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How to Mix Clothing Pieces Fabric Weight, Pattern and Formality by Nikki Willhite To make the most of your clothing budget, I have long advocated a mix-and-match clothing strategy. <How to Save Money with Mix-and-Match Clothing>   When all your sweaters, pants, skirts, etc. go together, you can make a lot of outfits with a small amount of clothing. Here are a few more tips to make the mix-and-match clothing strategy even more effective. 1- Fabric Weight Fabric can be light, like chiffon and seersucker, or it can be heavy, like wool. What makes a fabric light or heavy is the thread. On heavier fabrics, you usually have more threads per inch, and they are thicker threads. No one puts wool on in the summer. You naturally reach for lighter fabrics, like cotton. Most people instinctively know that fabrics that are so different in weight do not look good together. However, what a lot of people overlook is that you don't have to wear wool in the winter. When you buy a season specific garment, you limit your options. It is a much more thrift friendly strategy to buy garments that can be worn year round. Medium weight cotton, gabardine, and other similar fabrics can be worn year round, and hence a better frugal option. It doesn't make any difference to your clothing mix-and-max strategy if your coat is wool, but you limit the versatility of your wardrobe by purchasing other items in season specific fabrics. 2- Pattern Buy a blazer with a pattern, and you have just limited how often you can wear it. The same is true when you purchase other clothing with pattern for your wardrobe.  You will save the most money if you limit your pattern to the upper part of your body.  When you start buying skirts and pants with pattern, then you will have pieces that will not look good together when the pattern either clashes or when the outfit looks too busy. 3- Formality A blazer looks nice with jeans, and is a popular look for both men and women. However, usually you cannot break up a suit and wear the jacket with your jeans  Blazers have more casual lines and are made of fabrics with more texture. Suits are more formal, and the difference in formality between jeans and a suit makes them incompatible. Formal fabrics are usually without texture, and many of them have a sheen.  You cannot wear formal fabrics with informal fabrics like corduroy. To save the most money on your clothing, limit those pieces which are not versatile.  Everyone needs a few special occasion items, but remember that they are not the backbone of your wardrobe and not frugal when you count the cost per wearing. About the Author: Nikki Willhite, mother of 3 and an interior design graduate, has been writing and publishing articles on the topic of frugal living for over a decade. Visit her at www.frugalhappyfamilies.com - where you will find hundreds of frugal living tips and articles. Frugal Happy Families- more than just money!

 

 

 

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