puff sleeves

I am not one for puff sleeves. They look awful on me and always have. And then a few months ago I started noticing them everywhere. On everyone. Large and small they seemed to always look great. So I decided that maybe it was time to re-examine my attitude.

I made the puff sleeve T from Ottobre 2/2007 (design 4) size 52. I slightly lengthened the sleeves since caps scare me a bit.

And the result was truly awful. Wearing it, I looked like a full forward in drag (to borrow a line). I chastised myself for thinking I didn't trust my well honed instinct and figured it must just be my body shape, rather than size that made them so wrong.

And then a few days ago while I was out with a friend looking at clothes I went into Autograph to have a look around. This store is more miss than hit for me, a lot of the clothes are poorly made and not really for my shape. Plus I am usually between two of their sizes. But occasionally I find something or other in there that makes a good plain addition to my wardrobe. I noticed for example that they had very nice and inexpensive rash vests for the beach (where were they when I was forking out a premium for mine?).

Anyway, I decided to try on a whole stack of their tops, including a number with various types of puffed sleeves and different shoulder constructions. Although this seems like a really smart and obvious idea, I've never really done this exercise and it was really interesting.

All the puffed sleeves looked reasonably awful on me, except for one which looked totally fabulous! Sadly the top had other aspects which weren't so great, so I didn't buy it, but I took a good long look at why the sleeves on that top were better. The puff was minimal (more puff=more awful) and the fabric was soft, so the sleeves sat flat, not elevated. The sleeves were also loose and set into the shoulder quite high (ie closer to the neck). This somehow made my shoulders look both slimmer and yet somehow in proportion to my body, giving an overall pleasing effect.

So I felt a bit of hope, came home and pulled out the disaster T. I cut off the sleeves, narrowed the caps, cut in the shoulder and reset sleeves in. This reduced the overall size of the top of the T-shirt since I cut the previous seam allowance off rather than unpicking the seams, and the volume on the top of the sleeve (and hence the puff factor). I also made the neck opening larger.

And the result is great. The sleeves make it a bit more a 'top' and a bit less a 'T-shirt' so I could get away with wearing to work (the antique dollies care of my grandmother help too!).

With lessons learned I'd make the pattern again, perhaps cutting the top half of the T in size 50 and the hips in 52, trimming a bit off the sleeve cap and taking a lot of care with the gathering on the necka nd sleeve to get them sitting exactly right.

open for business

Welcome.

I started this blog not because I have a great desire to write it (I'm busy with my main blog over here) but because I want to read it. I'm large, and so is my life and it is a constant disappointment to me that the blogs I read, the forums I search and the pictures I see so often don't apply to me.

My main thing at the moment is fashion. Like lots of plus size people I seem to oscillate between wanting to be invisible and wanting to really stand out. I find it difficult to determine the line between finding what suits me and wearing the clothes I feel my culture dictates fat people should wear. I worry about taking fashion risks and about being a middle age matron before my time (or at any time at all for that matter).

In real life I find feedback and advice, inspiration and community invaluable but often limited. I want to see more images of big people looking good, I want some role models and some advice from people who are unafraid, practical and innovative.

And because I sew a lot of clothes, I want more than just advice on what I wear. I want to talk about sewing experiences for big clothes too. The stylish sewers tips and tricks, the pattern and fabric wins and pitfalls, the tried and true methods and finishes that make people feel good about their clothes.

Knowing where to buy stuff is good too, especially down here in Oz where there are less clothes for plus size people and they are harder to find. Experience with individual brands, retail stores and online buying can really help other people size up their choices.

What I don't want this blog to become is one big whinge about being fat. I'm sure this blog will evolve and there's lots of stuff beside fashion that's worth talking about, but views and life choices about size and diet are too complex and personal for this forum. Neither do I want it become a place where people are harshly judgemental, humiliating and taking delight in other people's bad choices. A little bit of fashion disaster posting is always fun, but the main game is what we like, not what we don't.

I'm going to have to be braver than I usually am to post some of the stuff here I think it would be good to post. Sewing clothes in progress for example would be a great feature but you'll get to see some wobbly bits I usually keep out of view. I hope all those who post here will be brave too and I hope readers will respect that. A lot of us find it hard to step out into the harsh light of public scrutiny, so even those of us seeking feedback want it to be constructive and delivered with sensitivity and humour.

While I hope to post here often and retain the role of administrator for large, this is designed to be a community blog. The more people who post, the better it will be. I encourage you to contact me (soozs.com@gmail.com) if you'd like to be involved, either to become a regular poster, a one-off poster, or even just to email me a tip, link or suggestion for something you'd like to see posted about. Equally, commenting on other people's posts and photos is really important so I urge you to make the extra effort to do so, feedback and community are two way streets.