It’s time to examine the full horror of my 2023 post-mastectomy summer wardrobe update.

2023 Post-Mastectory Summer Plan Recap

I happily said, all I need is a dog walking dress and another top for $395; just enough to get me through the season.

And that would’ve been perfect at $353.

2023 Post-Mastectomy Summer Wardrobe Update

Except, I’d forgotten my summons for jury duty…

When I looked up the recommendations for/requirements of what to wear to court, they helpfully prescribed business casual. Definitely no graphic or slogan t-shirts.

And I realised I was going to need a few more tops. So, I went into a bit of a frenzy.

Imagine my annoyance when jury service was cancelled the day before…

2023 Post-Mastectomy Summer Purchases (including postage)

So, I bought some compressive sports bras ($110), but I put them in the category of necessary medical expenses. Not that they’ve worked that well.

Other purchases were:

• a red, long sleeved, loose dog walking dress $175
• a new Breton t-shirt $178
• another sailor t-shirt $152 (they’re having a fashion moment, and I love them, so I’m all in)
• red and white gingham top $35
• black hemp 3/4 sleeved top $38
• pair of flat red mary janes $60
• purple checked dress $34
• another red tunic $50
• “natural” linen dress $61
• blue top $50

All up, $833, which was a more than I’d hoped. Especially when they cancelled jury service on me.

You’ll note from the picture, there isn’t a lot of black in there, but now I have the time, I’m planning to dye most of it. I’ll keep the red tunic and dress as well as the sailor tops, maybe the red gingham, and dye the rest navy blue or black. Haven’t made up my mind yet. I might try wearing some of it first to see if I can ignore the patterns.

I console myself with the thought my original breton was nine years old, so I expect the new ones to last as long.

And this bit of shopping does put me a little ahead when it comes to winter as I now have more long sleeved clothes.

Post-Mastectomy Summer Wardobe Learnings

It was another one of those things which are so obvious, you tell yourself too many times, that shopping the sales doesn’t always bring you the bargains you’d hoped for.

Many of the new clothes I orderd on the strength of my new bust measurement, don’t work when my arm measurements haven’t changed. Though often models, or the wonders of Photoshop show you skinny model arms, so you can’t tell that you’re going to need to size up for the sake of your elephant arms.

As I mentioned, letting the seams out is a fairly simple alteration. Or at least it would be if my sewing machine was working, so I need to drag it to wherever the service centre is now and see what I can do when it comes back. Hopefully not send them to charity.

Damn you sales!

I still plan to have my previous dog dresses altered, and to see what the dressmaker can do about my waistcoat, but everything else has been whittled from the alteration list and is on its way to the charity donation bin.

Better luck with winter? I hope so!

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Photo of my 2023 post-mastectomy summer purchases, by Me!

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For more, see my wardrobe planning page.