One thing I learned the hard way from costuming:
If the person doesn’t fit into ready-to-wear sizing, is easier to build it from scratch.
It is something to consider. If I have to, I can sew a simple dress for myself, but typically it would be less costly and quicker to find one used. Some actors, due to their body type and proportions, are just extremely difficult to fit off-the-rack. (It is challenging for almost anyone these days to fit into tiny-waisted vintage clothing, which is the majority of what low-budget childrens community theaters own.)
You probably know your own proportions all too well, but if not, you could try what I did a couple of times this last year:
- take your measurements
- find a size chart for a common retailer in that size range
- compare the measurements to the size chart
Do you fit easily onto an off-the-rack size? Honestly, it is easier to fit a perfect size 24 than a size 6 with a 40 inch bust. Or an 8-year-old with a 30 inch waist. No offense or anything.
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I’m more at ease when I can get garment measurements. Even photos (allowing for the difference in build plus they tend to clip back excess, etc) don’t always give a good picture of what *seems* clear. I order seldom online otherwise. I ordered a pair of what I was considering jog pants that they were calling harem pants. Okay. But all they’d done was put elastic in a pant opening that was too narrow for it to work gracefully plus the model was posed in such a way that there were some wrinkles spreading in inner upper thigh. Just looked like the pose. Uh uh. Were poorly cut and shorted where there should have been room in the saddle and the rise. Impossible to wear comfortably. I returned them.
I don’t fit into any of those standardized charts. My bust, waist and hips come out to three different sizes. I will sometimes look at petite and even tall to get a better idea of what I could make fit. When low rises were all you could find, I ordered pants in a Tall and they still fit wonderfully (after I chopped about 6 inches off).
In discussing how shirts fit, somebody on YLF forum mentioned the difference between an elliptical body – wider across front and back but narrower in side view – and a round body/torso that was also wide in the side view. I am round I guess since I have a substantial side view but also a narrower front and back view. It was said that those with round bodies had more gaping at the button placket of a shirt. I sure do get that. And yet I think of myself as having bust less prominently forward and more from side to side. I don’t look as “big” (even in something close fitting) as my bra size might indicate.
A sewing expert pointed out that people were quite often a different actual size in the front from the back. I can see that happening easily. I could fit a blazer that was a 4 or 6 in the back, including a good fit in the shoulders, but would need a 12 or greater in the front. And let’s not even think about the high hip area, which seems to be close in measurement to the lower hip on me, the lower hip being more straight.
I wonder if, if more woven non-stretch tailored clothing should re-appear and since women resist getting things automatically tailored for them, we would be seeing a lot of bias cut clothing.
That is an interesting thought. I have been thinking, with the changes in body type that we are seeing, that we are unlikely to see rigid fabrics become popular again anytime soon. OTOH, that would be just the thing to dramatize the bony body and emphasize a kind of figure elitism.
I bet you could answer this for me: I tried on two pair of unusual bottoms at the thrift store because they were there and so was I. 😀 One was a black pair (perhaps pull on, don’t recall) of pants from Express that was a very thick, taut polyester stretch fabric with a suggestion of flare at the leg openings. They were my size and they were hideous. But I figured they must have some purpose/occasion. The other was a 100% cotton pull on pants from Gap in pale athletic grey and had something on the label about yoga or active. They didn’t claim to have any elastic component but were, again, extremely stretchy but very firmly so. They also were, of course, hideous but I tried to picture that pair in particular during any exercise or sport activity as leggings, I guess, and what I want to know is why people want to exercise in skin tight clothing that fits like a tourniquet. I don’t think it was me, I think it was the nature of the garment.
Vanity? Lol. Same reason they want to wear stuff that requires magic underwear. I have gotten rid of everything that requires me to wear a tourniquet under 😉
I also have on the back burner some question about what I really want to wear to exercise in, but for the time being I am just wearing whatever. I kinda think I may end up creating something, but right now I am just found the casual segments.