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the dress

so, here it is...the dress i will be wearing for the next six months. i was going to put it on to take the picture, but really, i will be wearing it for close to 200 days, so i'm sure you'll understand why i'm not putting it on until tomorrow.

i have to be honest here: i've been obsessing back and forth over the whole pattern. it just looks so simple. and plain. and brown. but, then again, i think it needs to be extremely simple so that it can be embellished and used for multiple occasions. plus i'm extremely indecisive and i change my clothes a lot, so i'm probably just having jitters about the whole thing.

the second dress is identical, just shorter. i would have loved to have had them cut to the same size, but the short one is just a bit too short to have two that length. you will know what i mean when you actually see me in it. no one needs to see that much of my legs, so it's really a good thing there are two lengths. just consider it my little favour to you.

so, just one more day before the experiment begins! should be interesting. let's just hope it goes over better than the great vegetarian experiment of 2009...wish me luck!

the rules

the rules are short and simple (kind of like me):
  1. there are only two dresses for this six-month challenge: the dresses are identical, but one is long and one is short. i will wear one of these two dresses every day for the duration of the project.
  2. i have a very nominal personal allowance each week for nonessentials. and when i say nominal, i mean terribly cheap and in canadian currency. i will decide whether or not i will spend this money on accessories or additional clothing items or if i will save it up. regardless, i will be wearing the same basic dress every day and can only add extra items to it.
  3. any items that i wear with the dress will preferably be currently owned, secondhand, donated, or free, or, if in a state of desperation, saved up for with my allowance budget
  4. i will donate any and all money raised to almost home at the end of the project.

planning stages

the new year is approaching and a new challenge is about to begin! there is much to tell. a curious adventure is about to commence...

after reading about several such challenges online, i am excited to launch my own version. based on the girl who's little black dress challenge, the uniform project, the brown dress creator, and other experimental dressers out there with a cause, i am about to embark on six months of wearing the same dress (maybe a year...let's just try this out for a bit, though, and see what happens). day in, day out, for six whole months, i will mix up what i already own, beg and borrow from others, and have a bit of fun and a challenge along the way.

...this from a girl who has been known to change outfits several times a day since i learned to dress myself...

so why would i do such a thing? for my own sense of adventure, but i am also hoping to raise money for charity at the same time. by getting people to sponsor my little experiment, i am hoping to raise money for a place close to my heart: almost home in kingston, ontario.

here is where you can (hopefully) help me out. i would love it if you could take a couple of minutes and look through your own wardrobe and perhaps consider donating an unused item or accessory that i could use to embellish my simple dress. i will be documenting the results on this blog and it would be more than a little boring if i only wore the same dress, day in and day out. this way, we all win - you can re-gift an old item that's just sitting in your closet anyway and i can get some enjoyment out of it. similarly, if you or someone you know are handy or crafty, perhaps you'd consider making me a fancy accoutrement and i will absolutely be more than pleased to give you full credit here.

so whether you are able to donate a little money towards this project, a wardrobe item or accessory, or just a few words of helpful encouragement (or even some good-humoured taunting - i'll take whatever i can get), it would really be appreciated. it would also be great if you could pass this along to anyone you know who might be interested in my cause. it's just my lighthearted attempt at having a little fun, saving some money, and helping others out a bit at the same time.

wouldn't life be boring if we didn't take any risks along the way?

about me

just a girl looking for a little challenge, a new perspective, and some adventure in life. predictable is boring.

you have questions, i have answers

here's where i try my best to explain myself. sorry, sometimes i tend to run on.

what is the charity and why did you choose it?
i hope to raise money for almost home in kingston, ontario. it is an amazing home where people with sick children can stay while they receive medical treatment. when my son was born six weeks prematurely in the summer of 2008, i stayed at almost home for three weeks until he was able to come home from the hopsital's nicu with us. i have always wanted to repay them in some way, so hopefully i will now have the opportunity to do that. please visit their website to learn more about this amazing place.

how can i donate money, clothing or accessories to your endeavour?
first of all, thanks you thank you thank you! to sponsor me, just click on the paypal link to donate money. for clothing or accessories, please email me at wardrobedresstruction@gmail.com.

why the heck are you doing this anyway?
i love a challenge and thought this would be a fun way to get more wear out of items in my current wardrobe as well as getting enjoyment out of things sitting in other people's closets. whenever i think i have nothing to wear, i know that's not true. there are people out there that actually mean it when they say it. time to get real and get some actual wear out of the items just sitting there day after day making me feel guilty. i hope to actually wear everything i own during this challenge. anything i don't wear, i will donate to charity when the challenge is over.

also, major inspiration from the ladies mentioned on my homepage.

and, of course, most importantly, the opportunity to try to raise money for charity.

plus, i really need some excitement in my life.


who made the dresses?
my very talented seamstress sister, judy, whipped up these dresses in about an hour. (i told you she was talented). the first prototype we tried can generously be described as, well, potato sack-like, so we came up with this very simple design instead. they're 90% cotton and 10% spandex. they will be mostly hand washed and line dried so should hopefully last the duration.

what is the point of having two dresses? isn't this a one dress challenge? i'm confused. and it sounds kind of weird.
practicality, really. other people who have done similar challenges have used multiple dresses; others, just a single dress. i very much wanted to only use one dress, but having a toddler, i erred on the side of practicality (maybe for the first time ever) knowing that one single dress would be near impossible to pull of on a day-to-day basis. unless food bits and runny nose remnants are considered accessories. the reason for the two styles honestly derived from the amount of material i purchased. due to the "potato sack prototype incident", one of them didn't have sufficient material left to be the same length, so it just kind of worked out that way. in the end, having two lengths will hopefully afford me more versatility. and just in case you're curious about the total cost? i love a bargain, so i'll tell you: about $30. so, cost per wear for each dress if i do this for six months (and if i did the math right) works out to about 8¢ per wear.

why didn't you use something already currently in your wardrobe?
i absolutely wanted to but didn't feel that anything i currently own could be versatile enough to wear for six months. i do plan, however, to get more use out of items currently in my wardrobe by layering. this is a good lesson in really considering the versatility of new wardrobe items before purchasing them...something i will hopefully be better at in the future.

what, you have more questions?
email me at wardrobedresstruction@gmail.com.

contact me

to donate money, clothing, accessories, or just say hi...
email me at
wardrobedresstruction@gmail.com.