In the area of RTW, my biggest pet peeves are in the neck and arm area. It seems that the arms are usually proportionally correct – for a normal person but plus-size people have larger arms to begin with and RTW is not forgiving. If more was added at the beginning it would fit a larger number of people. You can take it in but you can’t let it out!

There doesn’t seem to be enough adjustments in the area of the upper back and back arm area. You will see many plus-sizes wearing their blouses buttoned at the neck. They aren’t being modest. They’re trying to anchor that blouse to keep it from slipping to the back. In sewing my own clothing, that is one of the hardest adjustments to make. Usually takes at least 3 tries to get it right or at least acceptable.

I’m switching to jumpers simply because you can fit a knit into an acceptable top but fitting a dress is a lot of work. My jumpers will be using some of the older jumper patterns to design those extra large armholes!

Short-sleeve tops simply don’t cut it. I’ve started searching out knit tops with 3/4 sleeves that will stay anchored down on the arm. Besides few people have upper arms that look nice. My arms are so large they were used in a pattern study. Yippee. If I’d been in New Orleans during Katrina landfall I probably would have been able to fly better than the flying nun and I wouldn’t have had to hold on to my hat. She would have beat me in landing. I would have landed with a very painful WHOOMMP.

I have one RTW dress taken apart right now. I purchased it in a 6X and need to take in the neckline a few inches so I removed the binding and will gather it as best I can. The arms are tight but barely acceptable. When I find a piece of denim the same weight and close to the color i will add in about 3 inches in the arm, tapering it into the bodice. Getting older means that the extra width that was once mid-arm is now drooping around the elbows.

Pants: I use the extra wide (2.5 in) ribbed elastic in the waistbands. That narrow elastic is hilarious. Like tying a piece of thread around Momma Michelin. Much more comfortable and since the blouse, shirt, top etc is hanging over the waistband, who’s going to notice. To eliminate bulk, I face the inner side of the waistband with a cotton or other thin material. Since the waist on a large person is more curved by cutting the inner band fabric on the bias it will fit easily around the curves. I use serger stitching on the bottom edge and stitch it all flat.

Also, I started putting gussests in the crotch seam. MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE. If you have thunder thighs, no ones going to notice and if they do, they’re much to close. They are also used in better mens work jeans and in active wear (for the skinnies). The same company putting in the gussets in their work jeans also puts narrow gussets in their shirts (including t-shirts). I’m going to try that.

Most tops, especially knits are TOO SHORT in plus-sizes. I love the tunic styles – some shirts are actually long enough for my liking. You can’t cammoflage a battleship but you don’t want to call attention to the ballast tanks either!

Biggest RTW joke on fat ladies: hi-cut undies and the search for full-cut!

Blessings, blessings and more blessings to Connie Crawford. I purchased her patterns when she was just starting to manufacture patterns for the super plus sized ladies. I still need to tweak her patterns but they have saved me hours and hours of pattern drafting time.

Brenda

While I am most pleased with the success I have had — a blessing, and bless my surgeon & his program…, in no way have I returned to my former shape. I lost close to 120 lbs. I don’t think your measurements would workout the way you might envision. Marie-Christine made me laugh big time with the reverse entropic lifting… Thanks for the giggle.

The most critical fitting area – most easily noticed, and hardest to address with mass-production – is the neck/shoulder width and slope. In bariatric patients, this would remain more or less constant. The second hardest area is proportionally the shoulder width to the bust width. In bariatric women, the shoulder width would remain close to constant, while the upper arm and bust would change dramatically.

You have to start somewhere. With this target group would be an excellent place.

I myself went through the surgery over a year ago. I have lost 167 pounds. I was 367.

My big problem now as I am working at losing an additional 50 pounds is finding clothes that fit. I have as of now clothes that range from a size 10 to 20.

I do agree that a long term study of the size changes in specific women would be far more valuable than the current system.
Also, I remember hearing of a study done on children’s growth patterns, where the measurements were done by the same person at the same time of day, in the same manner, over a long period of time. They found that children often don’t grow at all for a long time, then increase in height a considerable amount in several weeks.
The research was reported by Karl Kruszelnicki from the University of Sydney, on an audio cassette which didn’t cite the source.