I love cotton sun dresses. However, the style I like hasn't been in fashion for a while. I like a fitted bodice and full skirt (an A-line skirt is also acceptable). When I was younger, my mom would make these for me, but now she has a full time job outside of the home and lives 4 hours away. So, I was on my own. I always tweak the bodice of commercial patterns, so this time I said "fuck it" and self drafted the whole darn dress.


Here it is!
( Waaay more detail about sewing, vintage pictures of dresses, and action shots behind the cut )

Hello darlings!

I know for a fact that some (Dare I say, many?) of you make AMAZINGLY cool clothes. I am envious. I am also absolutely frustrated with the fact that I can't find hip and funky clothes in my size! This combination of envy and rage has led me here: I want to start making my own clothes.

Problem: I've never sewn anything in my life.

And so I turn to you, wise, crafty fabulous fats: Where do I start!? Do you have any books you'd recommend? I've started looking on Amazon but...There are so many! And do any of the funky ones have sections specifically for us chubby folk? I don't know!
How did you get started sewing your own clothing?
Should I just jump right in by going to a fabric store and seeing what I can find?

Any tips or advice you could offer would be absolutely amazing. I think my potential first project will be something forgiving...Maybe a simple skirt, or an outrageously patterned mumu, just for kicks!

Greetings-

I am extremely picky when it comes to clothing. I also get annoyed easily with shopping. The combination of those two facts has led me to consider sewing. I have an old machine and bare minimum ability (I have made a purse with help and nothing else). I thought skirts would be a good thing to start with. Do any of you have suggestions for sites where I can find fat-friendly patterns and, ideally, tutorials? I'm hoping for something very inexpensive if not free (though I realize I may be asking too much). I would like to learn how to make a wrap skirt and an a-line. I'm hoping to avoid elastic waistbands.

Thank you all for your help.

I need to alter a swimsuit and I need suggestions on the best way to go about it. I really wish I had time to post pictures of the suit but I'm swamped with work and getting ready for leaving on vacation tomorrow, so I'm very short on time! Anyway, the suit has two straps, think like normal bra straps that attach from the shoulder and over the back. What I WANT is to convert the straps into a halter- but I'm not trying to permanently alter it and I don't have time/don't know how to cut and re-sew it and get super crafty. So I need a quick solution- some way that I can hold the straps together in the back so that it looks like a halter in the front and crossed in the back kinda. I hope that makes sense... I know pictures would be helpful! So I'm trying to figure out how to attach the straps to each other in the back, and um... a safety pin sure wouldn't look too good! So I want something that looks more purposeful, or maybe something decorative like it was meant to be there. The suit is black and white polka dots. So what? Like maybe a ring of some kind or like tying it with a ribbon or binding the straps together with something, but what? I don't know. Y'all are super creative and imaginative with your clothing so if you've got ANY ideas let me know! :)

Hey, Not to commandeer this community with my love for Midwest Airlines... but I got an email from a Fatshionista Employee of Midwest (FEM! :-), who wished to remain anonymous and she had these wonderful additions to my overall glee in this post

In addition to all that (cookies! extra room! first class in the back!)... did you know:
-They will never charge you for two seats, and will always treat you with respect?
-That their uniforms go up to a SIZE 30? and if that doesn't fit they will *MAKE* a uniform to fit?
-They hire a wide variety of flight attendants.



( original message behind the cut )

( My White Queen Outfit that I made in an afternoon )

I thought I remembered some of you mentioning you were knitters, so I thought people might enjoy seeing this...

My boss gave me a scarf that she knitted for me today. (Hooray working at JoAnns...free homemade crafts lol) It is by far the COOLEST scarf I have ever seen...the best thing being it is one of a kind

( click for photos of the super awesome scarf )
Clearly I am a nerd who is easily amused...lol

Thought I'd share what I did to the dress.
Here's the before and after:

( Read more... )

Ever wanted a shoe thats stylish AND a perfect fit ( I know with my wide feet, shoe shopping can be a pain),
why not make your own ?
http://www.marywalesloomis.com/

It is probably no secret that I like ridiculous clothes. This might be why, when I don't wear black, I go to extremes on the other end of colorful. I'm also... I have a problem with people telling me what I can and can't do. I have a problem, not with authority, but with arbitrary authority being exerted over me (so, yeah, a problem with authority). And, lately, I've seen a lot of arbitrary rules for what fat women can and can't wear. Stuff in magazines, stuff from other people....

Now, I'm not saying everyone should rush right out and buy three yards of bright orange quilting cotton. That would be silly. But it's what I did.

Even though I was feeling rather rebellious when it came to color this morning, I thought I had achieved a slightly more restrained look. A totally work-appropriate rebellion.

( Look, I am restrained! )

I wasn't kidding about the three yards of bright orange quilting cotton. Those are buttons in yellow, red, orange, blue, and green scattered about on the top layer.

( Button, button, who's got the button? )

Top: Black v-neck from Target
Shoes: Black patent sling-back kitten heels with buckle on toe
Necklace: Reclaimed Whimsy
Skirt: Courtesy of me and my faithful Riccar sewing machine

But, see, at this point of the morning, my boyfriend woke up. He watched me sew most of the skirt last night and sat up with me while I sewed on buttons by hand. He had his own ideas about what sort of outfit this skirt needed.

( My boyfriend is sometimes twelve. )

Cardigan: Dyed by me through the magic of RIT, orange buttons also added by me
Socks: Orange and white stripes from Target (they originally had little black cat appliques at the top but I got rid of them as they were rather crappy looking)
Shoes: Blue steel-toed Doc Martens

The thing is, I'm sometimes twelve as well. Maybe because I never got to wear fun clothes as a kid? Maybe because I'm just a dork?

I am totally aware that this outfit is not everyone's style. And that is totally fine by me. I'm going to a birthday party straight away after work - not for a 4-year-old, but a 40-year-old - and I think this will be fun and comfy and, especially since part of it will probably take place outside in the obscene heat, nice and cool if I take off the cardigan.

( A better shot of the necklace. )

I feel like the necklace is a little short. I might make it a bit longer at some point.

( Rings )

I love my ring clamp ring but the typewriter key ring is one of my all-time favorites. My boyfriend got it for me, when we had just started dating, at a street fair in NYC. He didn't get it for the question mark. He got it because of the comma. Because he knew that was my favorite punctuation mark (shut up, lots of people have favorite punctuation marks *grin*). He SO wins.

( Makeup makes my morning go 'round. )

Makeup:
The blue is a periwinkle shade of MAC but I can't remember the name of it. The red is Anna Sui, number 400 - a true red that can be used wet or dry and is eyesafe. Black kohl liner on the water line of the lower lid (Bourgeois) and plenty of black mascara on the top lashes (also Bourgeois). MAC LipGlass in Chance Encounter, a sheer red shade.

I have got to remember to smile in these pictures. *laugh* Instead, I am using the mirror to watch the view screen on my camera so I can get a decent shot and I wind up making slightly lopsided faces in concentration.

x-posted to

fatshionistaand sew_chubby

 

Well, after I posted the last dress I persevered with the second one I started today, and I'm so pleased with it!
This one also has a story...
Ages ago, i bought some fabric called 'Wrangler' by alexander Henry Fabrics, because I loved it.  I had no idea what to use it for and it sat in my stash for over a year, until a friend of mine announced a  'Cowboy & Saloon Girls' party! The perfect excuse! I made this skirt and wore it with a flounced white underskirt, checked shirt, bandanna, hat... you get the idea!

I knew I was unlikely to wear that particular outfit again :)
So... the skirt has now been transformed even further, sowith the addtion of a vest top and some of the scraps from the skirt I now have a very cool summer dress!

Hi! this is my first post here... hopefully i'm not breaking any rules, if i am let me know and I'll change the post...
After being inspired by fatshionista to wear a daytime outfit yesterday that wasn't boring old jeans and a t-shirt, and going out in a dress and leggings, i've decided i really rather like dresses,


x-posted to personal journal, sew_chubby and fatshionista

I've finally finished one of my half-finished sewing projects. This skirt needed a waistband, and something to break up the huge expanse of BRIGHT PINK. I was so proud of it that I had to wear it to work yesterday and ask a coworker to help me take a picture.

( My apologies if you have seen this picture on wardrobe refashion or sew_chubby )

So, I know there are some awesome crafty/sewing people here, so I was hoping for a little feedback.

I've got this inspiration, see, and I want to make my own swimsuit. I've been looking at patterns and McCalls M4848 is the only thing I can find locally. Has anyone here sewn or worn a swimsuit made with this pattern? I'm really curious about other experiences with homemade swimsuits since I have never made one before!

I haven't had much time to read fatshionista in a while :-( but I recently finished a knitting project and kind of liked one of the photos I took while modeling it, so I figured I'd post it ( under this cut )

Hey Fatshionistas, I just bought this dress off of ebay. It fits really well in the top, but it's wicked short. It stops just above my knees. I'm new to wearing sleeveless things, and this dress looks HOT from the waist up. I can't wear it because when I bend over, all my girly bits pop out the back. While this is exciting in the comfort of my own home with my husband around, I value my respectibility at work. I would love to wear this, but it's just too short.



Question:

1. Is it easy to hem something up into a shirt without it looking funny?
2. I really really really love wearing dresses...what would YOU do to alter it to make it fit? Add fabric? cut the middle and add fabric? on the bottom?

Hitch:

1. I don't want to wear leggings because it's too hot.
2. I'd prefer to keep it in dress form.

Halp!

If all else fails, this will be for sale in about a week for a lucky, and more petite, 26/28 person.

finally have some pictures of me in that strawberry dress i made for the wedding and the shoes i wore with it.

( here! )

im about to wear it to our end of the year portfolio review (BFA in theatre, costume design! ::nervous::)

Can anybody direct me to a site/or teach me how I can turn a regular t-shirt to a boat neck collar??? Everytime I wear regular shirts, I feel like I'm suffocating. Or any suggestion for a t-shirt surgery would do! Thanks! :)

(*posted with a note that i absolutely *hate* the language around "men's" and "women's" clothing...ugh)
so i recently had someone ask if id be interested in making them one or more men's dress shirts. despite being an aspiring (and yes im still in the head-in-the-clouds-part of that) dressmaker to fatgrrrls, i dont know anything about making mens shirts, and from my understanding it aint easy. so i was looking around for any info and came across what promised to be a good resource and found that under the womens clothing there were 194 links, and the men had 34, many of which were kind of useless. as i fished around, i found that other links sites provided sites other than the ones listed on this particular website for the women's stuff, but not for the mens shirts.
does anyone have a good and actually useful resourse for making "men's" dress shirts?

Dress #1: This is the famed single-seam convertible dress. I used the Rostitchery tutorial. This course of events came to pass because I ran across the aforementioned tutorial in a wardrobe_remix post, and though I've seen it many times before, this time it happened to coincide with the fact that I had a large pile of bargain-bin houndstooth knit stuff staring me in the face at the same time.

A couple of thoughts. This dress is going to work best with a really, really lightweight knit fabric, unlike the fabric I used. If one uses a heavier/thicker fabric, and one is plus-sized such that the "straps" are going to be wider, one is probably going to be suffocated by the huge masses of fabric at one's neck. This "easy" dress frustrated me for a good two hours. Following the instructions was easy, but getting the resulting garment to look the way I wanted was a huge pain. Though the directions call for the strap bits to be of uniform width, I had to thin them width-wise considerably so as not to feel like I was wearing a huge scarf. Again, I think I got screwed by my fabric choice. I will likely turn this dress into a standard halter later this week - once I get past wanting to set it on fire every time I look at it. Leave it to me to turn the easiest pattern EVER into a huge annoying failure. (This sort of frustration is why I don't use patterns.)

( Cut for image bigness. )

Dress #2: This idea gestated because I was pondering this Blue Plate dress, which would cost me about $70 shipped. For a cotton dress. I was wanting a dress in this halter-y style because of yet another wardrobe_remix post, in which the wearer was wearing such a dress over another shirt. I got all excited because I generally stay clear of halters because I won't go without a bra, and wearing a shirt underneath would mean bra+halter was doable. ANYWAY. Instead of dropping the $70, I figured I could round up some $2/yard fabric and some scrap and work out a variation of the pattern to make myself. I added a structured waistband instead of the elasticated gathers, since I tend to need something at my middle to give me shape. I had intended to add the bottom band as seen on the inspiration dress, but am on the fence about it now (I may do so on a subsequent version of this dress in non-bargain-bin fabric, now that I've got the process down).

The dress is in desperate need of a good pressing in the below pictures, but you get the idea (the second picture is pretty unflattering, but oh well). It's blue stretch poplin, with a green bandana-print scrap for a waistband.

( Cut for image bigness. )

Dress #3: Essentially I wanted a semi-fitted dress in pink and green. So I made this. The black and pink fabric is a linen-look, more clearance $2/yd fabric. The green twill bit looks brighter in the camera flash than it does in life; it's really more of an apple green and less of a lime, and that was leftover scrap fabric I had lying around. I am obsessively in love with this dress, it is SO OBNOXIOUS, and the whole thing cost me less than $5 in materials. Woohoo.

I may yet shorten it a little, I haven't decided.

( Cut for image bigness. )

Crossposted to my LJ.

At the request of xreesex, I have made a photo tutorial of how to make the easy wrap shirt I used for my theme outfit today.

Requires:
Sheer fabric
Safety pins
A bathroom mirror
A cam to post your shots (I totally want to see other versions)
The ability to read huge, thunking, picture posts

NSFW due to bra shots

( This ain't a seam, it's a gun down art's face! )

x-posting to my journal & sew_hip

So, I wrote this post like over a year ago or more, and I kept forgetting to take pics of the skirt itself. First I didn't have a camera, and then I did have a camera but got really busy, and then I outgrew the darn skirt. And THEN I made the stupidest mistake of all: giving the skirt away to someone. Boy was that dumb. It was a great skirt, and even if I never fit into it again, it was an awesome sewing project to show off and maybe copy.

So this is a DIY post without pictures! Yay.

In short: these instructions will allow you to turn a pair of pants into a miniskirt with raw-looking edges and marvellous pleated trim all the way around the bottom.

( Read more... )

through the forums at supernaturale, i found a link to something strange and fascinating. i hate being part of that american subculture that is fascinated with japan, but... sometimes i am. eep.

especially when it comes to things like this.

because this? this is haramaki. which is to say, this is a belly warmer.

think about those words. belly? cuddly. warmer? cuddly.

unfortunately, it's getting warm... but i'm thinking of making a belly warmer to wear as long as i can.

look.

there's a little silliness in the comments about fat, but i think that they could work awesome for folks of size. i know that a lot of my fashion trouble comes from awkward overlaps, so what about something to ease those overlaps into something cuter?

i just might knit one. here are my instructions to myself: knit tube.

HEY! I finally made a circle skirt and let me tell you, I am FREAKIN proud of myself. Even in my Dr.Pepper and Rum faze, I managed not to mess it up! The only thing I do not like it the hemming, I hate to do that! I still do not know how I feel about the fabric, but onto the pics!

Also, I joined the Fat Girl Swap on Craftster, and these are the thing I made her...I hope she likes them!


( LOOKIE! I DID GOOD! AND DONT CLICK IF YOU ARE MRS.ROSIE! )

Darling Fatshionistas,

I have been inspired by numerous self-made outfits in this community, and my mom recently gave me her new sewing machine. I would love to know how to sew skirts and where, if any, the good patterns are. I like A-line skirts that fall slightly below the knee. I really like funky materials, so learning how to piece different things together (adding lace, etc.) is key. I'm wondering if there's an online community and/or if people are willing to send instructions. I pretty much get that I could take apart a skirt that I already have and use that as a pattern...does that work?

I love the skirts I'm seeing on everyone, expecially reachingxout's acid green one in a recent post.

Thanks for any suggestions. I would like to try to make a skirt using an old one as a pattern. Thoughts?

Welcome Spring!

Hi there, I just posted a top I made for myself and someone pointed me here. I've always had a hard time finding cute clothes that I like because everyone's definition of cute is different and it seems the stores not even Torrid carries stuff that I squeal over so I had to make it myself.

This weekend I was out and saw this fabric and had to get some to make a top.

I took one picture of it on me but it's really hard to get a good picture (in focus) in this dark house. So I have a few of it on my mannequin Mallory.