On a slightly more serious note,
I picked up a nice, fitted rayon tricot shirt with long sleeves and a small v-neck at Stadsmissionen yesterday, undid the side seams and the sleeve seams about 1-1,5 dm up from the hem, and finished the raw edges of the slits with rough, rather wide lace. I'm very pleased with the end result; it's not a terribly exciting shirt, but it's a great, simple everyday garment, and I badly need more of those. I like the way the lace isn't apparent on first or even second glance, too; very obvious lace edgings can look so unimaginative.
I'm not very fond of lace in general. It's a little too girly for me, and it so often turns into one of those boringly obvious fabrics - like velvet, or pvc. Things too often look a bit shoddy and tacky when they're made out of modern lace, stretch velvet and pvc, and both velvet and lace garments bear this nagging resemblance to curtains. Ugly curtains.
This slit thing is also a great way of solving the ever-present problem of my hips and bottom. Don't get me wrong, I like them a lot, myself; it's just that off-the-rack clothing manufacturers don't. I usually need to modify even fitted stretch and knit shirts - either get large ones and take in the sides, sometimes the sleeves and often shorten them a bit, as well, or split the side seams up to waist level to make room on smaller ones.
I'm also well aware that this has much to do with the chaotic assortment of various confection sizes my body consists of - I have a size 34 back neck-to-waist length, for example, with a corresponding front length found in a size 44, at the very least. No wonder off-the-rack blouses never fit...
Very few people are all one size, and unfortunately, only very few people realize this. The way clothes will fit you doesn't depend only on bust-waist-hip measurements and body height, there are a lot of small measurements and proportions that play into it. Waists are not necessarily straight, horizontal lines on people's bodies; lower hip is not always larger than upper hip; backs are not always straight; some people stoop, some people push their shoulders back. Most people don't have flat bellies. Many people have thick upper arms and thighs - whether thick with muscle, thick with fat or both. Some people have wide hips, others don't. Wide hips don't automatically come with a large bottom. Small hips don't always come with slim thighs. Shoulder and back widths can vary wildly - and so on, ad infinitum.
But the shirt fits me nicely now, after some customization.
I'm not very fond of lace in general. It's a little too girly for me, and it so often turns into one of those boringly obvious fabrics - like velvet, or pvc. Things too often look a bit shoddy and tacky when they're made out of modern lace, stretch velvet and pvc, and both velvet and lace garments bear this nagging resemblance to curtains. Ugly curtains.
This slit thing is also a great way of solving the ever-present problem of my hips and bottom. Don't get me wrong, I like them a lot, myself; it's just that off-the-rack clothing manufacturers don't. I usually need to modify even fitted stretch and knit shirts - either get large ones and take in the sides, sometimes the sleeves and often shorten them a bit, as well, or split the side seams up to waist level to make room on smaller ones.
I'm also well aware that this has much to do with the chaotic assortment of various confection sizes my body consists of - I have a size 34 back neck-to-waist length, for example, with a corresponding front length found in a size 44, at the very least. No wonder off-the-rack blouses never fit...
Very few people are all one size, and unfortunately, only very few people realize this. The way clothes will fit you doesn't depend only on bust-waist-hip measurements and body height, there are a lot of small measurements and proportions that play into it. Waists are not necessarily straight, horizontal lines on people's bodies; lower hip is not always larger than upper hip; backs are not always straight; some people stoop, some people push their shoulders back. Most people don't have flat bellies. Many people have thick upper arms and thighs - whether thick with muscle, thick with fat or both. Some people have wide hips, others don't. Wide hips don't automatically come with a large bottom. Small hips don't always come with slim thighs. Shoulder and back widths can vary wildly - and so on, ad infinitum.
But the shirt fits me nicely now, after some customization.