Source: What I Wore, Bought and Sewed In January (+December) Publisher: Cartoons Hate Her | Author: Cartoons Hate Her Published: February 11, 2026 | Archived: March 21, 2026

For those of you new subscribers: although I usually cover social dynamics and culture, I enjoy writing about fashion a few times a month. To wrap up each month, I like to cover my favorite outfits, buys and sewing projects of the month (yes, I sew! I sew a lot! Way too much, honestly.) If you’re curious about what I wore, bought and sewed, keep scrolling. If this isn’t your thing, rest assured there will be non-fashion content coming tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day.

Before I get to the fits, I wanted to update you all on the very serious hair color situation that some of you have been eagerly monitoring with bated breath. Last time I wrote about my hair, I was fixing an accidental Goth-black dye job and wound up with a much softer dark brown. See, original accidental black:

Well, ultimately I decided I wanted to go much lighter (but stay in the realm of brunette) so I waited a couple months, touched up my roots with Wella 7NN and then bleached everything that was darker than my new 7NN growth. TLDR, now it’s a fun light-medium reddish brown:

Ignoring the 2019 styles, this is still basically true

As we enter a new year, I’ve started to think about my fashion goal for the year. I am not even bothering with any silly “Don’t buy anything all year” resolution because: LOL. However, I did want to think about what I’m buying, because I have a tendency to buy things that I think are cool but never wear, because I really like them as isolated art pieces, not as clothes.

I’ve had vague “fashion goals” for different years. In 2024, I basically wanted to start dressing like myself again after having a baby, and I leaned really hard into excessively formal Chanel-inspired co-ord sets, pastels and heels, but realistically, loungewear most of the time. I did try to shoehorn the formal stuff into my everyday life, but this meant having a mental breakdown while trying to drag a petulant three-year-old and whining infant to an Easter brunch on a rainy day, just so I could wear a pastel tweed suit. Oh, the sacrifices I so selflessly make.

In 2025, I moved away from athleisure but also felt a little embarrassed by how costumey and Barbie-ish my wardrobe had become. I wanted to go a little more classic, take fewer risks, and dress better for my body type and age. I shopped at a lot at Aritzia. Sounds boring, but I do think my 2025 outfits (especially autumn onwards) were a lot better than my 2024 outfits. (Also, this could just be the linear passage of time posing as a phony “fashion evolution” sooo…)

Anyway, for those of you who just wanted to see outfit photos, sorry for that yapping. They’re coming.

First, outfits of December, including some holiday fits.

For a while I’ve wanted to pair my new Vagabond mary jane heels with matching red tights, and I thought these Sheertex ones were perfect. They are slightly different, which I find a bit unnerving, but I figured they were close enough. I also used a hair tie to secure my belt around my waist without the excess leather flapping around—one of you suggested it, I forget who (thank you.) For those curious, the jacket is one of my favorite blazer cuts of all time, the Standout Blazer from Aritzia.

Now, for something a bit more casual. This is probably my favorite-ever sweater, and in hindsight it’s too short to pair with leggings but I just didn’t have many opportunities to wear real clothes this month, so in the words of my son’s Pre-K teacher, “you get what you get and you don’t get upset.” Anyway, it’s the black sheep sweater, inspired by the one worn by Princess Diana, from Rowing Blazers. The boots are a very old Aquatalia style that I also got second hand.

And for New Year’s Eve this year, we had no shot of going to a party (or finding childcare so we could attend a hypothetical one) so we decided to do a fancy daytime lunch with our kids instead. I wore this Alessandra Rich tweed suit which has always been my go-to for fancy daytime outings.

Plus coat:

What happens when I combine two old reliable staples? A pretty safe but nice-looking outfit. I wore my trusty Abercrombie curve love Sloane trousers with my Aritzia golightly cardigan. Basic AF! But arguably my most flattering outfit of the month.

This one is really more of a sewing project, but this one project has created two outfits thus far, so here you go. First, I sewed this plaid coord set, which I wore for loungewear but I’m not above wearing either piece (or both) outside the house:

Shockingly, I didn’t really do a lot of Black Friday shopping, mostly because I was so focused on sewing and worrying about various diseases. But I did get some things after the holidays!

While I have almost nowhere to wear this, I had to jump on a second-hand deal to buy this really cool Sandro chainmail-trim co-ord set for only \(100. I will find a way to wear this, even if it means showing up in it to my son’s karate class. Mark my words! s_!sQiI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7e4a286-227a-484c-9655-d296f8da597e_580x580.webp)

I am also (finally) hopping on the long slip skirt bandwagon, so this one in dark green was a must:

Closer up:

I also discovered this cool “made to order” designer called Yitai, and I couldn’t tell if it was a complete scam or legit. I can only wear 100% cotton sweaters, and his sweaters are 100% cotton, really interesting, and just affordable enough ($160) to make you feel like you’re getting a decent deal on a nice designer product, without being so cheap that it’s giving Temu. I had my eye on this porcelain-inspired sweater, but ultimately found it on eBay for \(100. I got a M (they’re unisex) so for someone who prefers things as tight and small as possible, it does feel a little weird wearing something SO oversized, but I think sweaters like this look best a little big: s_!DEdI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F69ef139e-e677-4965-8739-374a5c09488d_1000x742.webp)

I eventually wore it for my friend’s baby shower with Madewell Emmett jeans:

I did not buy the lavender fields sweater, but I sure would like to. Unfortunately, it’s \(280 so I may have to keep scouring eBay: s_!tLVc!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7f259e19-684c-4f1f-92dc-dc72801bfcd6_640x788.png)

Now, thanks to some Christmas gifts from relatives and a customer service snafu related concession, I ended up with a ton of TheRealReal store credit after Christmas. I am really getting into primary colors for spring 2026, plus pops of purple. I’m most focused on cobalt blue. I actually don’t have a lot of cobalt in my wardrobe, so thank goodness for TheRealReal! Behold, my finds:

This purple chenille Sandro cardigan:

This striped Caroline Constas dress (only \(68!) s_!HA-4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9d9b024e-bd02-4363-b882-4360d0e100f4_544x696.png)

100% cotton Rag and Bone sweater. Sorry to keep mentioning price, I know it’s tacky, but this one was \(33!!! s_!4etU!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6a569525-4a23-4cdc-8844-32859f3da963_514x668.png)

Sandro preppy mini dress:

For Christmas, I made my husband a cool sweatshirt in one of his favorite colors. He really likes various patches/colorblocking, so I got a little creative and went to Spoonflower for cotton knit fabric printed with vintage coffee ads. Then I sewed those patches onto a sweatshirt I made using now-discontinued deadstock teal sweatshirt fleece from Lyrical Fabrics.

Of course, I had to make two stockings for my kids. My son loves monkeys and my daughter loves dogs, so I stayed on theme. Both fabrics were from Spoonflower—you can find the monkeys here and the dogs here.

And then using the cotton knit version of the dog fabric (I used minky for the stocking) I made a co-ord set for my daughter. I’m really loving the empire waist tunic paired with the silhouette of the wide-leg pants.

I also made this cute black and white coord set for my daughter, using black polka dot cotton knit fabric from Lyrical Fabrics. I’m planning on sewing a maxi dress for myself using this fabric, so hopefully come spring that will be ready too.

And teeny tiny baby pants for my daughter in green and blue, both really nice lightweight corduroy fabrics from Lyrical Fabrics:

And this cute cold-weather spring outfit for my daughter. The fleece for the sweatshirt is Spoonflower and the corduroy for the pants are an old fabric from Lyrical that isn’t listed online anymore:

And a Valentine’s Day dress, again using (broken record) Spoonflower fabric: