How to Prepare a Summer to Fall Wardrobe Transitional Homemaking & Style

Ladies,

The homemaking work of curating, maintaining and seasonally swapping our wardrobes is upon us again as we transition from summer to Autumn. Will this be your first year ever doing this? A seasonal wardrobe swap is fun and refreshing. This is a way to examine your clothing, care better for them, declutter, and make a checklist for anything you need to make or purchase. This is a time to reassess how your clothing is being organized and stored. This is also a great time to pull everything out of the closet and vacuum every corner and dust any bins before organizing things back in. This is where fashion meets home yet again!

Step One Remove Summer Only Styles

We all have items that are obvious summer only items from the bright colors to the spaghetti straps, to the tropical prints, those kinds of things do not look right any other time of the year. If something cannot be paired with an Autumn appropriate cardigan or jacket, then remove it until next summer. Having said that, do not feel limited to an “Autumn color palette”, wear the colors that look best on you year-round! I still wear colors like pink in the Autumn, but I do not wear bright pink which only looks right during summertime. I wear florals year-round even in a color like pink, but I would not wear a tropical floral year-round since that only looks right during summer. Other things to remove: swimsuits, beach/pool cover-ups, sandals, sun hats, etc. The key here is to take out the things that look obviously summer only.

Step Two Identify Transitional Pieces

I love what I call “everything dresses”. These are dresses that work year-round and/or day to evening! They are typically a color, print, and style that can be layered over and still look seasonally appropriate. An example of this is my navy blue and white polka dot dress that while sleeveless, pairs beautifully underneath a cardigan, over thick tights, with boots and a coat. This dress also pivots into a dressy look with fancy shoes, handbag, jewelry etc. Keep these pieces in your wardrobe with a plan on how you will wear them for this next season.

Step Three Make a Checklist for Your Transitional Pieces

Now make your plan to wear these clothing items that span the seasons. If you want to wear a dress for Autumn as well, do you have the cardigan, tights, and boots to go with it? What other pieces do you need to collect to make sure this is a fully wearable outfit during this different season? It is important to identify holes in your wardrobe because without these items, the transitional piece is not transitioned into the next season.

Step Four Organize & Display Your Current Wardrobe

Once you collect any items that you identified were holes in your wardrobe, now you must organize and display your items. Think of your wardrobe like a shop. A shop will pull all of the seasonally appropriate items to the forefront and highlight them for the shopper to shop. Every day you are “shopping” your wardrobe. You can create full outfits on display like a store by putting a cardigan over a dress, or you can just line up your dresses in one area and line up your cardigans in another as long as they are all easily accessible and visible. You can treat even a small closet like your very own boutique.

Step Five Store Away Last Season Items

For storing clothing, you may need to collect some items as well. You will need boxes or bags that fit the space where you will store them away. In a humid climate especially, never store clothing in a plastic bag that is tied because it can mold. Clothing needs air to stay dry and not mold. You can use plastic bags meant for clothing if they do not seal out all air. These kinds of clothing storage bags can be bought in the laundry isle of stores where they sell laundry hampers, irons, etc. A zippered bag is fine because zippers are not airtight. Places like Hobby Lobby have beautiful cardboard boxes for pretty storage. But you do not need to buy anything if you just keep a good box or bag on hand.

I suggest keeping off-season clothing in the bedroom where it is clean, climate controlled, and relatively insect free. Since we keep clothing in closets in bedrooms, I do recommend you keep off season clothing there as well and not up in an attic or down in a basement. That makes storing clothing even more of an ordeal because you are lugging it to a new location. You also do not know that the clothing will stay in good condition in a location that may have less activity, more dust, mold, or pests. Clothing can be susceptible to be eaten by rodents and moths! It can be a hiding place for spiders. Where you store it keeps it fresh for when you are ready to bring it back out.

High closet shelves are an ideal location where you do not keep currently used items because that is too high to reach day to day. Underneath the bed is also a nice location for stored clothing as long as it is fully enclosed in a container (not airtight) so that pets cannot access and destroy anything. Only store away clean and fully dry clothing. Do not store away clothing that has been worn but not washed before storing. Remove all body oils and odors from clothing before storing. Neatly fold items into your chosen bag or box by type of item, i.e. sweaters with sweaters, dresses with dresses, and put in your storage location. You can label your bags or boxes if you need the reminder of what those items are for instance: “Summer Dresses”, “Swimsuits & Kimonos”, “Sandals”. This kind of labeling can be very helpful for some people, but it is not necessary.

This is Important Work

Seasons mark the times for us to address certain things. Planting is a time to get seeds in the ground. Harvest is for bringing in the food and preserving it. The same goes for preparing wardrobes for seasonal shifts that affect our very health and well-being. We have a job at home to be on top of these things as these things are not the sidelines to life, these are the things that affects someone’s well-being. This is also a way to address just one small portion of your household and make sure it is clean and organized. It is such a small part, just one wardrobe at a time. When we put our hearts and minds toward these little things they add up into what is not only necessary but what is dignity for your family.

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CHRISTIAN LIVING – FASHION – HOME