Wednesday 1 May 2013

The problems with skirts

As mentioned last post, I'm on a bit of a mission to increase how frequently I wear skirts, aiming for 5 days a week by the end of the year. But it's not as simple as just making myself more skirts. Oh no, nowhere near.

One of the biggest problems is what to wear WITH my skirts.

Shoes, being an obvious one. I don't own any boots. I would like to, but I haven't been able to find any I like. But even if I had boots I probably wouldn't want to wear them ALL the time. Sneakers are a no-no to me, even black ones. Some skirts go better with some dressy shoes. I do have a couple of nice pairs of heels, but with my wobbly ankles I can't ever wear them for more than a couple of hours at a time, and at the moment when I am carrying a baby lots I'm avoiding the narrow and high ones completely. I've been looking for some fairly simple black leather ones from Ziera (ex- Kumpfs) because they are really comfy and last ages (5+ years of everyday wear for one pair I had) and NZ designed and made, but I'm not that keen on any of their current styles.

Tops, are another question. A lot of my tops are layering pieces, which look ok with pants, but can be a bit bulky at times with long A-line skirts. But I like to stay warm! So I'm looking at gradually altering the fabric content of my tops, heading towards more wool, less layers, so I can stay cozy without looking like I'm wearing my whole wardrobe at once. My good merino knit tops are starting to die on me, right as it's getting colder, so I'll have to go shopping for some more soon. (The not-good ones have been relegated to pjs (mid-night feeds are cold) or to be made into woolly singlets for Miss A.)

One of the biggest problems I've found wearing skirts the last few weeks is the lack of pockets I have. Tripping about with a baby I like to have a few things close to hand, just in case (flannel, anyone?), but I don't like the extra bulk at my hips of pockets. So I've been looking at hip/belt bag things, but the nice ones are all crazy expensive (like this one for example), so I might just have to experiment with making my own.

I tend to go browsing the interwebs to find some good ideas of how to style outfits with skirts. But it might be a slow process, especially over winter when warmth is more important :p
I have bought some knee-high socks and some thick tights, but tops still worry me a little, so we'll have to see how we go. It's a process, and I'm not in a hurry, especially when I'm wanting to stay warm and be able to breastfeed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

When carrying the baby I used a small cross body bag that sat on my hip and was just big enough to put the essentials in. It's silk and the strap takes up no room under a carrier. I've also often just used a cross body bag over top of the carrier - now she's older the strap sits under her arm. She doesn't seem to mind it and the bag is never heavy but sometimes there's things like mail that won't fit in the little one.

Regarding hip bags you might have some luck adapting one yourself rather than making one from scratch. These are a couple of posts I've seen, but I'm sure there are more out there.
http://www.epbot.com/2012/09/diy-easy-hip-bag-mod.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+epbot%2FfOpU+%28EPBOT%29
http://www.epbot.com/2012/10/a-better-hip-bag-mod.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+epbot%2FfOpU+%28EPBOT%29