Mrs. Collins Makes Stuff

Hello darling. Buckle up, we are discussing my body. Body type is a new concept for me.  My body is my body, and I like what I like.  Historically I didn’t pay much attention to how I looked or if my clothes work for my shape.  My style is fairly modest.  I don’t show a lot of skin, I don’t like body-conscious clothes, and I don’t feel the need to look “sexy.”  My size is fairly standard, and I can buy ready-to-wear clothes straight off the rack.  My current measurements are: upper bust 35”, bust 36.5”, waist 31.25”, stomach 36”, and hips 39.5”.   Due to my exercise regimen, my weight stays fairly consistent.  My body shape only tends to change during my cycle.   I want to be very clear when I say that I am very happy with my body and my shape.

My desire to learn more about my shape happened when I saw photos of me wearing Lawely and other gathered bottoms.  While I love them and the idea of them (I desperately love paper-bag shorts), I just don’t feel that they flatter me.  When I started to look more into body type, I realized that I am technically an apple shape.  Personally, I feel that I am a rectangle with a breadbasket around my waist.  I am not overly busty or broad-shouldered.  I carry all my excess weight around my middle.  The extra bulk is not excessive, but I definitely have to take it into consideration when choosing sizes for knitting and sewing garments.  I feel that I have to sew bottoms using my stomach measurement instead of my waist.  I also thought that having a high-waisted, gathered skirt would make me look more hourglass.  It doesn’t.  It gives more emphasis to my stomach and makes it look more pronounced.

Since I am a visual person, I liked the graphics on http://www.gabriellearudda.com which show examples of clothing styles that flatter different body types.  I was going to share the graphic from her site, but I don’t want to get busted for copyright infringement or some such thing.  Seeing the skirt styles that she recommends for apple shapes helped me to understand why the Lawely never seems to flatter me.  My plan was to make another Lawely in the near future, but the more I think about it, the more that I am leaning away from it.  I think I may try an A-line skirt instead. My only issue with this is that pockets don’t always work with A-line skirts.  Pockets, my darling, are a total must.  Pockets really don’t seem to work with any of the shapes of skirts that should suit my shape….  This will be a problem.  Perhaps I can be sneaky and do some side seam pockets in a circle or A-line skirt.  I don’t think that I have a prayer of pulling it off in a wrap skirt.  But if I try it, and work at it, who knows, maybe I can learn how to make it work.

Patterns that I would like to try:

Closet Case Patterns Fiore skirt- either the button-front or the wrap skirt.

Tilly and the Buttons Delphine skirt

Sewaholic Hollyburn skirt

So, I am going to start with skirts.  I will focus on skirts for now and shift the focus once I feel more confident with my sewing.  I may check out the Gertie tutorial for making a circle skirt.  Apparently, they aren’t hard to figure out, but…  This is me, and I need to stop thinking that I know stuff about sewing stuff. I am going to give it a try (while using only what I have!). I’m going to make some skirts that will hopefully work with my shape and get better with sewing as I go. Let’s knock out a whole flock of birds with only one stone.

Loves,

M