Kindly Póg Mo Thóin

I went to the reading of Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby’s book on Friday night at Re/Dress, a plus-sized vintage/resale boutique in Brooklyn. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of shopping, in part because at my size, it’s difficult to find *anything,* let alone anything fashionable and at the same time age-appropriate* or suitable for my body type (please let the tyrrany of the Empire waist come to an end). But I also get grumpy in stores, which makes vintage shopping kind of a trial (and when you add in the musty smell that is inevitable among vintage clothing and which also turns me off used bookstores, well), because you kinda have to look at EVERYTHING because everything is one-of-a-kind.

Not my idea of a fun way to while away the afternoon. And it’s not like I can even get into shoe shopping, because of my big feet. I do have jewelry, though! Which is important when you wear the same drab old outfit nearly every day.

Anyhow, maybe it was the festive atmosphere prior to the reading, maybe it was the fact that I was wearing a maxi dress that, while it had an Empire waist, also had a shirred waistband-like thing above the actual waist that created something close to a waist and in which I looked like a goddess instead of a pregnant hunchback, maybe it was the fact that I went in there not to shop, really, but to attend the reading and see Kate, but I actually found some stuff to buy. I bought a brown-and-white print wrap dress; a black-and-white print** pseudo-wrap dress that’s just a hair too small in the bust but will be fine with a cardigan over it; a cotton-and-linen brown-and-cream floral halter dress that I will say more about in a bit; a pair of brown suede shoes that actually fit and have cute cream detail on the little flower on the toebox; two pairs of bike shorts to wear under said dresses; and Kate and Marianne’s book.

I’m glad I dressed up, because everyone else there was for the most part, and they looked cute. And since there were a lot of women there who were bigger than I am, with bigger fit and size challenges, I really don’t have much of an excuse not to dress decently.

In fact, I realized that I don’t dress very well when I was at work, wearing the maxi dress, and was getting compliments left and right, with people wondering where I was going later. It’s probably a good idea for me to raise my game overall, so to speak, so I’m not telegraphing the fact that I have plans when I wear something nice to work. It used to be easy to look nice for work, and I’m not talking just about the fact that I used to wear regular sizes and have smaller tits. I used to be required to wear a suit (and a skirt suit at that for the first few years I practiced). While a lot of plus-sized jackets run to the boxy in order to accommodate a lot of different body types under one size, it’s at least a little easier to look put together when you’re wearing a jacket. Stacy and Clinton are definitely right on that one.

Something else they’re right on is that when you’re dressed well, and you know you look good, you start to feel better about yourself in general. I was definitely feeling good on Friday, swanning around looking like a goddess in my maxi dress (and yet every bit as comfortable as if I’d been wearing pants, possibly moreso). I’d like to continue to feel good. FSM knows it’s been long enough since I did.

So. You’re wondering about the skillz referred to in the title to this post, and when the hell I’m going to get back to that halter dress. The dress is lovely, and impractical given that it’s a) a halter and requires a special bra I don’t have and b) doesn’t truly accommodate my boobs that well given the triangle arrangement of the halter. BUT! It was 13 bucks. And more importantly, I looked at it and realized that I have enough sewing skills that I could rearrange the straps to make it more workable, OR! I could get out my pattern paper and muslin and re-create it, adjusting the design of the top part to a) make it work with a bra I currently own and b) make more than one, but not necessarily with the same bodice design. Because it’s a simple design, with three front panels on the skirt, four back panels plus zipper. And if I play around with muslin, I can get a bodice that works with my boobs rather than against them.

AND! I can make them in any fabric I want to. Yay!

And for help, I’m going to refer to Unapologetically Fat’s Sewing at Any Size series. Good step-by-step stuff.

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* Hip-hop designers, FSM love ‘em, are absolutely unafraid of the plus-sized market. In fact, they love it, and the market loves it back. But I’m a 40-year-old white woman with a professional job. I don’t really require bling on my ass. Nor do I want to be stuck in the box-shaped frumptastic clothing that seems to be the other option for fat women.

** I have far too much of the graphic black-and-white print in my wardrobe. My wallet is even zebra striped. I guess this is what happens when you tell yourself that you have to stop wearing so damn much black all the time.