Wool — being wonderfully warm, breathable, and flexible — really is the ultimate Winter fabric for someone who likes to be outdoors. I have worn a near-as-damn-it 100% wool outfit every day so far this WOVEMBER, and fully intend to do so for the rest of the month. I’ll say more about some of the key components of my woolly wardrobe another time, but today I wanted to show you my new wool skirt and it’s matchy matchy custom-made WOVEMBER meta-badge.
I recently scored this 100% wool skirt on ebay. It is vintage DAKS tweed – high-waisted and extremely well-made – but I ‘won’ it very cheaply. The length, though, is all wrong: I generally find mid-length skirts rather matronly and as I am quite short, they look bloody awful on me. So I spent a happy morning taking the skirt in a bit and chopping it down to a better length. There is a lot of fabric in those box-pleats, I can tell you, and when I was done I was left with a satisfyingly swingy skater-style mini-skirt, and a long length of excess tweed.
One of Felix’s many genius ideas is the meta badge – an accessory whose function is not merely decorative, but which distills the essence of an outfit by capturing it in miniature. As part of WOVEMBER, Felix is offering a bespoke meta badge service: all you have to do is send her a piece of 100% woollen fabric and, for the small sum of £2.50 ($4.00) she will turn it into the ultimate WOVEMBER accessory and post it back to you. I could think of no better use for my excess tweed!
How pleasing is that? Here is the finished bespoke badge in situ on my woolly lapel, together with a couple of other WOVEMBER badges, also made by Felix.
And here is the shortened skirt, together with the rest of my woolly outfit
. . . comprising wool pants, wool base layer, wool tights, wool skirt, wool sweater, wool jacket, wool gloves, WOVEMBER badges, and . . .
. . . wool bag. In fact, the only non 100 % wool parts of my outfit are the bag strap and my boots.
If you want to score your own WOVEMBER badge, or have a bespoke badge made out of your own fabric, then pop over to Felix’s etsy store. She’ll be re-stocking with other tweeds – including bits chopped off the bottom of my skirt – on Monday.
that bag is the COOLEST bag i have ever seen! wow…! where would one admirer such as myself get one : )?
i just stumbled upon this website by accident and its so super cool!
xx
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I’m loving the bag too! Where can I find it?
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yaihii just bought 4 badge :)) thank you for this!!
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yaihii just bought 4 badge :)) thank you for this!!
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I’m rather curious about the wool knickers – did you knit them ? We had some great knitted fish for the Herring Festival in Suffolk by the way – it was a fantastic event. A food festival with a village fete atmosphere, the sunshine helped too but it was really fab with lots of singing & herring weaving going on.
Happy Wovember!
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I’m thirding the request for info on where you got your bag.
Bruce is a damn fine prose stylist.
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Oh, we have a female ‘Bruce’, only her name is Heidi! who loves her ball and sticks too:) You inspired me to go looking for a wool skirt to revamp and found a ‘Murray Brothers of Hawick Scotland” – does anyone know them? Looks to be a very well made skirt – think I scored!!! Now to be brave with the scissors!!
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Great alteration and love the badge idea. But wool pants? Really?! :)
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Fantastic outfit. I love that peculiar satisfaction found in wearing as much wool as possible. Cotton can take a hike!
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When I brought the sweater home I told my kids that I bought a mohair sweater and they asked me what kind of animal a Mo was.
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Beautiful job! Lately I’ve been looking at labels when I’m in vintage stores and it’s very rare to see 100%wool. It’s rare too see anything 100% natural at all. Love the re-purposing of the skirt. I scored a mohair sweater recently for $15 and I love it so much but it’s just not cool enough here yet. Still reading all the time, especially when I need some inspiration.
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I love your Wovember concept ! More so I love your new ebay find, and the great alterations, and the wool buttons and everything ! That particular plaid is *so* you ! Scarily, ebay seems to be the best place to shop these days, if one (like me) doesn’t want to waste hours scouring thrift shops (as I have done for decades, if only there was ebay 20 years ago!) But really, the huge coincidence of this post of yours Kate, is that I had found a kilt or two very recently while thrifting, and two weeks ago a very nice tartan womans skirt , which I *also* am altering as I *also* am very short, and well, is it outright odd that I have been assembling a bit of a similar post. (please don’t think I’m copying, heaven forbid) I have been drafting it into something about wool tartans in general (I will post very soon, still researching). Seems I’m similarly obsessed about the plaid. At least count me in on your Wovember Fans, as clear out in Northern California it’s finally starting to turn cold, enough for me to don my first wool skirts again. I have love, love, loved pure wool forever it seems, and don’t own a synthetic of any kind. I hope this skirt you’ve refashioned, and it’s very lovely colorplay, is the preliminary of a soon-to-be-designed sweater? :)
I really want to follow you in Felix’s and your exodus back toward the wool, and will purchase at least one of the wool badges, as I have many tartans now in my keep, from which to choose. Thank you for such a cool post about such a good cause.
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The badge is fantastic, and that skirt looks fabulous on you. Great job!
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WOV!
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I scored a nice skirt at the op shop this week as well and have featured it in my FB page for Wovember. Got myself a little badge too, great idea :-)
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Your skirt looks really nice, (very brave) reminds me of myself in the 60’s Lol!
I have 3 of that style skirt( the longer) in my wardrobe, a navy, a black and a plaid, cream and chocolate, maybe I should shorten mine. ;-)
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Love your style :)
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Love the skirt transformation from bleh to chic. But what’s keeping you warm is not the wool skirt, but the pants or tights you are wearing under the skirt. Are they wool and where did you get them?
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Wool is the best!
Where did you get that beautiful bag?
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Cool outfit. More Bruce.
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Here is a wooly quote for you from the journal of Barbara Pym, 21 January, 1977: “Oh I have such a feeling for wool. It would be a great joy to work with wool.”
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Rhhaooooh, lovely!
Waouh the badges (I got 3 of them 5 minutes ago on Etsy!)
Waouh the skirt(s)!
Waouh the jacket!
whooooooohhhh the girl!
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Oh, how I love wool skirts! I can’t wear wool directly on my skin (_sometimes_ some very fine merino is ok as a hat/mittens/overscarf) but I wish I could when I see pictures of you in your lovely sweaters. Do you find you get staticky in all that wool? Maybe it’s just the climate here, but I always have to take off any wool before getting in the car or my hair is standing on end by the time we get where we’re going.
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Fabulous revamping! I love it.x
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Love the jacket too! I realise it’s not this season, but where did you get it from? I’m looking for a great tweed jacket and struggling. Like the Jack Wills ones but they’re made in China. Will not do. And most of the jackets around are really boring tweed, with no depth of colour.
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I love your outfit today – great redesign!!
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I thought you might have made a shawl or even a cape from the cut-off fabric – there seems to have been more than enough!
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You look adorable in that mini skirt.
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You’re rocking that skirt, Kate. Great to see tweed looking so contemporary – it’s got a bit of a Vivienne Westwood vibe.
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The skirt is marvelous. In it’s original state it reminded me very much of the skirt I wore for four years of Catholic High School!! The outfit and the whole project are just “woolerful”!! (sorry, couldn’t help it)
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I love it and your jacket too – we’ve just been to Dumfries and Galloway and bought a lovely Harris Tweed Bag in Kirkcudbright made by sunnybunny, Isle of Lewis. When I was younger I had a really nice Hacking Jacket that I bought from Fenwick – wish that I’d hung on to it now. Your article about wool garments that aren’t actually made of wool has really got me checking things now!
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