Want to make it easier to co-ordinate your clothes ? You might start from a wardrobe pattern.
The matching up of silhouettes, proportions, necklines, and armholes so you can wear the items together has been done for you. You only need to think about fabric : the colours, prints, and textures which are best for you.
Even in 2024 there are many wardrobe patterns available from the ‘Big 4’ pattern sources, though fewer than there used to be.
Indie pattern designers tend not to offer them. I used to enjoy the Central Park pattern from the long discontinued Park Bench company.
Easy to copy – see these posts on learning to sew while making a starter wardrobe :
skirt and pants can be made by complete beginners,
tops, vests, jacket can be made by advancing beginners.
The wardrobe patterns below are just a selection from what is available.
I have aimed for ‘Core 4’ patterns that include a jacket, top, skirt and pants.
You would be able to combine the 4 items into 6 different outfits. The 4 two-item ones in this diagram, plus two 3-item outfits made by adding the jacket to the two on the right :
(example pattern oop)
Every added item increases the number of possible outfits. See the final section below, on making more than one of each item in your wardrobe pattern.
I have not listed wardrobe patterns which only include sleeveless tops because:
– I am dubious those jackets would be comfortable over sleeved tops, the armholes and sleeves may be too tight. Which means they are not good in a small capsule, as you can’t include tops which do have sleeves into your grouping.
– I think tops with sleeves offer more outfit options for more lifestyle situations (and it’s often easy to make short sleeved or sleeveless versions of sleeved top patterns).
– I don’t wear sleeveless tops myself (I don’t live in a hot climate !).
Basic adaptations
– You will need to add a simple skirt to some of these patterns.
Use an elastic-waist skirt made from rectangles (if you need a pattern see Cris Wood Sews One Hour skirt and choose your own length).
Or, if you’re willing to do some pattern work, see this post for how to make a skirt pattern from a pants pattern.
– Perhaps divide a garment pattern with a waist seam into a separate bodice which can be lengthened into a top, and a skirt or pants.
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The patterns
I did think of sorting these patterns into groups with the same difficulty rating.
But I find the difficulty ratings rather odd.
I think the Butterick and Vogue items labelled ‘Easy’ are actually intermediate, while the New Look and Simplicity items labelled ‘Average’ look easier than the Butterick and Vogue items labeled ‘Easy’ – ah well.
The same company now owns all these pattern lines. The pattern size numbers have long been the same for all these pattern sources, but the sewing difficulty ratings have not been standardised. (It would cause major disruption as the existing ratings are printed on all envelopes as well as on the website.)
Make your own judgement about whether you can sew the style elements included 😀
Patterns for Misses sizes
Butterick 6389, length options provided for you.
Butterick 6599, colour blocking possibilities, not a skirt but 2 lengths of pants. There are many options for adding closures to an edge-to-edge jacket, such as button loops, clasps, frogs.
McCall’s 7331 by Nancy Zieman
McCall’s 7635 by Khalia Ali
McCall’s 8163 by Nancy Zieman
Simplicity 8177 by Mimi G
Vogue 1959 by Marcy Tilton, rated ‘Advanced’
Vogue 9191
The layers are ponchos which you could wear anything under – though beware the poncho with wrist cuffs, perhaps omit them. So I have included this pattern even though the top is sleeveless.
Vogue 9286
The jacket and tunic use many of the same pattern pieces, so one can’t be worn over the other. But they are over-sized, so you might make the tunic a size smaller – and perhaps taper the sleeves.
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Patterns for Women’s sizes
There are few wardrobe patterns for larger sizes, though in this more realistic world there are marvellous one- and two-item patterns in the Know Me range. But the presentation there is very repetitive, there aren’t as many different patterns as it looks.
Butterick 3039, various length options
McCall’s 7635 by Khalia Ali
McCall’s 8163 by Nancy Zieman
Simplicity 8177 by Mimi G
Simplicity 9269, a 3-item outfit
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Building up to a capsule
Do any of these patterns appeal as the starting point of a capsule for you ?
You will need more than one of each item in your pattern to make a capsule.
Many wardrobe planners suggest a 12-item capsule of 3 jackets, 3 tops, 3 skirts, 3 pants. Make one of the 3 in your best dark neutral, one in your best medium neutral, and one in your best light.
But such a group of items may not suit your style. Here is a pdf on personalised wardrobe planning.
Do you want to make several versions of each item in your wardrobe pattern without doing any pattern changing ? Here is a post with suggestions for making repetitions more interesting – from about 1/3 of the way through.
Or are you happy to do a little easy pattern work to make the items more different ?
Many simple adaptations are possible, such as described in the post on Louise Cutting’s Anything But Ordinary capsule.
Or see the post on Make everything from one pattern – which in that case meant a pattern for a single garment, not a wardrobe pattern ! You don’t need to start from a jumpsuit pattern to make easy changes to top and pants patterns.
Of course you can simply try out your wardrobe pattern items with other garments you already have in your closet, until you find enough to make a more varied capsule 😀
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Enjoy your dreaming, planning, making, and wearing
♥️ 👍 ♥️ ♥️ 👍 ♥️ ♥️ 👍 ♥️
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cut along red line 
Sewingplums 