The difference between Plus and Regular clothing sizing

Notice a rather stark difference between these two?

It is no secret that I have struggled with my weight my whole life. It is complicated. But the conclusion I have come to these days is you have to live for today and not wait for when you are skinnier.

I have always had a hard time buying store bought clothes that actually fit. Sometimes I would find a brand that would fit flawlessly (Talbots) for a few years and then they re-brand or start cutting their clothes differently and once again nothing fits. 

I keep trying new brands. I went to Torrid for the first time a few weeks ago. (In case you don't know Torrid is plus size clothes for younger gals) I found a few things I liked. But I discovered; 

a. I may be too old to be shopping there, 

b. their smallest size top (a self esteem boosting 0) is too big on me, and 

c. their size 0 pants are too tight in the leg while the size 1 about fell off. 

Over the past few years, through making my own clothes,  I have learned why it is so hard to find clothes that fit off the rack (or even fit enough to alter). 

1. I have TINY shoulders.

2. I have big boobs

3. I have a long torso relative to my overall height

4. I have a big butt and a small waist (well relative to the butt any way) 

5. I have "thick" some would call them, legs. 

6. I am exactly on the borderline between "regular" and "petite" as well as currently being trapped in the canyon between "regular" and "plus". More on that canyon below. 

These are body issues that the clothing industry does not cater to. However I have a hard time believing I am the only one. 

Recently I decided rather than fight these battles I would focus on making my own clothes, a luxury not everyone has. I have found a pattern I love! Even though I had to make a few rather large adjustments. 

Recently Colette Patterns embarked on changing their pattern line to include up to size 3X. Read more about this HERE. And while I loudly applaud their efforts, there are some interesting things I discovered while making one of their recent patterns. 

This is the lovely Moneta pattern. As you can see it is designed for knits and sized XS - 3X. 

This is a great start. It is a simple flattering shape that can look good on anyone. Their patterns are packaged beautifully and I love that the directions are in a little booklet attached to the envelope rather then another huge sheet to deal with. 

However the issue I have is why is there 1/4 - 3/4 inch difference between each size in the "regular" range but you get up to plus and there is about two inches between the sizes? 

Colette points out on their blog that there are challenges to making plus size patterns. Maybe, but I think it's really just that they are used to what they are used to and there is a learning curve. Just like on Project Runway when they have a "real people" challenge and all the designers are thrown off their game by anyone over a size two. 

Now are you starting to see the canyon between the two?  

XS - S = 1/2 inch 

S - M= 1/2 inch

M-L = 3/4 inch

L-XL = 3/4 inch

XL - 2X = 1 1/2

2X - 3X = 1 7/8 

This is the top of the sleeve. That's a big jump, in comparison. 

My pink line is a much different shape than the pattern 

On the show "What Not to Wear", they often pointed out to people that their body was not the problem. The clothes that they were trying to wear simply did not fit. Their philosophy of try on a million things and spend $5,000 was all well and good but is hard to do in real life. 

This is the bottom of the bodice. The bodice is longer on the larger sizes to allow for room for the "girls". I actually found this length to be just right, still the difference is noticeable. 

These are the differences in the measurements of the skirt pieces

Two inches is a big difference. Especially when you consider that you are really gaining a total of 8 inches (2 each side which gives you a total of 4 front and 4 back). Between a XS and a S you only gain a total of 4 inches. Why such regular increments and then such a huge jump? Thus creating the canyon I referred to in my list of clothing difficulties.

All that said, it is a lovely dress pattern, sews up easily and is one of my new favorites. And in some ways I feel a lot better about why nothing at stores fit me. Because if this pattern (which they put tons of thought and effort into) does not work out of the envelope, chances are slim of finding any that do. 

Finished version no. 1, I have a few more Moneta's planned now that I have worked out the fit issues. I have also used the lovely bodice to draft a tunic / t-shirt and made a test one of those. 

I will have to do a different post on how to measure and make these changes. To be honest I have done it so many times I can draw it out from memory and do not measure. But I know how to and can explain it so that other peeps can benefit from all I have learned. 

Another question people ask me is "why do you even use patterns"? The short answer is I am a seamstress, not a designer. Also my two favorite pattern companies are Colette and Kate and Rose and I really like supporting them. They have done all the lovely design work, makes it easier for me to make it fit from their starting point.  

I plan for my next few posts to be more about the technical aspects of changing the pattern to make it fit. Let me know if you have specific questions. 

Peace Out 

- C  

Summer Skirts Part 2

Here is Miss M modeling one of her new skirts that she wore to school yesterday. She managed to wear a long skirt, tank and cardi and not look like a tiny version of an old lady. This is actually a pretty good combination. Except the shoes of course but hey have to wear comfy shoes to school. And apparently we are going shoe shopping later.

She loved all the skirts I made her. Actually she LOVES this one and really really likes the other ones, to quote her more exactly.

Here is today's outfit. A little more casual and laid back. She said that since it is the day before spring break she wanted something "vacation-y". I think the flip flop T-shirt conveys a feeling of vacation. The palm trees help too. She wore sandals today since she does not have P.E., well I hope she doesn't who can keep all that crap straight?

This skirt was made using the same fleece pattern. I sewed this one on my regular old sewing machine. However I did sew all seams with a teeny tiny zig zag stitch. If you sew a stretch fabric with a straight stitch the stitches will break when the fabric tries to stretch. I could have used the serger but my serger needs a tune up and I was just not in the mood to fight with it. And this is the only one I cut out single layer. It was just too difficult to tame to do double layer.

The waistband of this skirt is simple exposed elastic. It is a cool blue and black stripe-y elastic, but solid colors look cute this way too.

To attach the waistband you just sew the elastic into a circle. Then you sew the elastic onto the skirt right sides together using a zig zag stitch and then flip up your elastic and wow you have a cute skirt!

More summer clothes are in the works! But next week is Spring Break so don't worry too much of you don't hear from me for a bit.

Hugs!
C

Summer Skirts, Part 1

Summer is here! We pretty much skipped spring. So if you live in the south you know that you get about 3 days between when you turn off the heat and turn on the air conditioner. And they are the same three days where you have the heat on in the car in the morning and the AC on in the car in the afternoon.

I have had "make skirts for M" on my to do list since November. I made her one back in November when it was still oddly warm and then it got cold and I let them languish on the list for a few months.

Back in September she got a cute little maxi skirt at a store. And while I love it I realized that is so crazy easy I could totally make her one of those. So I did and now she has a total of 5, 3 of which I made yesterday.

Here is the first one.

Made in November hence the boots and sweatshirt. This skirt was well loved all winter and I think she even played in the snow with it on one day. 

The 2nd one I don't have a picture of. So here are some pictures of us shopping for fabric.

Look at all that fun elastic! 

Where's M?

I can't seem to find her!?

Fun Fur!

Ok back to skirts. So I took her store bought skirt and laid it out on a piece of fleece. I traced it and added a seam allowance to make the basic skirt pattern. I used fleece because I have a ton and it is cheep. But I like it for a simple pattern like this because it sticks to your fabric and you don't need pins. Since the fabric I was using to make the skirts is knit and is temperamental it was nice to have an easy to deal with pattern material.

M and I have much different taste. But if we have to pick something for each other we can always do it spot on. She loves wearing white. She looks great in it but then she runs and jumps and plays in the dirt. And well her white stuff turns playground worn fast.

Such is life! I like the giant butterflies with the smaller butterflies on top, but I would not have necessarily chosen this for myself, however I would choose it for her all day long.

Some people just have a style and a palette. I used to fight it and try and do something different or encourage her to do something different but I gave up that battle. You love what you love.

Someone once asked me "Isn't it exhausting to be that bold all the time?". My answer to this day is NO! It is just how I roll, and I would guess that M would say the same thing. I am proud of her for being bold and sticking to her guns even when I don't love what she picks. However you do have to stick to the butt and boobies covered rule! I do have some limits.

This is the pattern laid out on one of fashion fabrics that M picked.

This fabric is slick. I think it is a poly blend but is stretchy and fun and will be nice for our suddenly warm weather.

For this particular skirt I did a waistband. Basically I cut a strip of fabric and encased the elastic in the band. The elastic was 1.5 inches wide so I doubled it and added .5 inch on both sides for seam allowance, so you cut a 4 inch wide band, the length of the waist of the skit. Then I attached the band (with the elastic inside) to the body of the skirt.

I did this skirt on the serger but I did the other two on my good old regular sewing machine. I will explain in Summer Skirts part 2 how I sewed the different types of knits.

See how the waistband looks nice and finished. This is exactly how the store bought one looks.

I saw them again and was almost sucked in. Then I made myself go home and make them.

Funny thing is that the store bought cost and the homemade cost are almost exactly the same. But it is pretty fun to pick out your own fabrics and make it fit just right.

I have some plans to make some similar skirts for myself.

Speaking of which I would rather be sewing than typing. So Peace Out! For now....

Chrissy