Closet Clean Chapter 3

We’ve reached Chapter 3 of this Closet Clean series, covering assessment and repair! I meant to send this out earlier this week, but life intervened to make doing so impossible.

Before I get into this chapter, I do want to take a moment to mention that there are just a few copies left of my zine, Food Is a Mother, made in collaboration with Mother Tongue Magazine. This is the second volume of this curated collection of recipes, art and stories made in celebration of Mother’s Day, with all proceeds benefitting Little Essentials, a NYC-based on-profit focused on eliminating poverty for families with children under the age of 5 using resource and education-based supports.

This year’s contributors includes recipes by:

me, Aran Goyoaga, Batsheva Hay, Camille Becerra, Carol Song, Daphne Javitch, Gina Bruno Knopov, Heather Sperling, Jacqueline Greaves, Michelle Sellers, Monique Fortune, Natasha Pickowicz, Nina Clemente, Paris Starn, Phoebe Tran, Sofia Flores Florencia, and Trinity Mouzon

Art by:

Cynthia Edorh, Dana Barrington, Francesca Wade, Jenni Hiltunen, Katy Smail, Nicki Sebastian, Rachel Deutsch, Shaniqwa Jarvis, Sunny Sanaz Shokrae, Suzanne Saroff and Vanessa Saba

And beautiful words by:

Bonnie Morrison, Fiorella Valdesolo, Rachel Cargle and Valentina Ackerman

Regardless of whether you enjoy or celebrate Mother’s Day, this zine was designed to enjoy and celebrate caregiving in all its forms, and makes an excellent gift for a loved one. Last year they sold out before everyone got a copy and then a lot of people were disappointed to not get a copy, so now I am trying to be more vocal about the limited availability. Enjoy!

Now, moving on to Chapter 3: Assessment.

At this point, if you’ve been following along, you should have your ideal high-functioning wardrobe in your closet and your storage and care items ready and able to take on storing things away, The step in between is to assess and repair.

1. Prepare

2. Edit This Season’s Wardrobe 

3. Assess and Repair (you are here 📍)

4. Gift, Sell, Donate, Repair

5. Storage

6. Living With Your Things

Like most things that are very necessary and responsible, this dispatch might be the least fun. However, repairing and caring for the things you already own can prolong that item’s life by potentially decades, and when you prolong the life of something you have you are less likely to need or want to buy something to replace it.

I have been collecting clothing for about twenty years–which doesn’t mean I have twenty years of clothing on hand, I have given a lot of it away to friends, or, as a last resort, sold or donated it. But I have items of clothing I’ve owned since I was 19, and owning those pieces of clothing and being motivated by the desire to extend their life has helped me create this checklist for everything I am about to store (or, for seasonless things like loafers and sweaters, things I plan to continue wearing). Here is the checklist:

Shoe Repair

Take a look at the heels, toe boxes, seams, of your shoes. If you don’t immediately resole all shoes you purchase (I don’t, and my shoe repair person yells at me every time), you probably need to bring in anything leather-soled to a shoe repair shop to shore up the soles. This is also true for any high heels, especially if the heel is narrow or stiletto, no matter how high or low it is. Doing this twice a year will cost a little bit…. but not more than replacing your shoes when they have irreparably fallen apart due to over-work, or exposure to rain or dirt or anything else. I love - LOVE - walking everywhere and this is the price I pay to do so.

If you’re in NYC, I recommend the shop I have been bringing my shoes to since forever, Cowboy Shoe Repair. A shoe repair shop should be a lifelong relationship, so it’s worth it to search around the for one that works for you.

One other thing I love to do, which is far less expensive but still very worth your time, is give some of my more well-loved shoes a clear polish treatment to breathe a little fresh life into them, if they don’t need any more serious repairs.

Sweater Inspection

Holes happen, and catching them early makes a big difference. Before I pack anything away, and also for any sweaters I plan to hold on to for travel, beach, country, whatever, I like to give everything a once over and look for holes or degradation. If they need repair, there are two options:

First, learning how to darn a sweater hole yourself, an irreplaceable life skill, and second, bringing the sweaters to a professional to repair. The professional I recommend in New York is French American Reweaving Company.

Sweater repair is another necessity that feels expensive while it’s happening to you, but if you remember how exponentially the cost of good quality sweaters has risen in the last few years, it should help you stomach the price of repair.

Sew Your Own Buttons

For god’s sake, if you have not yet learned how to sew a button, do it now. No one will judge you for not having learned until now, just do it.

Repair Your Hems

Same as above, if it’s just a fallen hem and no other damage, just learn how to do it yourself. Then you can spend an afternoon listening to an audiobook and sewing all of your buttons and hems.

Handbags!

This isn’t a real repair situation per se, but clean out your handbags! Like wipe them down! Vacuum them! Take out the weird receipts and errants cough drops and half-done lip balms. Even if you’re not putting them away, just do it, you’ll thank me later.

More Serious Alterations

If you’re ready to take something in, or let something out, or turn something into a mini skirt, or hack off the sleeves, this is the right time to take it to the tailor. Like a cobbler, a tailor is another long term relationship in your life, so finding the right one to rely on from year to year will make a big difference! If you’re in NYC, I recommend Shopboy, but it is equally possible to find a tailor at your local dry cleaners, you just need someone you can communicate well with.

That’s it! Get all this repair, upkeep and alterations taken care of, then the next chapter in this series will be addressing the things we are ready to part with.

til then!

x Anja