+J.M.J.+
A few weeks ago I went consignment sale shopping for Philomena’s Fall/Winter wardrobe. I got her some items not shown here like snow pants, snow boots, and a winter hat. She also has pajamas and a couple sweaters from a spring sale or hand-me-downs that will work well this winter. I’m just sharing her general everyday or Sunday clothes here, as well as answering a few questions I’ve received on how we develop these really interchangeable wardrobes.
Full disclaimer: Some of these clothes are dirty. I needed to do the laundry and knew if I just didn’t get these pictures taken during nap time it wasn’t going to happen so… yeah, I know some items need washing.
Tops
Philomena has 5 shirts that she picked out. The lollipop shirt is a bit of an “orphan” in the closet as the red doesn’t match her pink bottoms quite right, but she was obsessed with it and it works with all of the other bottoms she has. I loved the variety of her other shirts, and they all go well with her the various leggings and skirts.
Play Dresses
She picked out two warm dresses for this winter. I love the star one… the one on the right is colorful, eh? I really don’t like it but she loved it so we went with it.
Church Dresses
The blue dress is one I had bought a long time ago off the Facebook Marketplace with a matching one for Zelie that I think they’re so cute in! The other three came from the resale. I wasn’t a huge fan of the bottom left red one, but there weren’t as many fancy dresses at the sale and she liked it. The top red dress will be for Christmas.
Skirts
I loved the skirts we found for this fall. They’re cute, each really different, and all good basic colors.
Leggings
We are missing a black pair of leggings, they must have gotten into Zelie’s drawer. The four bottoms are a great mix to go with her different shirts and skirts. I especially love the pink one with the built in skirt!
She also has a couple pairs of tights shown in the main picture for church clothes.
Coat
This $5 polka dot coat was a super fun find! She can still wear last year’s heavier duty coat for snow play.
Shoes
We keep it simple with shoes – the pink “junkers” for play or running errands, the gold just for church and dressy occasions, and the black can be for church or for anything that calls for something a step above the play shoes. She also has rain and snow boots if needed.
How Do We Plan Capsule Wardrobes?
A couple people asked how we plan these capsule wardrobes and really its just a matter of making of list of how many items of a certain type we need, and then going to the resale and fitting them together.
I know our sweet spot for her current age is approximately 5 shirts, 4 leggings, 3 church dresses, 2-4 skirts, and 2 play dresses. So as we shop we keep those numbers in mind and then make sure that skirts and leggings tend to be neutrals. She gets to have more fun in her shirts and dresses this way.
This particular wardrobe wasn’t quite as coordinated feeling as her spring wardrobe, but I’m still overall very pleased with how it turned out. Like I mentioned above, there are a couple other things we have that still fit from last season as well, but overall this is a pretty small wardrobe (about 25 pieces), and it saves my sanity for sure!
Do you resale or capsule wardrobe for yourself or your kids?
The Natural Catholic Mom 
This was a timely post! We have been blessed in the last few years with a lot of hand-me-downs for my 3 1/2yo girl. We just moved and I realized that she has too much. Thanks for the inspiration!
Do you keep grubby, stained clothes for crafts? How many nightgowns do you keep on hand?
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Oh I’m glad this came at a good time for you!
Yes, we always keep a stained or random dress we don’t care about for painting/dirty stuff or for bonfiring. We also keep craft smocks around too!
We do two nightgowns/pajamas.
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Do you keep the clothes that Philomena grew out of for Zelie? We have 5 girls- tons of clothes and we keep getting hand me downs from friends…. which is great because I save a ton of money but it’s at a cost, I am going crazy with all the laundry! Do you have a capsule wardrobe for yourself as well?
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I always keep anything that is still in good condition. I’m sure with 5 kids there is just going to be a lot of laundry, but if you feel like an excess amount of clothing for each person is contributing, save what you love best and donate or sell the rest.
If you have too many items but everything is stuff you enjoy, maybe throw a few totes in the garage labeled with sizes and once a size needs more clothing because of stains and wear, you could shop the totes in the garage. Just because you have it and its useable doesn’t mean it needs to be in the house.
I do essentially have a capsule wardrobe. I wear the same few Pink Blush dresses to Mass and dressy events, and then I wear solid colored skirts and different tank tops and cardigans that mix and match on top.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
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