Two Weeks of Winter Work Tops

I hate winter. Let's start with the basics: I hate being cold. I am a second generation Angeleno. My parents were both born in Los Angeles. I was born in Los Angeles. I lived in semi-tropical Southern California until I was in high school, at which point my parents moved to Texas. To us, Texas was crazy with the seasons. Leaves fell from trees! There were biannual flurries! The humanity!

I didn't like the Texan winter, but I could live with it. I went to undergrad in Louisiana where, other than a freak giant snowstorm my sophomore year, the weather was as temperate as it had been in Texas. In the South, predictions of temperatures below freezing cause rioting in the streets, or at least in the bread/toilet paper/milk aisles of the grocery stores. As an aside, what is up with buying toilet paper when it's cold? Maybe people fear it will make them pee more?

Then I moved to Washington DC. There is no way I will ever go further north than here. It gets cold here. Below freezing on a semi-regular basis. Snow that sticks on occasion. The horror.

So, hating cold is the basics, but that is not where my hatred for winter ends.

I HATE the clothes. I hate wearing pants. I hate bundling up so I feel like an abominable snowperson rather than a girl. I hate wearing pants. I hate having to wear long underwear under the pants I hate wearing. The clothes are so boring they make me want to die.

Until now, I've pretty much sewn nothing for cold weather. Instead, I am the opposite of the grasshopper who sings all summer. I spend all winter stocking up on flirty skirts and floaty dresses and anything fresh and floral you can imagine. And every day I die a little bit when I put on PANTS and some boringboringboring 3/4 sleeve V-neck t-shirt from H&M (I own this t-shirt in approximately six colors, and the scoop neck tee in about 4).

I still fear and loathe pants too much to attempt them--though there is a side zip pair of petites in the 8/07 (as I recall) issue of BWOF that I will make eventually--but I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands with regards to the boringboringboring shirts that make me want to vomit when I look at them.

Thus was born Two Weeks of Winter Work Tops. I have been working toward this goal pretty well until now. Now I want to make dresses and fresh little springy short-sleeved blouses. So I will go public with my project in the hope that peer pressure will keep me on task.

A visual progress report (click to enlarge, and I should note that I haven't yet reviewed a couple of the knit tops):



The goal is five woven blouses and five knit tops. Theoretically, these pieces should be able to be worn in a two week rotation for a couple of months without (1) me getting sick of them, and (2) my co-workers noticing that I'm wearing the same thing over and over.

But the thing is, I hate sewing basics! If I'm gonna sew, it's gonna be awesomely distinctively cool (at least in the legend-in-my-own-mind sense). I always say, "pshaw, I can buy the basics for cheap at H&M or Target. Why waste my time?" But the thing is, because of my bust, I can't. I have a bra by Playtex from their "Thank Goodness It Fits" line. The cup size is called "Nearly A." Really, my cup size is more like, "Nearly Imperceptible." Finding a woven blouse that doesn't look like I'm dressing up in mommy's clothes is a rare occasion. Knit tops are slightly better to fit, but I am very particular about style (interesting but not crazy; no prints; no logos; no words). So I do need to sew these basics.

OK fine, my basics are never going to be *that* basic. I don't know that I'll find substitutes for the "Too Distinctive" items, but I suppose I'll make a half-hearted effort to do so.

I'm so close! Just two woven blouses left (though I have at least one more planned after that), and though I have technically reached my goal on knit tops the maroon gather-neck tee needs to just get done already.

So for this weekend chant it with me: Two Weeks of Winter Work Tops! Two Weeks of Winter Work Tops! Two Weeks of Winter Work Tops! Step awaaaaay from the delicate blouses of Spring and in the direction of Two Weeks of Winter Work Tops!