Spring 10x10 Challenge Kick-off

This past weekend kicked off the spring 10x10 challenge hosted by Caroline of UnFancy and Lee of Style Bee, which I've done twice before.  If you follow me on Instagram, you'll have gotten a sneak preview of day 1 of my challenge, but I wanted to do an overview to start of with on the blog.  The basic premise is to take ten articles of clothing (not including accessories), and wear just them for the next ten days.  There are a few different motivations for doing so, but my primary reason is to get better at styling what I have in different ways, as I tend to get in a rut and wear the same things in the same way over and over.  It's a fun way to do a seasonal reset and try new things!  IRL, I'm on day three, but I'll probably do a post every few days or so, and I will be continuing my daily outfit sketches on instagram (@lmcwethy), so if you're too impatient, you can always check what I'm up to there!

Caroline and Lee encourage not spending a lot of time picking out the items, but I am an overthinker!  My basic strategy is to check the weather, figure out how many days I'm going to be in the office, make sure I have a good mix of garment types, stick to a fairly basic color palette but with a bit of bright color thrown in, and this time I focused on adding in some me-made garments!  I didn't end up with as many as I hoped, as I tend to be attracted to busy, colorful fabrics, but I tried!  Without further ado, here is what I'm working with:

The weather should be fairly stable in the 60s/70s, with a few outliers, so I didn't have to worry too much about that.  I'm shooting for 3 days in the office so I have a pair of dress pants and dressier loafers in the mix.  My color palette is black/white/blue, which I'm feeling these days.  You may notice that I have only nine items pictured above, and that's because I have plans to sew up a top in the next day or so.  Maybe a bit ambitious, but it should be quick, and it will fit in well.

Tops:

J. Crew blue tank - I hemmed and hawed on this one, thinking I should instead do a me-made top (of which I have a few different blue options available, but in the end I figured having a basic knit tank in the mix was a good thing.

Boden black/cream striped tee - I really love this tee, with the scooped neck, fitted but not too fitted, and the thin black stripe/wider cream stripe, plus I'm just always a sucker for a striped shirt of any kind.

Me-made grey striped blouse - This was a recent make I have yet to blog, but it was a bit out of the box for me, with it's ginormous sleeves and verticle stripes.  I like it, and I get a lot of complements, but I'm still not exactly sure it's my style.

Lilla P. cream cardigan - I like this one, but I'm not sure I love it.  Dolman sleeves are not my jam, as I think I look best with more fitted through the bust tops, but I'm giving it a go.  It's my only white/cream topper at the moment, so it's filling a gap, but not perfect.

Kut from the Kloth white jean capris - I got these last year and didn't wear them a ton.  I know it's not white pants season yet, but I want to wear them more, so this is a good opportunity.  Although when I wore them yesterday I quickly learned that white pants and jumpy little dogs don't go super well together - oops!

Boden black ponte cropped trousers - My wardrobe has a fair amount of Boden in it these days.  I just really like their style and they are generally good quality clothes.  I bought these pants, the full-length version, and a blazer last year as I needed a new suit, and they've been great.  I love that they are machine washable and super comfy.  

Boden overalls - These were a recent impulse purchase, as they were from the girls section on super clearance.  They were a bit of a gamble fit-wise, but I love them and have worn them a lot over the past few weeks.

Sam Edelman blue loafers - I was on a search for blue shoes last fall and never found anything I liked.  I got these this spring, and they are brighter than I was anticipating, but they are fun!

Franco Sarto black leather espadrille sneakers - I'm a sneaker girl!  I loved my old Superga black sneakers, but my mischievous puppy decided to eat one of them (luckily that's the only shoe casualty so far).  I wasn't planning on replacing them, as I have a pair of light grey sneakers that are a good neutral, but I loved the slightly dressier look of these espadrilles.

So there you have it - we'll see how I do!  Both of the other challenges I did I ended up bending the rules a bit, so I do give myself a little leeway, but I like to push myself as much as possible!