5 Outfit Formulas You'll Wear All Spring

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• Sarai’s Chelsea Jeans


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Podcast Transcript

Sarai
I'm Sarai.

Haley
And I'm Haley.

Sarai
And this is Seamwork Radio.

Welcome back to Seamwork Radio, where we share practical ideas for building a creative process so you can sew with intention and joy.

Today, we're talking about five outfit formulas you can wear the spring. We're going to cover what an outfit formula is, what makes a good outfit formula, and then five ideas you could incorporate into your own spring wardrobe.

All right, Haley, let's start with our icebreaker for today. So historically, what is your most worn spring garment?

Haley
Spring can be such a hard season to dress for. And I feel like the beginning of spring and the end of spring look so drastically different.

Sarai
It's like many seasons layered together.

Haley
Yeah. Where we live, it feels like just many false starts to spring, wedged in between actual winter.

Sarai
You get tricked a lot.

Haley
Yeah. So I feel like in spring, I start wanting to dress more like, breezy and a little more color and more prints. But realistically, I can't incorporate like, skirts and dresses, and those types of things until much later in the season.

So I have to fake it. I think some of the garments or the items that help me fake it are, I start wearing a little bit less jeans and wearing more lightweight pants, like linen pants and things like that. They still keep me warm, but they feel a little bit more.

Sarai
Yeah, lightweight.

Haley
Lightweight and relaxed in springtime. Also, I feel like clogs really help me fake it. The nice chunky wood heel keeps me high enough off the ground so that my feet aren't in the mud.

Sarai
Yeah, Very important.

Haley
Very important if you live somewhere like us where it rains a lot in the spring. So I feel like those are probably in heaviest rotation. Other than that, it's a slight variation on what I wear in the winter with maybe less wool coats.

Sarai
Yeah. Isn't it so funny? There's so much eagerness in spring. Really? You have so much eagerness for the next season to start and start dressing differently and just feeling that spring weather, that spring feeling. I guess it's good and bad because it's hard to appreciate winter when you're looking forward all the time to the next season.

Haley
I totally agree. Really, when I think about it, the fall season, oftentimes can be a little bit warmer and more accommodating to what we think of as spring clothing than actual spring is.

Sarai
Yeah. I mean, it rains here a lot. I know in a lot of parts of the world, it rains a lot in spring. It does. So when you wear those light colors, they can get dirty.

Haley
Glad it's not just me, and I'm not a total slob.

Sarai
I think my most worn spring garments are probably light jackets because like you say, I swap out my wool coats for light jackets. So I wear my Rhett jacket, which I made in a white, I guess it's a natural color. No, it's white, bull denim. I just love that jacket, and it goes with so many things. So I wear that a lot. It looks great with denim. I think a white spring jacket is a really nice piece to have.

Then also denim skirts, either blue denim or white denim. I wear those in spring. I can wear those with tights if it's cold. Then later in spring, I can remove the tights and wear them with flats or clogs. That's a real workhorse in my wardrobe. Those are a couple of things.

Then I think just pretty blouses are something I wear year-round, and they're really easy to layer. That's something that definitely comes out a lot in the spring and can be layered with sweaters and things like that.

All right. Well, before we get into the episode today, give us your icebreaker if you have one for a future episode. If you're a member, you can go to seamwork.com/go/icebreakers, and that'll take you to a thread on our community where you can leave a question for us that we might use on a future episode.

Okay, so let's talk about outfit formulas. You guys really liked our outfit formulas that we did previously, and you asked for more. So we are obliging today, and we've got a few more for you.

I love talking about this. I think it's really fun to think about as you start planning what you're going to be wearing for the next season to think about how to make outfit formulas that will work for you.

If you're not familiar, an outfit formula is basically just a simple combination of different garments that you think combine really well to create an entire look. It's a formula that you can vary, you can change the individual pieces in it, but it gives you a framework for putting together an outfit and makes it a little bit easier to get dressed. Rather than always pulling together an outfit from scratch, you can really just quickly pull garments that complete your favorite outfit formulas and make something that you know that you enjoy wearing. Haley, what do you think makes a good outfit formula?

Haley
For me, I think something that makes a good outfit formula is something that you're going to use and wear often. The time that I lean into outfit formulas the most is when I don't have the mental or creative space to come up with a cute new outfit, and I just want to go with something tried and true that feels really me. So it has to be simple for me.

One that I wear often is a button-up shirt and jeans and a clog and jewelry. Like, always jewelry to make it look like a little bit like I tried.

For me, an outfit formula is uncomplicated. It's simple and it's something that you just feel really good in always.

Sarai
For me, that's key, that it's comprised of things that you feel your best in. Because I think if you put together a few outfit formulas of things that you know you love to wear and you feel good in. It just makes it really easy. It makes it easy to feel comfortable when you get dressed. I mean, comfortable, like emotionally, comfortable physically. I think that's really important to me. But I think you raise a good point about simplicity. I think that's also important. If it gets too complicated, then it's hard to even remember what it is.

Haley
It takes away the benefit of it, really, if you overcomplicate it.

What would you say is the percentage of your week that you end up leaning into an outfit formula when you're getting dressed?

Sarai
Like 90%. I don't know that I think about them that consciously, but I do tend to wear the same elements and then vary them with the individual pieces. I guess another benefit of them, in addition to just making it easy to feel comfortable and easy to get dressed, is that it creates a consistent style. You feel like yourself because you're wearing things that feel like you. I think that's another thing.

I wear variations on a theme most days, and I really enjoy that. I like that way of dressing, and it makes it easy to decide what to sew, too.

Haley
You raise such a good point about how repetition really helps us to build a consistent personal style. And that makes it a lot simpler to get dressed, but also it makes it a lot simpler to conceptualize our style and our wardrobe and our sewing queue. When you know those things that you lean into the most.

Sarai
It helps you to understand your taste, I think, and really build your own taste. That sense of consistency.

Haley
I agree. I think that I would I also lean into formulas, probably about 90% of the time. I'd say that most weekdays I use a formula to get dressed because I'm trying to get a child dressed and feed myself and her and wrangle the cat.

Mornings are just not my... Mornings during the hustle and bustle of things are not my time to be creative, typically.

But I do make it a point to once or twice a week have a little bit more fun with my outfit and put together things in a way that I haven't put them together before, because I think it's a fun creative practice, and it helps us to hone in on our style and develop new ideas and potentially new formulas. Because all of our favorite outfits, we had to wear them for the first time once.

Sarai
Yeah, that's true, too.

Haley
This doesn't have to be important for everyone, but for me, it's important that the outfit formulas are a really awesome tool, but they don't become a crutch because I still want to have that play.

Sarai
Yeah. I think if you start feeling bored with what you're wearing, then it's time to mix things up a little bit and shop your closet and figure out different ways you can wear the things that you already have.

I've mentioned before, I have some Pinterest boards that are built around various pieces that I already have in my wardrobe, like jeans jeans or a blazer. On the days when I want to do something new, I turn to those and see, Oh, is there a new way I could wear this this thing in my closet?

I think it's really cool because it's a way to add some creativity to your everyday wardrobe without shopping or even making something new, but just reinterpreting what you already have.

Haley
Yeah. Sometimes I like to build outfits around different pieces, like yesterday, I wanted to wear these pink socks, and I was like, I'm going to build my outfit around these pink socks. It ended up being really cute. I got complimented on it a couple of times, and I felt really good about myself.

But it was a fun creative prompt. Usually, I build an outfit around like, “Oh, this cute blouse,” or these shoes I want to wear, or something like that. I don't think I've ever built an outfit around socks before. Or I'll come up with a color palette. Outside of formulas, I like to give myself little creative prompts to work with.

Sarai
Yeah, I did the same thing yesterday. I was going to meet a bunch of friends yesterday, so I was actually leaving the house. So I thought, well, I'll dress nicely. And I had the same idea. I was like, oh, I would like to wear a monochromatic blue outfit. So I looked in my wardrobe and found a blue sweater and really cute blue pants that I hadn't worn in a while. And I got a compliment, too.

Haley
I think that the formula is like, when you lean into them in a consistent way, sometimes it can make it feel really creatively refreshing when you do dip your toes into something a little bit different or something a little new. Sometimes when you do something all the time, it stops feeling as creative. Finding ways to introduce more creativity into those mundane things, like getting dressed, can be fun.

Who do you think can benefit the most from leaning into outfit formulas?

Sarai
I think a lot of people can. I think if you're busy, like you were just talking about, then it's great. It really streamlines things for you. It really streamlines your morning routine if you have them. The simpler you can go with them, the easier it makes it. That's the first thing that comes to mind.

But I think really anybody who's trying to find their style or experiment with their style a little bit, I think it's a really good tool for doing that, figuring what works for you and what doesn't work for you. I feel like really, no matter where you are in your style journey, I don't know what other word to use, I think an outfit formula can benefit you for different reasons. I think if you're somebody who doesn't want to think too much about what you're wearing, then it just makes things easy. If you do want to experiment and play and really find what works for you, then it's a great tool for that as well.

I think pretty much everybody would benefit unless you are maybe... I think the only people who might not enjoy it are maybe people who are in a very experimental stage. If you're really young or if you're going through a huge life transition and you really want to experiment with your style every single day, then maybe it's not for you.

But I don't think most people are in that boat.

Haley
Yeah, I agree. I think maybe it wouldn't work as well for someone who really loves that moment of experimenting and play in the morning when they're getting dressed. If that's how it makes you feel to get dressed every morning, every single morning, then I would say, You can listen to this episode. And maybe you'll get some ideas. But outfit formulas may not be as exciting or as great of a tool for you.

I think other people that can really benefit are people who, or if you're going through a phase in your life where you get dressed in the morning and you leave the house and you don't feel great about what you're in. If that's a trap that you're finding yourself in often, then it might be time to pare it back and start exploring the formulas that make you feel really good physically and emotionally in your body when you're outliving your life and moving through the world.

Formulas are really beneficial for people like that or people who travel a lot.

Sarai
Yeah, definitely great for travel. I think when it comes to sewing, they are extremely helpful because, if you use a wardrobe planning process, if you plan your wardrobe each season like we do with Design Your Wardrobe, it makes it really easy and fun to come up with ideas and really figure out how things are going to work together and how things are going to work within the context of what you already have. It just makes that process a lot easier, and it makes it a lot easier to envision what the final result is going to be and how you're actually going to wear it. That means that you actually wear the things you make more, and that is super motivating.

It's a nice virtuous cycle. All right, let's get into the actual outfit formulas.

All right, so the first one that I wanted to share is a pretty simple one that I tend to wear a lot in the spring, or I wear a variation of this a lot in the spring and the summer, actually, which is a floral dress plus a denim jacket plus sneakers. This is a really fun one.

It's a very classic spring look, and it really combines the femininity of a floral dress with the more casual look of a denim jacket and then the comfort from the sneakers. I wear a variation on this—I mentioned a previous episode that a dress in sneakers was my go-to in high school. That's the thing that I wear all the time.

I don't wear sneakers that much anymore outside of the gym. I'm more likely to wear clogs or something else that's comfortable, but a comfortable shoe for sure. But I love the look. I think the look of a dress in sneakers is really, really cute.

There are a lot of options you could do for this. I mentioned my Rett jacket earlier, which I made in denim. That's a really good choice. I really like the look of that. If you wanted a more classic denim jacket, the Audrey jacket pattern that we have is a very classic denim jacket, and that's very, very cute. I think it looks great with a floral dress like this. If you wanted a more gender-neutral chore-coat option, the Parker pattern is another good, really good option for that.

Then for dresses, there are so many dress options you could do with this. Any dress that appeals to you is going to work. I really like the Benning dress because it has the tiered skirt. It's like a ruffle look at the bottom, so it's a little bit more femme. I think it looks really cute in floral. It would also look really cute in maybe a seersucker or something like that. Really pretty and would look great with denim.

If you wanted a knit, you could go with the Aaronica dress. That would also be really, really pretty. But really, the sky's the limit when it comes to dresses. It's really just about doing it in a floral that you really like and then pairing it with the denim and the comfy shoe. It's easy, easy to wear, comfortable, and it leads you well into summer, too.

Haley
I like how the use of floral print also helps it feel really spring, even if it isn't feeling, climate-wise, quite like spring yet. Incorporating those colors and prints that we associate with the season is a really great way to change it up for the season.

All right, our next outfit formula is probably one of my favorites and something that I wear super often, and this is a white shirt or blouse with high-waisted jeans and a pair of mules.

I really like this because it feels really timeless and chic. I feel like it transitions really well on those days that I have to go from daycare drop off to fitting to meeting to running errands or to going to dinner. I can do all of those and feel not over or underdressed for any of those occasions due to how classic it is.

I also like the freedom that this outfit formula gives me on days that I want to feel more polished and a little more buttoned up. I could use something like the Roan, which is more of a shirt style, like oversize tunic. I have something in linen that works really well, and it feels like I'm a cool, polished artist.

If I want to wear something a little more femme and romantic, I can wear Aims or a more romantic-style blouse like that.

Then also I have some options with jeans. I can wear something like the Chelsea flare jeans to have something a little bit more playful and bring a little different silhouette into it. Or I can go really classic straight leg jean with Tessa. I think both of those pair really well with a mule. I love a mule in the spring because it's closed toe, open back. It's business in the front, party in the back, if you will.

Sarai
I love any shoe that you can just slip on.

Haley
I'm eight months pregnant right now, so that's the name of the game.

Sarai
Don't want to be bending over. Yeah. I'm going in and out of the house all day long. I love a shoe that you can slip on.

I think another variation on this that I really like. I have Chelsea jeans in a corduroy that I made. I absolutely love. They're light blue, like a sky blue corduroy. You could do something like that. I think white jeans also with a white blouse in the spring is so pretty, and it looks really, really polished, especially if you put a belt with it. It just looks... It's one of my favorite outfits to wear.

Haley
I think you bring up a good point in that your formulas can be as specific as you want them to be, as specific as what serves you, really. If keeping it more open-ended and saying a blouse with high-waisted pants and a closed-toed shoe gives you more creative play, then I would say keep your outfit formulas a little bit more open-ended like that.

But if you're someone who has a really consistent wardrobe and lots of variations on the same thing, I am one of those people, then keeping it a little bit tighter might be a little more beneficial for you.

Sarai
Yeah, and it's also a good way to play with the formulas that you wear day to day. If you normally wear something like this and you usually wear blue jeans, and that's a good way to add some variety into your wardrobe, maybe try a pair of colored jeans or something like that, or you could add that into your sewing queue. Maybe I know that I wear blue jeans almost every day, so I'll try this variation on it with the same formula, the same way I normally wear it, and see how that goes. I like that idea a lot.

All right, the next formula we have is very similar to what I'm wearing right now, which is a jumpsuit and sneakers.

I love a jumpsuit. I absolutely love a jumpsuit. I really like, especially a more utilitarian chic look that I just absolutely love the practicality of it, how comfortable they are. I'm wearing a white one right now. It's like my Ghostbusters outfit. I absolutely love it. It's a little bit trendy, but it's also very practical, I think, especially if you go the more utilitarian route with lots of pockets, like the ones that I like to wear.

Then you can just pair them with some comfortable shoes or sneakers. I happen to be wearing slippers right now because we're indoors. But normally, I wear a comfortable shoe with it, either a sneaker or a low boot.

There's a lot of options for this as well. You could do our Mercer jumpsuit or the Campbell jumpsuit, and those both have a more utilitarian look to them. Or if you wanted more breezy, you could do the Del jumpsuit or the Lucy jumpsuit, which is also one of my favorites. Lucy, many of you know, it's also the name of my dog, but the jumpsuit came first, came before the dog.

It's a knit jumpsuit, which makes it super, super comfortable. It's also sleeveless, which I love because I can layer it over things. I can wear a long-sleeved T-shirt or a turtle neck underneath it. It just looks really cute, but it feels as comfortable as pajamas.

Mine is made in a large-scale gingham knit, and it's very eye-catching but very comfy at the same time. I absolutely love it. I think Lucy is a great choice if you want something that you can wear all summer long, and you can also wear it in the fall and the spring, layered over something else.

Haley
It's really good secret pajamas. Yeah. If that's your vibe, then go for it.

Sarai
Absolutely. I think any jumpsuit is great to layer. Right now, I'm wearing, as I mentioned, more utilitarian jumpsuit, and I've layered over a turtleneck, which I do a lot in the winter and the spring when it's cooler. That's another thing you could add into your outfit formula. I guess that's another thing we can mention is that these outfit formulas, these seem like great options for spring, but then you could add in another piece and turn it into an outfit formula for winter, for fall, add a layer underneath, or add a different jacket on top, and take these into different seasons as well.

Haley
Yeah, that's a great point. I think a lot of the formulas that I wear all year round with modifications.

Okay, moving on to outfit formula number 4. This is one that I really like to wear, especially in times where I want to dress up a little bit cuter and dress up a little bit more. But I don't want the fuss of building an outfit from the ground up. I just want a nice comfy formula.

This outfit formula is a lightweight coat, a midi-dress, and an ankle boot. What I like about this is the long lines of this look. If you're someone who really likes to create really long lines in your clothes to either accentuate the long lines of your body, if you are so blessed with those, or if you're like me and you want to make everyone think you're much taller than you are, I like to call it tall girl energy, then this is a great formula for you.

I feel like it's really a lot like the formula of the blouse and jeans and mules I was talking about. I think it has a certain level of sophistication, and also it's very transitional.

I feel like I can wear it again to the daycare drop off to the grocery store and not feel totally out of place, I just feel like I'm dressed really, really well, which is usually the vibe that I'm going for.

I also like it having an outfit formula for this time of year that incorporates a boot or something that's a little bit more of a practical footwear moment. You can wear this with or without tights depending on how cool your climate is.

Some of my recommendations for patterns that pair really well this formula would be the Baz coat. Baz is an unlined coat that we have that has a waist tie. It can be made in knit or in woven because it has a little bit more of a generous fit. It looks super chic, but feels like you're wearing a bathrobe. Highly recommend.

Then, if you want something that feels a little bit more tailored and structured, we have the Francis coat, which is a lined coat, but it sews up really beautifully in lighter-weight fabrics. Think something that would be more akin to a trench coat. So a nice lightweight twill or something like that, it looks really beautiful in.

As far as your dress goes, I feel like you could go a little bit lighter weight, a little slinkier or a little bit cozier, depending, again, on your climate. I think that the Grace dress, which is a slip dress that we have, it's cut on the bias, would be really great and elevated. It would look really beautiful if you wanted something like a little fancier and like a satin, or you can make it in like a rayon challis and like a beautiful floral print or a solid just for something that's a little more casual.

If you are somewhere where you need to dress a little warmer, I think the Devon dress is wonderful. It's a midi-length cocoon silhouette, and it has this really generous funnel neckline that I think actually pairs really great, particularly with something like Baz that has more of the lapel shawl style collar. It looks really good together.

Sarai
Very cozy, too.

All right, our final outfit formula is another favorite of mine, which is a lightweight sweater plus a skirt and clogs. This is just a go-to for me. I like the mix of it being very cozy, but also very pretty and chic at the same time.

I think just combining that lightweight sweater with a skirt and clogs, it's modern, it's comfy.

Some Options for that might be the Lisa cardigan as your sweater layer. I think that's really pretty with a skirt or the Astoria, which is a little bit more of a cropped pullover-style sweater. Both of those would be great options for the sweater layer.

Then for the skirt, you could do the Kenzie skirt, which is a pleated skirt. It's a longer pleated skirt. Really, really pretty with a sweater. Or you could do Dezi, which is my personal favorite. You guys all I love a bias-cut skirt. I have a Dezi in my closet that's a champagne-colored silk and a little fancy. If it's going to be raining, I won't wear it because it's going to get filthy. But if it is one of those brighter, sunnier spring days, I love to wear that with a cream-colored sweater on top for a monochrome look. It's really, really pretty.

Then clogs are a real go-to for me, too. You mentioned them earlier, Haley, but I I think I've been wearing clogs for many, many years, and I'm glad they're coming back into style because they're just so comfortable, and they do give you a little bit of height, which is nice. That's an outfit I love.

I love ballet flats with this look, too, but they're just not very practical for me in the springtime. That's more of a summer thing for me.

Haley
Yeah, maybe late spring.

Sarai
Yeah. When there's no more mud, all chance of mud has passed, then maybe I could wear my ballet flats.

All right, Well, I hope you enjoyed these outfit formulas. I'll just recap them for you guys real quick. The outfit formulas we covered today were a floral dress plus a denim jacket plus sneakers. That's number one.

Number two is a white blouse plus high-waisted jeans plus mules.

Number three is a jumpsuit with sneakers.

Number four is a lightweight coat plus a midi dress plus ankle boots.

Number five is a lightweight sweater plus a skirt plus clogs.

Those are just some ideas for you. You guys could come up with a million and one on your own, whatever works for you. But I hope this gave you some ideas for things that you can try this spring and maybe some new ones you could incorporate if you already have outfit formulas that work for you.

Just to wrap us up, Healy, what outfit formula are you most excited to wear this spring?

Haley
I'm really excited to wear jeans again because right now I have a big pregnant belly and I can't wear any of my jeans. So by default, I have to go white blouse, high-waisted jeans, and mules. Also, anything button front when you have a nursing baby is like, the GOAT. So I'm going to go with that. It feels more practical. I may not go with white in this season of my life, but definitely a variation on that formula.

Sarai
Yeah. I think for me, the one that I'm most excited to wear would be the sweater and skirt and clogs combo. I'm into skirts right now. I really like the idea of wearing skirts. That's a fun one for me.

I think a variation on that for me is a dress with a sweater over it, which has the same look as wearing a skirt with a sweater, so very similar. But I'm really into like, textured sweaters, highly textured sweaters right now. That's something that I think will continue through the rest of spring. So very excited about that.

All right, well, if you want to plan some outfit formulas for yourself, our free planner has some pages that can help you do that. Our free sewing planner is a printable tool to help you design and plan your sewing projects. It includes pages for sketching looks, for planning out individual projects with your sketches and your swatches, and you can print as many pages as you need. That is available for free for you at seamwork.com/go/planner, and we will send it to you.

If you like this episode, please consider leaving us a review on whatever podcast platform you're listening to us on right now. We really, really appreciate getting reviews from you. If you don't have time to leave a review, you could also leave a rating. If you leave a five-star rating, that really helps other people to discover the podcast. It's very motivating for us, too. We read every single review, and they always make us super happy.

So thank you to everybody who has left us a review. You can also follow us on YouTube at Seamwork Video, and that's where you'll find videos of all the things that I'm making right now. You can see my wardrobe coming together in-progress throughout the season.

That's it for us this week. I'm Sarai.

Haley

And I'm Haley.

Sarai
And this is Seamwork Radio.