Raise your hand if you have a closet full of clothes, possibly even bursting at the seams. (raises two hands)

Raise your hand if despite your full closet you still feel like you either have nothing to wear or that you don’t love most of your clothes? (hand up again)

My friend Heather told me about this idea of creating a capsule wardrobe.  At first I was a bit skeptical.  Those of you who know me well know that I am naturally not a planner, I like clothes and shopping (a lot), but I don’t love rules and structure.  Two words, free bird.

Heather seemed pretty excited about the whole thing and she is one of my friends who shares my love of clothing, so I decided to read up on the idea. (www.un-fancy.com)  After reading about what a capsule wardrobe is, seeing the endless cute outfits on this blog, and learning that you can amend or make up your own rules to fit you, I was sold.

This is not a new idea, but something that began in the 1970’s.  The idea is having a collection of things in your closet that are essential, won’t easily go out of style, and work together interchangeably to make a variety of outfits.  Boom.  Sounds like a pretty good idea, right?  You pick a color scheme, consider what you love wearing and what looks good on your shape, and buy quality pieces.  This is done season to season, so you end up with four, three-month-long capsule collections in a year.  With your established capsules and pieces, you can then update and switch out a few pieces each season. (Again, check out this blog, Caroline spells is all out perfectly and has a lot of resources to help you be inspired, a free printable wardrobe planner to help you plan your own capsule wardrobe, and answers to a lot of questions you might have.)

Here was my one hang up, I’m pregnant!  Most accounts I’ve read of those living life capsule wardrobe style, have between 30 and 40 pieces in their collections. (does not include accessories like jewelry, hats, handbags).  This sounds great, and the idea is to be minimalist in all of this, but maternity clothing and outfits just aren’t quite as versatile as regular clothing.  Yes, it’s adorable how you wore that drapey knit tee with your jeans and blazer, and it was equally cute when you ditched the blazer, swapped the jeans for a skirt, and tucked in said tee.  See where I am going with this?  Not so do-able with the baby bump.  Tuck in the bump?  Not cute, in my option.  Because of this, I decided to compose my maternity capsules of more pieces than “normal”.  Plus, let’s get real, I had to amend a rule to still feel free and like me! 🙂

The first capsule I did was in the fall, (October through December) and in September the planning began. (Yes, I said planning, and I’m talking about me doing it.)  I went into my closet and took out literally every piece of clothing.  I sorted through things on my bed and had the “I love it” pile, the “store it” pile, the “maybe” pile and the “get rid of it” pile.  The “love it” pile is self-explanatory.  If you love it, it fits perfectly, and it is season appropriate, then it goes into your capsule.  The “store it” pile consisted of clothes that were out of season or, in my case since I’m pregnant, clothes that won’t fit me during this season but that I want to keep and that I hope will fit me in the future.  The “maybe” pile was because I am horrible at purging and because there were items that may or may not make the cut as the planning continues.  Lastly, the “get rid of it” pile, also self-explanatory.  You probably have some very donate-able stuff that could make a friend of stranger pretty happy!

I went on to think about what my personal style is, what I do from day to day and therefore what kinds of things I would be needing to wear, brands that I love and stores I often shop at, what colors I wear a lot of and what I want to incorporate for this season, what I might need to buy to finish off my capsule, and how much money I have to spend.  I completed my capsule with what I had in my closet plus buying a few items to round everything out.

I would say that my first go at a capsule wardrobe went well.  I would also say that I learned a few things that I then did differently for my winter capsule.  First, shoes were included in the capsule, and I totally ended up hating that.  I used to be a shoe buyer, so I have a lot of great shoes that I can and should be wearing.  They are great quality shoes, and there is no expense since I already own them.  So this go around, I am not including shoes.  I will say that after trying out the capsule, I do feel inspired all around in my life to live more minimally.  This isn’t easy and I’m not great at purging, but I realized that excess stuff sitting around that I don’t use just weighs on me.  It feels good to get rid of the excess, so I did get rid of a ton of shoes and my closet looks so much better. (And I feel better about it too!)

The second thing that I learned is that I went too neutral for my fall wardrobe.  I really wanted to make sure that everything was versatile, but about half way through I felt starved of color.  I am not into having lots of bright colors and prints, but I realized that a lack of color doesn’t work for me either.  I need to have some pops of color mixed in with my neutral pieces.

Thirdly, even with my increased amount of pieces of clothing in my capsule, I totally felt like I didn’t have enough shirts so I am increasing the shirt count for this winter capsule.

Here is what I have ended up with for my winter maternity capsule wardrobe.  It is 39 pieces total, but remember, I don’t include shoes, coats, or any accessories like jewelry, scarves and hats.

PANTS (8)

 Hudson Cropped Skinny Jeans // H&M Patch Knee Jeans (old) // Treggings // H&M Gray Treggings (similar) // H&M Black Jeggings (similar) // Black Leggings (I have three pairs of these.)

TOP LAYERS (8)

Vest H&M (old) // Kimono // Jacket // Red Blazer (old) //  BB Dakota Soft Black Blazer (old) // Tribal Sweater Urban Outfitters (old) // Drifter Sweatshirt Jacket (old) // Cardigan

TOPS (21)

Row 1 = Mark & Estel (old) // ASOS (old) // Sweatshirt // Long-sleeved Tee // Long-sleeved Tee // Long-sleeved Tee// Sweater Tunic Target (old) // Row 2 = H&M Tee (old) // H&M Tee (old) // H&M Sweatshirt (old) // H&M Sweater (similar) // H&M Sweater (similar) // Basic tee // Basic tee // Row 3 = Mint Top (similar) // Cream Top (similar) // Gray Top (similar) // Black Top // Mustard Top // Cream Top // Blue Top

DRESSES (2)

Puella Dress (old) // Mark & Estel Maxi Dress (old)

Although shoes are not included in my capsule, I snapped a quick shot of the shoes that I have been gravitating towards during this pregnancy.

This is my third pregnancy, so pieces have been collected over time and I have gotten some hand-me-downs from friends as well.  I have been really happy with this winter capsule thus far, and this wardrobe feels the most me as possible while pregnant.  I am happy to answer any questions or hear any tips on maternity clothes from you in the comments below!