"Nobody told me it wasn't supposed to."

[miera_c]

A friend of a friend won a free consultation with Clinton Kelly of What Not To Wear, and she was very excited, because she has a plus-size body, and wanted some tips on how to make the most of her wardrobe in a fashion culture which deliberately puts her body at a disadvantage

Comments

[sache8]

This whole snippet captures the most valuable and liberating thing that I've learned since I started sewing. Last year, when I'd finished my orange Inara blouse, I was admiring it hanging on the hanger and went, "That thing looks really wrong."

The shirt had a cupped empire waistline and in the process of my many alterations, I added an inch and a half vertically to the bust portion, because everything about my body is really long (except my fingers), and every time I buy a shirt or dress like that off the rack, I'm always tugging, tugging, tugging because the waistlilne won't stay below my boobs where it was supposed to

[miera_c]

I have the opposite problem from you - I'm short, especially in the torso, so things hang down really low on me. The only upside is that hemming shirts generally isn't that hard, so I can make those kinds of alterations fairly easily.

Tight sleeves or anything more complicated, though, I'm out of luck.

My eye considered the standard store proportions to be "right" and the garment I designed for me as "wrong" because of what it was used to seeing.

Word.

[beanpot]

of course they don't say how expensive it is to get things tailored...

[miera_c]

No, they don't, which is a big problem. I think it's a lot worse than it used to be - I remember tailor shops being around in the suburban area where I grew up, but they've all but disappeared in a lot of places.

[melyanna]

A lot of dry cleaners do tailoring now at very reasonable prices. That might not be an option where you are, but might be useful information for people on your friends list. (I remember not all that long ago my mother had a pair of slacks that she adored, and the zipper got broken in some freak accident, and she took the slacks to a dry cleaner to be repaired. They put in a new zipper for about $3, and let me tell you, zippers are the devil's handiwork.)

[stexgirl2000]

I am a big fan of What Not To Wear and what he said makes sense. I am sure for many contractual reasons they just cannot come out and say this on the show. Plus the fact that many stores would not let them come in and film there. I can't imagine Macy's or Express or Lane Bryant or any of the other places they go into being happy if the show then said "And now we have have tailor all the clothes that our lucky makeover client bought so she'll REALLY look fabulous."

Off the rack is all smoke and mirrors. Smoke and mirrors.

This has once again made me go "Fuck this, I need to learn how to sew. Even if I cry in frustration while learning it will be nothing compared to how I feel in the store."

The post was very interesting, thanks for sharing.

[havocthecat]

I wish there was an easy way to learn to sew clothing. But maybe I should just suck it up and take a sewing class.

[miera_c]

Yeah I just posted asking for suggestions. My mom is getting rid of her old sewing machine and I said I'd take it.

The books available on Amazon were disheartening. There were almost no books on altering clothing that weren't "turn vintage into chic!" or something like that.

I need to check the local craft and fabric stores for classes, I think.

[havocthecat]

I find I have a hard time learning sewing from books, possibly because I'm a perfectionist. :(

My local Jo-Ann's has a one-session Sewing 101 for $35; I'm going to take that and see if I like their class style. But I might see if there's an independent store with more variety in their classes.

[havocthecat]

This is, like, the motto of my life:

If I had the money to tailor all of my clothing, I would be REALLY DAMN HAPPY.

ETA: The motto of my clothes-purchasing life, that is.

[mmneely932]

Awesome post, should be required reading for all junior high students.