GIFTED Sewing

When I wrote my book, Life Is Not A Dress Size, (1996) one of the biggest challenges was to come up with the right words for fat girls. Myself -- I was fine with "fat". But that is not politically correct. Since the average woman in America is a size 14 -- I thought a size 16-18 should be "above average" and a woman who was bigger than that should be called "Gifted".

My sewing skills are marginal. I don't know the first thing about tailoring....or sewing beautiful pleated draperies. Buttonholes always seem like more trouble than they're worth -- and I can't tell you the last time I installed a zipper.

But there is one thing I am THE MASTER OF -- HOW TO REMAKE ready-to-wear for the Gifted woman. Remember this maxi dress?  I started with an orange top, size medium -- and added some fabric at the side seams...

Recently, a friend told me she could not buy a decent nightgown. (HEY -- isn't it delightful that she is feeling the need??) Since I sleep naked, I was unaware of this gap in the market -- but I WAS SO EXCITED. This is the perfect excuse to start MINING T-SHIRT MOUNTAIN. You cannot know how thrilling it is for me to FIND A PURPOSE for all my compulsive collecting of 25-cent t-shirts...

And -- HOW MUCH FUN IS THIS?   Starting with any shirt that had an interesting neckline -- I am mere minutes away from a BEAUTIFUL NIGHTIE...

I don't keep track -- but in the last two weeks -- I have given her many nightgowns. She HATES sleeves  -- so the first thing I do is cut them off, creating a facing with the old sleeve. Depending on the style, the side seams is a good place to add some extra fabric. (like my maxi dress above) But that always requires resizing the armhole so you don't have a lot of side boobage exposure...

Depending on the style of the shirt I'm starting with -- sometimes it's better to add an extra panel in the BACK of the garment -- which is so easy....

Hey -- this is one of those places where a picture is worth 1000 words -- I'm gonna go take some!!