I'll Stitch yo Fix.

Disclaimer: you're about to see a lot of poor quality pictures of my mug.  Consider yourself warned.

As you've learned by now, I've apparently taken up a new hobby.  I review stuff.  I don't claim to be an expert.  I don't claim to be the voice of the majority.  But I do like to share my opinion on things and what is this blog for, if not to be a venue for my many ridiculous thoughts?

Y'all, I was so excited about Stitch Fix.  Just ask Nick. I wouldn't shut up.

For those that didn't read the post a couple weeks back, here's the recap of how it works.

1.  Cut a hole in the box.
2. Take a style quiz.
3. Pay $20 Stylist Fee.
4. 5 items, tailored to your tastes, body type, etc arrive at your front door. 
5. Each piece has an accompanying "style" card to show you what to pair it with.
6. You have (3) business days to decide what you like.  Your $20 stylist fee gets credited towards any purchase you make.  Buy all 5 items?  Get 25% off all of them.
7. Return anything you don't like in the pre-paid envelope provided and go online to give your feedback on each item to better design your next fix.

For those that want the Cliff Notes version of what I'm about to write, my first fix was alright, and I'll be trying again with higher expectations.

For those who want details, brace yourself for a boat load of off topic observations and pop culture references.

After taking a brief but comprehensive style quiz, I sent my fashion juju out into the world and with bated breath, awaited to see what the style gods returned to me.   Perhaps that was my first mistake.  I tend to set grand expectations for things (for instance, assuming at the first game of every season that my beloved Wolfpack will go undefeated) and am often disappointed.  But I fancy myself an optimist and tend to handle reality better than you'd expect.

One of the things that likely made this a challenge for my stylist (heyyyyy, Arielle) was that I don't think I have a clearly defined style and my survey reflected as much.  I'm well known for wearing absurdly high heels to work with a pencil skirt and blouse, while feeling equally myself in a pair of jeans and Vans.  I unashamedly go to the grocery store in sweatpants but love new trends I can wear on a date with Adam Nick.   I doubt anyone could look at me and classify me as preppy, emo, or any other clique you'd find in the local high school cafeteria.   This was part of the reason Stitchfix appealed to me: I'm an enigma.  Wrapped in a riddle.  Dipped in mystery.

Or maybe I'm just indecisive.

But enough blabber.  What was I sent?

1) MAISIE 3/4 SLEEVE FRONT GATHERED TOP

It really wasn't this wrinkly, I just didn't bother smoothing it out.

I mentioned to the stylist that I had just had a baby a few months ago so I was not looking to go exposed midriff a la Kelly Kapowski.  In fact, I specifically asked for tops that would camouflage that beautiful post-partum fluffiness.  I can see how the concept of this shirt was intended to do that but it wasn't very successful.  The other big issue I had was the color.  It's a royal purple color, but sorry peeps, I don't wear that shade.  My mother looks awesome in that color.  Me?  I just imagine I'll be stopped by people on the streets telling me how "purpley" I am.  And that's only cute in a movie.

That's an arrow I added that says "no."  Paint for the win!

2) BRENTWOOD JERSEY STRIPE TIERED TOP

This was the only item I received that had a pattern, and still...it was a stripe.  Not that I'm anti-stripe, but I felt like the only non-solid maternity options for clothing were stripes.  And I was pregnant for 17 months so I'm a little over stripes for now.  Again, I can see that this shirt was intended to disguise my kangaroo pocket, and I actually think it's quite successful.  Nick liked this best of all of them.  But at $68, it felt overpriced.

(I feel like I should pause for a minute and mention that I'm rather frugal when it comes to...well, everything.  I spend very little on clothing and always have.  Yes, I have a few nicer pieces that carry me from season to season...but unless I've discovered it on the sale rack at Target or a discount store like TJ Maxx, it's probably not coming home with me.)

I really was close to getting it.  It made me wanna pose.

3) ABRIANNA LONGSLEEVE KNIT CARDIGAN

I think my face says it all here.  I couldn't figure out why this was in my box.  Yes, it was deliciously soft and well made.  Yes, it was one of the cheaper items in the box ($48), but a solid gray cardigan that hangs past my butt?  Did I mention I was a former nun somewhere in my style profile?

That being said, I almost kept it.  I'd gotten a bit of Stitchfix moolah for my birthday and once my $20 styling credit was applied, this was only going to be $8.    It was just so soft.

But then I asked myself, "if you saw this gray frock at a store, would you drop almost 50 bones on it?"  CHILD, PLEASE.  That's how they get you.  You don't want to "lose" your $20 styling credit, so you make exceptions.  But you have to get up pretty early in the morning to pull one over on me.  And I was up at 6:15 this morning with my kid so...

I shan't be fooled.

4) AMRITA SKINNY JEAN

I love these jeans.  They are stretchy and a fabulous deep jewel tone color (teal).  And they were interesting.  At least the most interesting thing in the box.  Man, I really do love these pants.  Fit great, I could wear them tons of places...But here's the thing: they were too long.  Nothing a simple hem job wouldn't fix (I could even do it myself), but another reason I liked SF was that I no longer have free time to go shopping.  Occasionally I'll feverishly rifle through the clearance section of Target while Nick buys mouthwash, but the concept of spare time is now a bit foreign.  So finding the time to take them to a tailor or do it myself (ha!) was just not going to happen.   So long, lover.

Technically not my mug.  Technically, my butt.  

 5) ROCCO 3/4 SLEEVE FAUX WRAP DRESS

Coming in with the hat trick of tummy-hiding pieces was this fantastic black faux wrap dress.  It was really well made, fit fantastically, and I felt great in it.  At $88, it was a bit on the pricey side, but the dress was so extremely versatile that I could have justified the cost.  Only problem?  I have a dress almost identical to it sitting in my closet already.  And THAT would have been hard to justify.

So all of it goes back.  Womp womp.  I'm a little disappointed because I was looking forward to some new threads to wear at Christmas.  (Nothing like celebrating our Savior's birth with some fresh swaddling clothes.) 

Here are the positives: everything fit pretty well (they carry sizes 0-14 currently) and everything seemed to be legit quality.  Everything felt like it'd last a while.  The prices were a little higher than I'd indicated I'd spend, but I think Arielle was working on dressing my post-pregnancy body more than she was keeping within my budget.  

So I'm going to try again.  The nice part is there's a pre-paid bag I can drop the clothes in and send back, hassle free.  And when you go online to your account, you can give detailed information about what you did and didn't like about each piece.  I've already adjusted my style profile to include more patterns and more adventurous pieces.  I played it a bit conservative before and got almost exactly what I asked for.  Turns out it wasn't actually what I wanted.

I dunno, you guys.  Maybe this IS a good look for me.

For anyone that would like to try for themselves, click here.  I'd love to see what you think of your fix.  I'll be sure to report back once my next box arrives.  In the meantime, I'm off to change my size preferences to accommodate the entire tin of Christmas cookies I'm about to crush.  I'm kidding.  

Sort of.