5 Reasons Why You Need a Knitwear Capsule Wardrobe
Let me set the scene: You just finished a knitting project, and you instantly start searching to cast on a new one. You dive into your Instagram saves, Ravelry queue, and saved pins on Pinterest looking for the perfect next project. Between considering patterns, figuring out what yarn you could use from your stash, and maybe scouring the web for a certain yarn a pattern calls for (but your favorite color is sold out everywhere), it can take a long and frustrating time before settling on your next project. And will you actually wear it once it’s done? Like, honestly?
That exact situation happens to me. All. The. Time. And in an effort to fix this problem I came across a solution: capsule wardrobes. Keep reading to learn why you need to make a knitwear capsule wardrobe and to get a free knitwear capsule wardrobe checklist!
What is a capsule wardrobe?
In case you aren’t familiar with capsule wardrobes, they are a small collection of clothing that consists of a person’s entire closet needs. They typically include all the basics, from sweaters to jackets to shoes, but in a highly selected and limited manner. Meaning, you don’t have 10 different pairs of heels (or sneakers, if you’re more like me), but you may have one or two that can go with all the other clothes that make up your carefully curated closet. And to that point, capsule wardrobes usually consist of a specific color scheme or palette so that the limited number of garments can be swapped out to make many flattering outfits.
The concepts behind a capsule wardrobe are to minimize the overall number of items in your closet, invest in a smaller amount of quality clothing, enhance sustainability by decreasing consumption, and decrease overwhelm when it comes to picking out an outfit. Sounds pretty cool, right?
How can a capsule wardrobe be applied to knitting?
While traditional capsule wardrobes cover all the things you’ll want to wear, a knitwear capsule wardrobe focuses on the knitted items you want to make and wear. Since it is likely that we don’t all have enough knitted garments to create a complete knitwear capsule wardrobe yet, the planning process becomes a more organized version of a knit list.
The purpose of a knitwear capsule wardrobe is similar to that of a regular capsule wardrobe, but with a few special nuances:
Why you need to make a knitwear capsule wardrobe
1. Cut down on new project overwhelm
Planning out a knitwear capsule wardrobe lays out your knit list in one, organized place. When it comes to starting a new project, you don’t have to search through all of your saves on all of your platforms, and then hunt for the yarn. Instead, you can have all of the projects you want to make laid out, it can help you figure out how to use your stash, and in case you need to buy new yarn for a project and your dream color is sold out, you can just go to a different project on your list instead. Easy peasy.
2. Make clothes you’ll actually wear
Is there anything more sad than a finished knit that never gets worn? The two main reasons why a finished object may never see the light of day are that it’s a style that you don’t typically wear or it’s a color you don’t typically wear. When planning a knitwear capsule wardrobe, it is important to be honest with yourself about what colors and styles will flatter you, bring you joy, and make you want to incorporate them into your knit fits each and every day.
3. Use up your stash
One of a knitter's greatest struggles is to use up their stash before buying new yarn. Scrap projects don't always sound the most sexy and buying new yarn is just so irresistible. One way to help keep your yarn purchases in check and to make sure you use that stash yarn is to (you guessed it) plan out a knitwear capsule wardrobe. In the planning process, you can dedicate certain projects to using your stash and scraps! For example, when I was planning out mine, I noticed I had several projects using the same kind of yarn but in different colors. I decided to assign the scraps of that yarn to a sock pattern I'm interested in making, which will make super cute stripes!
4. Be more sustainable
I love sustainability and slow fashion, and they are some of the main values behind New Wave Knitting. Making our own clothes is much more sustainable than purchasing fast fashion items, it’s still wasteful if we use resources (yarn in particular, but also our time and energy) to create a garment that never gets worn. I get wary when I see creators cranking out a bunch of “quick” knits, because making a lot of garments (that may not be worn much at all) starts to toe the line of fast fashion practices.
Creating a knitwear capsule wardrobe helps you to be more intentional with what you’re making. Thoughtfully considering what garments will compliment your tastes and lifestyle will improve the likelihood that you’ll wear your finished object for a long time to come. This helps to cut back on waste, making you an even more sustainable creator!
10 awesome ways to be a more sustainable knitter!
5. Increase your knitting skills and experience
Rather than making one crew neck sweater after the other (again, speaking for a friend), a capsule wardrobe challenges you to make all sorts of garments. You can tailor your knitwear capsule wardrobe to contain whatever you’d like, but in the free checklist I include for you below, I included items like socks, a jacket, and lingerie ;). If you decide to keep those types of items when creating your wardrobe, you’ll likely learn about different stitches, types of construction, and yarns, (unless you’re a well seasoned knitter of course), which is super fun and exciting!
How to make your own knitwear capsule wardrobe
Download the free Knitwear Capsule Wardrobe checklist! You may want to adjust it to your tastes and lifestyle.
Go through your current wardrobe and sort your knits into two piles: "keep" and "donate/gift/repurpose yarn"
Go through the keep pile and check off items on the list that they apply to.
Choose a color palette to make your garments in.
Go through your knit list (Instagram saves, Ravelry queue, saved pins on Pinterest, etc.) and assign the patterns you want to make to specific items on the list.
Begin making your garments!
As you finish and start wearing your FO's, wash and dry them correctly so that they last a long time.
Want some more guidance?
If you’d like more guidance and structure than just the free checklist, then check out the Knitwear Capsule Wardrobe Blueprint! It includes:
🌟 Detailed instructions on how to create your dream capsule wardrobe
🌟Editing abilities to customize your capsule wardrobe to fit your tastes and lifestyle
🌟Color palette guidance and inspiration
🌟Structured space to layout and visualize your capsule wardrobe with specific patterns and yarns so you just have to plug in the information and drag and drop your knitspo photos!
What do you think about making a knitwear capsule wardrobe? Do you think you could benefit from it? Let me know in the comments below! If you find this helpful, then share it with a knitting pal who could benefit from a knitwear capsule wardrobe too!