A couple of weeks ago, I was horrified to realize that none of my clothes fit. And by none, I truly mean NONE.
You see, I just so happen to be blessed with an ample top and a practically non-existent bottom, with long arms, legs, and torso. Which means that I can rarely find something that fits off the rack.
Even brand new, my shirts tend to strain across the front, barely cover my belly, and unintentionally become three-quarter length sleeves. I’ve dealt with it for years by wearing wife-beaters under most of my tops.
Brand new slacks tend to be too short, and have big bags where most people’s hips and behinds go. I solve half the problem by buying slacks with cuffs–and then taking down the cuffs for extra length.
Note the “bags” in the hips.
But I lost some weight last year, leaving me with even more fitting problems. Now my slacks and skirts slip right off my waist–in addition to bulging around my hips.
I refrained from altering my clothes, except for adding belt loops to a few pairs of slacks, because I felt sure that I would regain the weight. After all, I’d maintained that weight for years–why would I develop a new set point?
But maintain a new set point I have–and now I have decided that it’s time my clothes fit properly.
So I loaded my machine with black thread, pulled all the black garments out of my closet, and got to business–and quickly remembered why I don’t like to do this too often.
Tailoring is a laborious process of trying on, making adjustments, trying on again, adjusting some more, ripping out seams, redoing seams. It takes forever, and it’s pretty imprecise.
I had just decided that maybe I’d only do one pair of slacks this evening when an idea hit me. What if–instead of trying on the slacks, guestimating what needs to be altered here and there, trying it out, trying it on, and repeating the process until perfect–what if I just put my slacks on inside out and pinned everything up. Then I could just sew along my pin line and call it good.
Pinning up those hip “bags”.
Amazingly, it worked. I kept going and ended up getting 3 skirts, 3 pairs of slacks, and 1 dress altered this evening–much more than I had expected.
Pants that fit. Amazing!
So, next time you’re frustrated at the fit of your clothing, try the little trick I learned this evening–turn your pants inside out.