Hi friends! I’m super excited to be sharing this guest post with you today… for a couple of reasons. First, I just got back from New York, am sick, and am up to my elbows in paint (we’re frantically trying to get our house ready to sell). So I’m more than happy to hand over the reigns to someone else so I can get some non blog stuff done (#reallife). But most importantly, my second reason: I’ve been wanting to put together a capsule wardrobe for Kit for a very long time and so when Elizabeth from Cheeky Days reached out to me wondering if she could share her toddler capsule with you guys I jumped at the chance! So without further ado, I’ll let her take over!
So where do I start? Well I’m Elizabeth and I blog about mom and kid adventures and style over at Cheeky Days… And I’m a huge fan of Truncation! I’ve been following along and watching Karin create beautiful capsule collections for a while and she’s totally inspired me.
After a lot of should I or shouldn’t I, I finally decided to put together my first capsule collection for my little one! And let me tell you, I give Karin major props because narrowing down a closet to 40 pieces is a lot harder than it sounds.
I started by taking everything out from my little one’s closet. Next since we were transitioning from winter to spring I removed and stored all the winter items. After that I started counting all his pieces… let me just say there was a lot, like way too much, like oh my gosh I can’t believe I’ve never counted his clothes before and he really has that much. So it took me several sessions to pair down and pair down and pair down until I reached the magic number of 40. There were tears involved folks, I didn’t realize how attached I had become to not only my clothes, but his too.
When I look at what we ended up with I’m pretty happy and excited! My little one even helped pick some of the items in the capsule, shirts and shoes that he loves and wears regularly. The capsule is sprinkled with pieces from some of our fav stores (Gap Kids, Zara, Old Navy, Converse, Toms, Carters, Osh Kosh) that serve as our staples, as well as pieces from small businesses (Wee Rascals, Beacon Threads, Nano, Kapital K, Whistle & Flute, Everlane) and a couple of stores from the UK (Next Direct & Monsoon).
Since this was our first toddler capsule wardrobe, I went with what I know and what’s been working for us. Some basics like skinny jeans, colored harem trousers, unisex tees, polo shirts, tees with dinosaurs, pineapples and cars. We also have a fairly even amount of neutrals and colors/prints. I love mixing prints and patterns so I feel like we’ll have fun this spring mixing it all up. I always enjoy a wardrobe with great basics that can be jazzed up or allow you to keep it simple and that’s what we tried to accomplish here.
I will say Karin has not only inspired me to create a capsule, but to start paying attention to ethical fashion as well. And for our next capsule it’s definitely an element I want to incorporate. What’s also great about this is, all the pieces that we removed from his closet will be donated to our local homeless shelter and be sold on the Kidizen app (which is great place to buy and sell pre-loved clothing). So I love that the clothes we loved so much will find new homes!
Thanks Karin for your inspiring work and for letting us share our first capsule collection journey with you!!!
First of y’all, your baby is adorable. Secondly, will you please dress me?! I love the style!
Hi Katie! Thanks so much! Styling a little boy came with it’s initial challenges, but now I love getting creative to put looks together for him. Helping people find their style is one of my favorite things and it’s one of the reasons I started blogging. Send me an email at elizabeth@cheekydays.com or message me on FB or Instagram and I’d love to talk to you more about styling.
Literally SO CUTE! I can’t wait to have kids and have always wanted boys for this exact reason. They’re so much fun and look adorable in their little outfits. haha
Hi Ginger! I know it’s so much fun to dress up little ones. I’m so glad my little boy loves to wear a bow tie, even when he’s digging for worms in the mud 🙂
Umm…. I think I will be purchasing some fun gifts for my nephews. These are adorable!!
Thanks Jessica! It is so much fun putting together cool and unique looks for little ones, especially when dressing boys! If you ever need more cool style ideas for your nephews check us out on Instagram, we post our daily looks.
As a grandma this helps me out tons. Choose whole outfit or several
Thanks Candy! I’m so glad to hear it, I love when we can share some style inspiration with others!And I know we love when grandma gives us gifts, especially cool outfits 🙂
Kids clothes can be so overwhelming! I feel like my daughter has so much at times or is growing so fast it’s hard to keep track of what we have and what fits! This would be so helpful to do!!
Libby, I totally feel the same way! Doing this capsule collection was so helpful! And it’s also why I’m such a huge fan of Kidizen, it’s such a great place to sell my little one’s clothes that he’s outgrown. I have definitely found that with having less in his closet it has given us more creativity without feeling so overwhelmed.
I’ve never thought of doing this for my kids! It’s an awesome idea though and would definitely help in the getting dressed battle every morning. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Ashley! It has absolutely helped with the getting dressed battle 🙂 I was fortunate and my little one really didn’t care about what I put on him until recently, but lately he’s really been asserting his opinion on what he wants to wear. Trimming back and truncating his wardrobe has made it easier for both of us and I just love that Karin inspired me to do this!
I love this idea. I lost count of how many cloth my little one has but in my defense I have to say, that I only bought 2 outfits for her in the past year. Everything else her grandparents send over from Germany. It’s their only way for most of the year to spoil her … so we just keep collecting cloth I assume 🙂
Hi Jasmin! I totally get that, my family loooooves to give my little one clothes too. We’ve collected so much throughout the years and I have such a bad habit of just keeping it because I become emotional attached. Creating this capsule wardrobe was super helpful and I’m glad we could share it with you!
This is the cutest thing i have ever seen.
I can only imagine how many clothes my future children are going to have.
xoxo, Jenny
Thanks so much Jenny!! I know there are so many cute kids clothes out there for boys and girls, it’s so hard not to just keep buying. I think the best thing is identifying and curating a style for your little one just like we do for ourselves.
Never thought of doing a capsule wardrobe for my boys, but what a great idea! Thanks for this!
Thanks Cara! I know I’m so glad that I found Karin, she’s been a huge inspiration for me to trim back not just for myself but for my little one too. Styling boys can be so much fun and before I realized it he had a closet jammed packed with clothes, so creating this capsule wardrobe was so needed for us. We share lots of boy style on Instagram so we’d love for you to check us out 🙂
We are getting read to move over to capsule wardrobes for our kids right now. Thanks for the tips.
Hi Julia! That’s great! I was totally inspired by Karin and so happy that I did it. I think keeping some basics that you know will work for you, but still add unique elements that represent their personal style is key.
The thought of trying to par down my babies clothes makes me want to drink all the coffee!!
Haha Bethany!! I think I did drink ALL the coffee when I did this (and maybe some wine too) 🙂 I totally get that. Trust me I procrastinated on it and took my time while doing it, but it was so helpful in the end and so glad I took the plunge.
How adorable! Your little man is quite a bit more stylish than mine. 😉
Hi Susannah! Thanks so much! I love all little one’s they all have a style of their own. I think finding foundation basics you know work and adding unique pieces that represent their personality is key. For boys adding some accessories like sunglasses, hats, cool scarves and even suspenders and bow ties helps add a cool and new style element… I think for girls people always think accessories but it’s not always an automatic go to for boys. And depending on how old your little one is, let them be a part of the selection process, then getting them to wear it is so much easier 🙂 We post daily style on our Instagram so we’d love for you to check us out for more boy style!
Even at only 40 items it looks like there are so many options. I love the prints and adorable styles. I really want to make a capsule for a kid now. But I don’t have kids. Anybody want me to rummage through their kids clothes? Hahaha.
Wow! I love it! your little one likes the sunglasses, huh? that’s so great!
(And Karin, you had mentioned the possible move when we got together! Congratulations!)
Thanks Gianna! We’re pretty excited!