My travel capsule wardrobe

Each season I create a capsule wardrobe of 33 items of clothing, as part of Project 333. In my winter capsule I have nineteen long-sleeved tops, three jackets, three long cardigans, three pairs of trousers and one skirt. I also have a wool coat and trench coat for outer layers and a couple of dresses (not shown) for parties. This gives me plenty of variety over the winter months, however I am now planning to go on holiday and I can't fit everything into my suitcase! How do I decide which clothes I'm taking on our trip to Portugal?

I plan to take one of these long cardigans and possibly the brown tweed jacket.

I will be away for nine days so obviously don't need all twelve tops shown above! I'm definitely going to pack the lace top for going out in the evenings and will be selecting other tops that will go with the long cardigan and also the bottoms that I'm taking.

Do I take the winter coat or the trench coat? Or both? That will depend on the weather forecast! I won't be taking either of the jackets as, if I feel I need one, my brown tweed jacket will be the best option.

The blouse in the first picture above will go with the rest of my travel wardrobe, so it's a possibility.

These are all warm tops so I may pack either the green or cream one if the weather is going to be cold. 

Finally, the red skirt will be packed for when we go out to dinner. If it's cold I'll make sure we find a restaurant close to our hotel! I'll definitely be taking the chocolate brown and camel trousers. The jeans may be included if there's room in my case as I will be travelling in one pair of trousers and packing the other pair.

I intend to take two pairs of casual shoes, one of which will be trainers as I expect to do a lot of walking, plus a smarter pair for the evenings. Similarly I will have a tote bag for daytime and a smaller bag for going out at night. Apart from enough underwear for nine days, and nightwear, that will be all my clothes. Anyone who knows me will take it for granted that I will have a selection of scarves and jewellery to make my outfits more colourful.

In the photo above you can see the final selection of tops and bottoms that were packed for my holiday. I have realised that two of the items shown weren't in my winter capsule, so I'm guilty of cheating a bit! My excuse is that I have been exchanging a couple of items as I plan my Spring capsule, and realised that they would be useful for my travel capsule as I could add layers if need be. You can see a lime green long-sleeved top, which has replaced my cream warm top, and a leopard print tunic, which I took as an extra top for evenings. The camisoles are allowed as extra layers under the leopard print top, so I'm not cheating with them! This travel capsule proved to be perfect for our holiday, as the weather was changeable.

I have now returned from our holiday (we had a brilliant time, though the weather could have been better!) and am concentrating on my Spring capsule wardrobe. I do have a visit to London to see my children soon, so I will definitely need to keep a few winter items out for that.