telophase | Girly fashion filter

Crossposts: http://telophase.livejournal.com/1849576.html

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Girly fashion filter

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I feel the need to point out that my grandparents recently sold their house and distributed some of the proceeds out to their children and grandchildren, and receiving my share spurred this spree.

Over the past 4 weeks or so, I've been dropping my grandparents' money on clothes, and (somewhat) aiming for buying things more well-made than I usually do. You've seen the wrap dress and the shoes linked below before on here.

The last part of my grandparents' gift went to the alterations lady today when I dropped eight items off to be hemmed up, taken in, etc. (The perils of being short, with a bust smaller than my butt!)

I also bought a raincoat for the England trip from Burlington Coat Factory that I can't find on their site, so I'll just tell you it's red. It's A-line, has a removable lining, and it's getting the sleeves on the coat and the lining shortened.

Getting the tops taken in--

This dress. I love the way it fits and drapes in the skirt, but the bust, despite the description claiming it drapes beautifully on smaller (comparatively! I don't think D is small!) bustlines, instead sags unattractively. The alterations lady is taking it in a bit at the lower shoulder seam, preserving the pleating, to reduce the icky bagginess.

I also have a dress from the same site that is no longer for sale (I bought one of their last ones on sale) that looks *loosely* like this one. It has a brown tweedy-looking skirt in that shape, with a while long-sleeve top that has a loose drape to it and is NOT ruffled. :) The sleeves also don't have cuffs like that - they're straight, and actually hit me right, without covering up my hands. The top is too big, but the alterations lady is taking in the shoulders to make it fit right. I haven't worn it yet because it is fully-lined and WARM. So, no wearing until the weather turns!

I also bought this cardigan, because I think it'll go fantastically with this dress you're seen before, which I bought in the plain grey with a black belt. It looks purple on the site, but it's truly grey. It, for one, is *not* getting alterations done to it. Woo!

I just bought a half-slip for it, because I liked the way the black one above fell with its lining, and this one has a tendency to cling a bit. I'm going to have to take the slip up, however, because it's TOO DAMN LONG. It's even one of those where you cut off the bottom to the length you want, and it's still TOO LONG. And you know how hard it is to find slips nowadays? Everyone's gone to Spanx and that ilk of control garments, and I don't want to because I hate things confining my abdomen - I have toooo many gut problems to wear that sort of thing! I need to wait until Toby gets home from Austin to do it, so I can make him mark where it needs to be taken up to, as I can't do that on my own.

I also got two tops, this one in the purple with salmon details, and this one in the purple.

From Holy Clothing, these three dresses, which all touch the floor on me in a tentlike manner and are at the alterations place getting hemmed up. (They're all flared skirts ... I'm not going to trust myself to be able to do it in a nice-looking manner.)

And these shoes, which you've seen before.

I need to find a pair of flat shoes that'll work with dresses/skirts for when I just can't wear the shoes above and the Skechers flat-bottom flip-flops I also got won't do. :)

I got these two skirts as well, and they're both at the alterations place because the people who make them are under the impression that all fat ladies have waists the same width as their hips, and my waist is sixteen bloody inches smaller than my hips.

I managed to luck into a pattern place online that was having a huge sale on Vogue, Butterick, and McCalls patterns (McCall.com, sale no longer on, however), so I bought three patterns, two dresses and a skirt, for about $4.25 each, and today went out to get fabric for the skirt. And decided that I'm going to have to find a place that sells better fabrics 'cause Joanne's just ain't gonna cut it. I bought some stuff there to basically use as a test skirt, so I know what I'm doing vis-a-vis the fit before I seek out and slice into $15+/yard fabric. Googling around a bit reveals a place very close to me called Emiko Fabrics and Couture, which I hope is still open and carries the sort of fabric I need.

So ... wow. Lotsa shopping.

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That is a lot of shopping.

Mom used to use old sheets for test skirts sometimes!

And I can feel my MUST BUY MORE compulsion from the ADHD ... luckily with medication, I can resist!

Actually, what I need to do first is go through my closet and pare out all the stuff that I keep just because I think I should, and only keep the stuff I love and that fits properly. Then make a list of anything else I may need and do some targeted shopping.

Yeah, I'm overdue for one of those myself. Mmm, clothes.

For flat shoes, do Aerosoles work for you, or do you want/need more structure (and durability)?

I've never tested an Aerosole, so I have no idea if they work or not. :)

I have to have fairly rigid soles - the arthritic joint is the ball of my foot, and I have limited range of motion with my big toe. Danskos, MBTs, and the Sketcher Tone-up/Shape-up lines work because they all have rigid (or in the case of the Tone-ups, almost rigid) soles. I used to have a pair of Merrills I loved, but had to give them up as they were making my foot sore as I walked, because they were bendy. *sigh* I walked 3-5 miles a day with them in Japan ... they were *awesome*.

Aerosoles will be much too flexible for you, then, but some Mephistos may work (professional appearance, yet good to stand and walk in), and also maybe Simple!

I used to practically live in Mephisto Helens in warmer weather, but since I started wearing MBTs a lot they just don't feel as comfortable to me anymore.

(Telophase, what size do you take in MBTs, BTW? I have a basically-new pair of one of their rare semi-dressy girlier-looking sandals that I really need to sell...the uppers hit my big toe in an odd spot so they just don't work for me.)

I'm a European 39, whatever that is in Amurrican (that part of the text has rubbed off).

Awww, drat. That's an 8.5 and all my MBTs are an 8 -- and this pair is one of their rare sleek styles with non-adjustable uppers, so I really wouldn't suggest even trying a half-size down in these.

Aw! Oh well!

Thanks!

Hey, I was just looking at cardigans (and am too lazy to scroll back to put this in correct context) and saw this at Sierra TP which might work for you. The tails look loosely tie-able (not wrappable though).

I note that Joan Vass stuff seems to run large and the pieces I have tried (and not bought) were on the boxy side.

Whee, clothes! I like 'em.

Oh Yeah!

I hope you enjoy yourself in all of this - I gave up on skirts and dresses years ago and no longer feel comfortable in anything but trousers and some sort of top.

But you go, girl!

Baby got back!

Hee! :)

I haven't owned a dress since highschool, but something in me flipped a switch and went "Dress. Dreeeeeessss," I bought that grey one, and haven't looked back. :) I'll still live in jeans and T-shirts/tunics for the most part, though!

(I have the same butt/waist problem with jeans and pant - the Lane Bryant Right Fit ones are the only ones that actually fit without gaping hugely at the back, so I own three pairs of them air jeans and two pairs of another brand that fit almost as well. And invested in some black knitted pants for packing and for wearing when the weather is too hot to wear jeans, and when I need to fake being a grownup but don't want to wear a skirt/dress.)

Exactly! Same here! One nice thing is that I found a good tailor for changes locally - usually my mum used to take them along and let the changes be done by her tailor but now she has my niece to visit we don't see each other that often anymore and that tailor lady is almost retired anyway.

I had him change two easy things and two difficult ones and he did them beautifully at a price I can live with and now I wear those clothes much more often because they look and fit better.

I asked around work for a fantastic alterations person and got recommended this woman. She's more expensive than the previous woman I used when I lived across town, but the previous lady had no air conditioning in her shop (sweltering in Texas heat!) and was cash-only so might have been engaging in a little tax evasion. But I'm willing to pay a little bit more in order to have the clothes fit me properly!

I've gotten into the habit of often only going shopping for clothes (or ordering them on the internet) when they are part of a sale (I don't have to be the height of fashion) - so the money for the alterations only makes them cost roughly as much as they were supposed to (although sometimes if you get 50% off the alteration never is that costly to cover 50%).

Yeah, I normally have one or two sprees a year when the online and offline shops I patronize have sales, but when my grandparents gave me the money, it was a chance to splurge on the Igigi and Kiyonna clothing and see how it worked for me. As it worked quite well, I shall be hitting their sites every so often to check what's on sale now.

Nice ^^. I just ordered three tops in a sale today myself.

In Germany it's nice that you can purchase on account even over the internet, so I can try them and send back what I don't like and only pay for what I like when I've seen it, meanwhile the money can earn a tiny bit of interest in my bank account and not theirs.

Oh, nice! I have to put them on my credit card and send back anything that doesn't fit for a refund.

Yes, we have that, too, but Germany always was really big on purchasing on account and when they built our shopping experience on the internet, people refused to buy for the longest time - because credit cards weren't as widely spread (still aren't - most people pay cash or with a bank account card that takes the money directly from the account) and online shopping in general wasn't trusted.

The big sales started taking off when the big sellers offered purchasing on account. And now there's software that lets the shops check your credit rating when you enter the address, I believe, and offer you purchasing on account (or sometimes they simply want a credit card/Paypal for the first purchase, etc.).

With clothing I haven't tried I'd rather purchase on account, but with things like books, manga, cds, etc. I don't mind using PayPal/credit card.

Love those dresses! I particularly like the one with the teal sash/edging. I love clothes that are mostly dark/neutral but have little pops of color like that! The red twist top is very cute as well. Yay, new clothes!

(I hear ya on the weird sizing issue, though. An astonishing number of ladies trousers/skirts are basically tube-shaped, which is not at all helpful for those of us with waists considerably smaller than our hips and butts. Arg. Sometimes I think the people who design women's clothes have never actually seen a woman, only had one described to them. :/)

I love black clothing, especially with little pops of color. And I hate people who say "But fat women don't need to wear black! You shouldn't hide!" Because I don't wear black because I'm trying to hide, I wear black because I look damn good in it.

I don't get the sizing thing. There's a certain number of women with narrower hips and wider waists, but there's just as many of us the opposite way! The knit pants I bought for packing and for wearing when the weather is too hot to wear jeans pretty much all have drawstring waists, for precisely this reason.

I hope you're very happy with all the alterations. Yay, loot!

pencil skirt

Huh, what's that? *Googles* Huh. I don't recall seeing that term before. Yay, learning new vocabulary!

I think I will be - yay for clothing that fits! Thanks!

And you know how hard it is to find slips nowadays?

I mostly order mine online at this point, because the selection in local stores is so crappy. :( (I'll occasionally make them when I want something fancier, it's not like it's exactly hard to sew a half-slip even with lace edging or fancy elastic, but you can often find them ready-made cheaply enough that it's not always a good investment of my time.)

I looked online for a while, but gave up because I couldn't figure out the sizing on so many of them, and the online size charts weren't of any help! Then I found out that Catherine's, while being full of clothes that immediately turn me into a frump, sold some slips, so I went to grab one there, where I could try it on. And they were all the same length! Oh well.

Last time I needed a slip, I found one at a high end department store. Dillards or Nordstroms. I forget which. I think probably Nordstrom, though.

Last time I looked at Nordstroms, about a year and a half ago I think? I seem to recall their slip collection was pretty damn limited. But I was looking for something really long, which didn't help -- it was before the maxi-dress revival started, and compared to what I'm used to from the islands, people just don't seem to wear long dresses much here on the mainland. Macy's always has a few whenever I check, but the length/size/color selection is always v. limited.

They has slips.

Her Room (http://www.herroom.com/slips,003,7.html) has a bunch, with pretty good size charts. I've picked up a bunch on Amazon, too, but that's often a crapshoot because so many of the little vendors don't include size charts -- if it's a typical department-store brand like Vanity Fair or Bali, I know what to get, but when I'm looking for some really particular length or color sometimes the best options are unfamiliar brands and the sizing is all over the map. o_O

Yay for clothing! I got some extra money from my father and one of the things I have been doing is slowly upgrading my work wardrobe. It's incredibly hard to find good, soft pants for small waists and big butts. Darnit all.

But! A friend told me about Eileen Fischer. I don't know if you have ever tried her stuff. I had not, since it's basically couture. But they sell it on Ebay used for normal pants prices if you keep your eye out. Wonderful, wonderful stuff. (I think said friend is about your size, btw.) Anyway, I've recently started dipping my toes into buying high end clothing used on Ebay, and I've been quite pleased with the results. The nice thing about clothes that high end is that the sizing remains the same over years, which I had not known.

You know, eBay never occurred to me! Great idea!

No, I haven't tried her stuff - looking at the site and the size chart, i9t might be a hair too small (why nobody can standardize women's sizes, I'll never know) at the moment, but provided I stick to my eating an exercise plan, I could probably fit it by the end of the year. Thanks!

I love Ebay partly because the convention is to list the actual measurements of the clothing in the description. What a CRAZY idea!! I've found great stuff there, for very reasonable prices.

My waist and hips are close to the same size, with the result that the pants I buy that fit me in the waist are huge and baggy in the hips and thighs. Obviously I should be shopping at Torrid and you should be shopping at LLBean.

JJill's pants were about right, except for being miles too long, so chances are they wouldn't fit you right at all.

I like the twist top. Do you think it has enough coverage for office wear?

I was disappointed that the Holy stuff was virtually all made of viscose. I'm too sweaty at the moment to deal with that.

I just found some sandals on sale that actually fit me - one third off. I have very wide feet.

I was disappointed that the Holy stuff was virtually all made of viscose. I'm too sweaty at the moment to deal with that.

Really? I have a ton of light-weight rayons, including some HolyClothing tops and floaty pants, and I find it's about as light and breathable as cotton or linen of similar weight for me. Curious...

The twist top turns out not to have enough coverage for office wear, and not to be amenable to a well-placed safety pin, unlike the wrap dress. My plan is now to get a lightweight black silk or silk-like tank to go under it for the office.

I need to wait until Toby gets home from Austin to do it, so I can make him mark where it needs to be taken up to, as I can't do that on my own.

You can if you have one of these handy gizmos (http://www.dritz.com/brands/showcase/details.php?ITEM_NUM=699). ;)

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All the small ladies with the big buts raise your hands and say Oh Yeah!

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