhattan to source our fabric, notions, and tools. One year she bought me a brand new Pfaff sewing machine which is the one I still own today and have barely touched during my many years of moving here and there.

Now that I finally have a homebase, I feel free to root into something like this with full force. So yes, I am getting crafty with things, but more than that I am crafting the life of my dreams day by day and I couldn’t be more content.

So why am I creating my own personal curriculum? Because it’s something fun to do in my free time. No ROI necessary other than enjoying the process and producing quality things that I love.

I don’t know if I’ll ever finish “A Simplified Life” but it certainly is a good way to spark the fire on developing a process for getting my life in order in the most inspiring of ways.