It has been awhile, but I'm finally back!  Actually, I have not really been away - just insanely busy at work and busy socially and, well, a wee bit lazy.  OMG FAT STEREOTYPE.

Anyway!  My wonderful parents asked me earlier in the year what I'd like for Christmas, and I replied, "A sewing machine!"

I have fond memories of being poked and prodded with pins and measuring tapes for most my childhood.  My mother is an excellent seamstress, and the bulk of my clothes except for my socks, school uniforms, and some special occasion gear, were made for me until I was about eight or so.  My mother made my senior formal outfit (that's prom, for the non-Australians), medieval costumes when I was at university, the works.

Now, I wanted to be able to alter my own clothes, and begin making my own too.  First I learned how to do the basics - thread the machine, fill a bobbin, and sew straight and zigzag stitches.  Although I've never sewn before, I've spent years around my mother and her machine, so it wasn't too hard.  So I asked my mum to help me make a breezy summer top.  This is what we did:

Made a rough mock-up using one of my tank-tops and an old bedsheet, fitted the mock up, made a pattern out of newspaper, and cut the pieces - one centre back and two centre front pieces. After putting those together at the shoulder seam and sewing the darts, we decided that it needed facings, so cut out armhole and neckline facings, ironed on interfacing paper and added that. Then mum got the bright idea that we should understitch the facings.

It pulls a little oddly on the left shoulder, but given that we drafted the pattern mostly from scratch, I wasn't expecting a perfect fit.  I'm slip-stitching all the facings down at the moment (neck done, one and a half armholes to go!), but other than that it's finished

Apologies for the cruddy webcam headless fatty shots, but my camera was not playing nice this evening with the self-timer for some reason.  Also it is wrinkled, because I had it crushed in my lap while I sewed the facings down and watched The West Wing (which is an awesome show for sewing to, by the by).

I feel inordinately proud myself, and really inspired!  However, it's clear that I need a lot more general sewing experience before I get to the stage that I want to be, which is to be able to draft my own patterns from scratch.  Going by measurements, I am right at the top of the plus-size spectrum in commercial patterns, and I want to have the skill to make what I want, when I want it!

I got rather excited when I saw these two patterns from Simplicity, as I can fit (just) the 28W, and I absolutely adore 1940s vintage stylin'!  I was disappointed to discover that these seemed to be limited to the US as well, though!  Isn't that just awesome - not only is the range of ready-to-wear clothing in Australia shitty, but patterns are equally difficult to find. :/  I'm in love with some of the Burda patterns I've found too, but of course their online store doesn't ship to Australia.  I know Burda is commercially available here; I just hope there's a similarly awesome plus pattern availability.

There's a happy ending though - I found both Simplicity patterns on eBay from a seller who ships worldwide, AND it was cheaper!  I can't wait to try them out, though I'll probably start with the skirt, as it looks the least difficult.  My goal is to channel Katharine Hepburn and make a fabulous pair of high-waisted, wide-legged pants.  First step is to buy some calico or muslin, as I'm far from proportionate, so there'll be adjustments, no doubt.

So tell me!  Do you sew?  What are some of your favourite patterns, tips and tricks?  What do you find most difficult when adjusting for fatness?

(BONUS PHOTO:  I had my hair dyed blonde at the beginning of December.  EXCITING!  I won't apologise for this being a webcam shot, it's from my dailybooth stream)

I'm in a sassy mood today, and I've been looking at online plus-size fashion retailers while trying to help a friend find a dress to wear to a wedding. It's SO frustrating!  Even though the plus-size fashion market has improved, I still see a lot of things that bother me  - the most of all being that some labels and manufacturers only consider fit models with a certain body type and don't pay a thought to those of us who do not have a "classic hourglass shape". In the spirit of snark and temper tantrums, I bring you "Things I hate about plus-size fashion"!

Fake necklaces

Fat women are not too lazy to put their own accessories on. This is insulting. Also, the chain is typically full of nickel, which I have an allergy to. It's gross and insulting, way to go!

Short dresses

Sure, tiny hemlines are progressive, if you slept through the 60s. However, some of us prefer to wear more modest hemlines when we have certain social engagements. Too many retailers are chopping off skirts on otherwise beautiful garments and still charging the same amount.

Tops with bandeau hems or gathered waists

I have a big tummy, there is no way I want to be wrestling with elastic or a thick waist/ hip band all day. There are only two ways these styles work on me - they either slide up to sit under my boobs or down to sit on my thighs. FAIL.

Necklines that ignore my boobs.

This is a double pronged attack - I hate necklines that are too low, and too high. There are LOADS of styles of tops and dresses that incorporate my most hated thing - the cross-over bust. It's a cheap and nasty manufacturing ploy, because the pattern doesn't need to be drafted as much to fit the bust through shaping and darts. It means that the neckline basically sits below the bust and shows off miles of your bra if you have larger breasts. Necklines that are too high also bother me. Do I not have a chest? Someone needs to find the Goldilocks solution to this problem so they can have all of my money.

Giant graphic print tops

I have seen so many different abominable prints on plus size clothing ranging from news print to butterflies to "empowering" words. Gross. Get it away from me.

Bedazzled jeans

I want to wear plain denim jeans, maybe with a rivet in each corner of the pocket. That's all. I do not want you to harass my jeans with a bedazzler, sequins, glittery embroidery or your label's name across my glorious arse.

All of this

Diagonal lines, awful massive prints, sheer fabrics, etc. In the words of my friend "I really despair at TS (Australian label TS14+)". In the words of me, "It looks like a shitty graphic designer vomited all over her". Even their cardigans are wonky. It's insanity.

Obviously, we all have our own list of things we'd prefer not to ever wear - and I'm fairly certain a few people will actually like the garments that bother me so much! What are your fashion hates?

Seriously, that is the title of the op-ed piece that's been spewed across the front page Australia's biggest news website, news.com.au, and printed in the Herald Sun.

Now, I'm kind of pissed off, so this blog isn't going to be all tra-la-la citing studies and the like.

It's a visceral fucking reaction to the idea that fat people are empowered. Um, NO. In fact, I would go so far as to say EPIC NAH. Because we aren't empowered. We're fucking marginalised.

Let's dig a little deeper, shall we?

First, some standard skinny-bashing:

Indeed, this month's Fashion Week In Melbourne abandoned the usual stick insects for some models who were size 14-18

 

Can't have thin women feeling good about themselves, nope.

Let's be honest.

 

Oh, this ought to be good.

While these women might make us feel better about our bulging butts and guts, the truth is, few women over a size 14 are in a healthy weight range.

So feeling good about yourself is unhealthy? I'm just going to time out for a second here, and point out that your mental health is so important, and so often pushed aside in favour of the more visible physical health. Healthy self-esteem is incredibly good for you.

As for the horseshit about being over a size 14 and OMG OBESE, I shall direct you to Kate Harding's BMI Project. See what underweight, normal, overweight and obese really look like. It might surprise you.

Most of the women on catwalks are freaks of nature and it is only right that the pendulum is swinging towards more achievable bodies.

So if you're skinny, you're a freak, but if you're a size 14, you're OMGOBESE?! Narrow standards of beauty indeed.

But there is a limit. I know it's not fashionable to say this, but some of the women being embraced as positive role models and ambassadors for larger people are obese and should lose weight for health reasons.

 

Oh heehee, I know it's not PC! UR SO EDGY BB.

Except, you're not, because you're espousing a view that is the norm. THE NORM.

And of course, it's not because people are ew yuck gross fat. It's just for their health. Of course. Because by looking at someone you totally can guess every aspect of all their health issues. Great! No more going to the doctor – just email them a photograph and they can diagnose you like that?

Also, hey, Susie O'Brien? You're not an MD. SO SHUT UP. (Come on, if she was an MD, she'd have mentioned it. Just sayin').

Okay I need to point something out here:

 

And, reflecting the expanding girth of many Australians, more and more retailers, such as Myer, Sportsgirl and even Ed Hardy, are jumping on the bandwagon, and offering larger sizes.

Sportsgirl goes to a SIZE SIXTEEN. That's one size above the national average, and is considered a missy size. And last time I was in a Sportsgirl (admittedly a long time ago, because it's overpriced Supre-esque cack, in my humble opinion), the size sixteens are not generous. At all.

 

Yes, larger teens deserve to be able to wear fashionable clothes, like everyone else. But the discourse of self-empowerment surrounding the move is stopping us asking why so many young people are size 16 or more in the first place.

No, it's not. Fat teens can wear fat clothes while you pontificate about losing weight. It's not an either/or situation, people.

And this is nearly making me cry: a discourse of self-empowerment.

Why, why, why do people want others to feel bad about themselves? How is it productive? How is it helpful? Whether it's being fat, skinny, or any other trope, why is being different so offensive?

Sure, such moves reflect the reality of a rapidly growing population, but they also serve to normalise a size that is not healthy for most young people.

 

And back to the diagnosing entire swathes of people based on how they look.

Ooh, cognitive dissonance time:

 

In recent weeks the debate has been spurred on by the larger thighs and flabby tummy of 20-year-old model Lizzie Miller in Glamour magazine in the US.

Readers in the millions embraced the image of the gorgeous, naked young woman letting it all hang out for the cameras. But at 180cm and 76kg, she's hardly plus-sized.

Okay, so she's got large thighs, and heaven forbid, a flabby tummy.

But suddenly she's not plus-sized? WELL GEE, WHO'D HAVE THOUGHT. Whose side are you on, anyway, Susie?

Losing weight is hard work. It takes sacrifice and effort. As a mother of three in my late 30s with a new gym membership, I know this first-hand.

The tiniest violin in the world, bb. And maybe an *emotear*. Seriously, you have post-pregnancy weight? Maybe it's just because you gestated three new human beings inside you. That's pretty awesome, and tends to change your body shape. Yeah.  And as for sacrifice - well, yeah, if you mean sacrificing your mental health, probably your physical health once you gain it back (because why would we have a diet industry if we could all lose weight and keep it off?), and hell, any interesting kind of food.  I don't know about the rest of you, but food's pretty awesome.

It's much easier to accept the pro-fat manifesto than hit the treadmill.

 

Just, no. If it was easier to be pro-fat, we'd have taken over by now.

Let's face it, Australians - like Americans - do not need any encouragement or permission from role models in the media to put on weight.

 

Thanks for fighting the good fight against positivity and healthy self-esteem in the media, Susie! Fortunately for you, size-acceptance is still a significant minority in terms of media coverage, so not to worry there. A nice underhanded anti-American slight too – very smooth.

 

Alarmingly, a new Australian study of more than 30,000 people shows obese and morbidly obese men are less depressed and less suicidal than those of a normal weight.

You know why Susie? You really want to know why? C'mere, I'll tell you a secret.

…

FAT PEOPLE EAT. People who don't eat or diet tend to (anecdotally, this is my experience) feel like absolute shit because they are hungry all the fucking time. It messes with you.

But it's time to get real - fat people may be happier but they're also digging their graves with a fork, and we're all paying for it.

Well, you should be happier that we're killing ourselves! Because then you'll get to stop paying for us! (As stupid as that concept is, because we have semi-socialised healthcare here).

And we get to the crux of the article. Underneath all the 'but it's for your health' hand-waving, Susie O'Brien just thinks fat people cost too much. And are ugly.

Look, if you don't want to give us nice clothes to wear, that's fine. Just get us a clause to go around naked.

Source: News.com.au (careful of the comments, they tend to represent the lowest common denominator.)

So I'm reading the online paper today and I come across this article. I was thinking that it was great to see Myer taking the issue of plus sizes seriously.

Clipping from news.com.au/couriermail/ - 03/08/09

So I click on the link and read further. You should too, since I figure they might not be happy with me cutting and pasting the whole article. The article is titled "Fuller figures on display as Myer show thorws a curveball".

I'm reading and reading and reading and it all sounds like great stuff. They'll be stocking large sizes and you can even order custom briadal wear up to a size 24. They even talk to (or quote from a press release, who knows these days) one of the fuller figure models.

Brisbane model Bree Warren will be one of them and she said she wasn't perturbed by the plus size tag.

"I know that I'm happy and healthy and I think that I'm in proportion," she said.

"I think you've just got to be confident with how you look and who you are as a person.

I kept the original link as included in the article to the model's page on the Dallys Models website. I wasn't sure if I read correctly at first, but it's there in black and white. Well white and black.

SHE'S SIZE 12 AUSTRALIAN.

Since when did Size 12 Australian, which although I'm no expert I'm lead to believe is Size 8 US, is not plus size. I'm glad that she's happy and healthy. Confidence is great too. But I don't see how she can be thrust forward as the face of a plus size revolution by Myer.

Bring on the size 18 to Size 24 women, or even larger. Get hot sexy men of a larger size (like me for example) and dress them in AWESOME outfits. Make me want to come into your store and go "OMFG I can finally get some great threads and look as stylish as I feel."

Just don't lie to me ok?

Okay, so it's been pretty well established that I have nice clothes, and tend to wear pretty fun and awesome outfits.  I get compliments on my clothing relatively frequently.  Most recently, I bought a coat from Asos, a really cute beige, tulip-skirted mac.  And the compliments rolled in, and often ended in the question, "Where did you find that?"Asos coat

And when I reply that I purchased it online, from an international retailer, most (not all) people seem genuinely shocked that it's possible to purchase clothing online. I will often get responses along the lines of, "But how do you know it will fit?"

For a lot of people, knowing exactly what the measurements of one's body are can be a highly daunting thing.  Tags on clothes might lie, but the measuring tape doesn't.  I suspect a lot of women my age haven't even thought that one's bust, waist and hip measurements actually are supposed to correspond to the arbitrary numbers on size tags.  Actually knowing what size you are, and matching it up to size chart online might be frightening, particularly if one is not keen on having to size up for things to fit.  I've known people who have insisted they are a size __, no matter what, and if they need to size up for something to fit, they won't buy it.

Funnily enough, they don't seem to have a problem with going down a size if the garment is too big.

The most infuriating comments, though, are these:

Me: "Oh yeah, I bought this from [online store], I really like it!"

Them: "That's pretty cool, but I don't really get why you shop online?  Isn't just easier to go into a real shop and buy something?"

Me: "... it would be if I could find anything to fit, that wasn't ugly as hell and that every single other fat girl isn't wearing."

This is what we in Australia particularly, but that fat people the world over have to deal with.  Our choices are so ridiculously limited that if you want to dress in a fashion-forward way, we are relegated to online shopping.  Sure, it's great to have unique stuff, but what if I just need a pair of, let's say, black trousers.  A staple of most women's wardrobes.  If you go into Target's straight size section, you will find at least ten styles, all available in Short, Average and Tall.

In the plus sections?  Two or three styles, and all stupidly long or ridiculous cropped shit.  And this is just one low to mid-range department store.  Women who can wear straight sizes have a myriad of choices for their clothing, at various price points.  For fatties, we have a choice of paying $35 at Big W, or $250 at Myer.  Where's the middle ground?  Autograph?  No way; just say no to mounds of printed polyester garbage.

I am so sick of having to pay at least $20 extra in shipping costs for the privilege of purchasing well fitting, comfortable, fashion-forward clothing.  When I hear people joking about or discussing "fat taxes", I feel like screaming that I already pay a fucking fat tax - it's called International Shipping.  Some stores are more reasonable than others (Torrid, I'm looking at you and your extortionate shipping costs), but ultimately, I pay more than smaller people for my clothes. 

I'm not asking for much.  I would love to see more brick-and-mortar stores stocking plus size clothing.  Places like Dogstar, an Australian brand that I would seriously buy so much stuff from, if they just extended their size range.  Or if the few Australian fatshion places could open up more stores, like Towanda, or DreamDiva.  Or if Autograph could start producing more tailored, on-trend pieces.

It is not that hard.  Fat people are here, with Fat Dollars to spend.  We want the same options as our straight-size counterparts, across all styles and all price points. 

I want to be able to walk into Target and find a pair of black, short length, wide-legged, mid-rise, natural-fibre trousers.

And now I am off to wear an outfit that will no doubt consist of a significant amount of clothing purchased online.

Anna Scholz Fall/ Winter 09 looks

Today I saw Gabi at Young, Fat and Fabulous post about Anna Scholz's latest looks from the Fall/ Winter collection, and while I'm not typically into consuming commercial looks, a few of the outfits were amazing and pretty much me! There's no way in hell I could usually afford an Anna Scholz garment, and the site doesn't ship to Australia anyway, but it's nice to dream... isn't it? I really need a sassy black dress like that, and a lovely coat to keep out the chilly Brisbane wind right now!