wherein Liz sorts dresses

[edenfalling]

Tonight I tried on all my dresses (except for the one I knew I wasn't keeping, because I only bought it for Cat's wedding lo these many years ago and I never much liked it) and it turns out only two of them fit anymore. Which is not hugely surprising; bodies change as one gets older. In particular, my boobs do not seem to get smaller even when I otherwise get my weight down to my ideal range. *sigh*

I was expecting one of the survivors -- it is a dress I bought mail order a few years back because it looked both pretty and comfortable, which turned out to be true in practice as well as theory -- but the other was a surprise. I mean, it would seem logical for more recent dresses to fit better, yes? And yet, my second surviving fancy dress is the one I bought when I was fourteen years old, for a high school winter formal dance. All hail elastic, I suppose!

I also pruned three long-sleeved shirts from my other closet, but ended up giving the rest a temporary pass. See, the reason I haven't worn some of them in ages is because they are turtlenecks and those would have left me hideously overheated at the smoke shop. And since I was out of the habit of wearing them, I forgot to see how they worked in an office setting last winter at Not the IRS. So I will give them a try this winter and decide their fates based on actual real-life performance. Considering I was wearing an outdoor scarf indoors most of the time to keep my neck from freezing, I think they might do fairly well...

Comments

[transposable_element]

Fitting clothes is weird. I have garments in M, L, and XL, made by the same manufacturer, all of which fit me fine. I have a size M dress that is, if anything, loose on me and a size L dress that is too small -- from the same maker! None of these clothes are tightly-fitted, but still, it makes no sense!

The business with the turtlenecks sounds like what a friend of mine calls "going shopping in your closet." It's nice fun to find things that you'd forgotten about that you can still wear.

[edenfalling]

Men's clothes seem to be more rational, for which I envy them. All I've managed to figure out over the years is a few designers/manufacturers to stay away from because whatever body type they use for their patterns is emphatically not mine. When it comes to sizes, though, I kind of guess and hope and spend a lot of time in changing rooms to test things out. *sigh*

I wore turtlenecks and mock-turtlenecks in self-defense against underheated rooms in high school, college, and a couple office jobs... but since the smoke shop was invariably overheated, I put those shirts aside for eight years. I suppose I only kept them as a talisman of maybe getting another office job again someday instead of spending the rest of my life in retail. And as it turns out, that is what has happened so hey! Apparently I can see the future! *wry*

[autumnia]

For the dresses that no longer fit, is it just the top portion that doesn't fit? If so, you could consider cutting it up and making them skirts.

And sometimes, it is the older pieces of clothing that still fits and lasts longer than the newer ones. I really don't understand how that works but so true in so many cases, especially since we seem to now live in a world of cheap, disposable clothing.

I can't stand turtlenecks. I used to wear them more when I was younger but at some point, I really disliked the constricting feel around my neck. I'd rather just wrap a scarf around loosely so it feels a bit more breathable.

With all your current posts about cleaning, I went ahead and did another round of pruning in my drawers and closet this morning. Sold off a few items including a handbag (nice, expensive, but have decided it was too structured for my tastes) to the nearby secondhand clothing shop, dropped off 2 items to the city's textile recycling program and there's a bag of other clothes that will be taken to Goodwill later this week.

[edenfalling]

The only two dresses where that would be moderately feasible are made of fabrics that I either don't like or think would be a nightmare to work with; the others are not cut in ways conducive to making skirts. Also I don't have a sewing machine and the idea of trying to hand-sew a skirt out of a dress with no pattern and no experience in such projects sounds like the epitome of a bad idea to me. *shrug*

My sewing skills are limited to hemming, closing small tears, making discreet tucks in elastic waistbands, and reattaching buttons. Anything more complicated than that either gets tossed or goes to a tailor -- as happened with my winter coat a few years back, because I love that coat, I intend to get another fifteen years of wear out of it, and I was not going to throw it away over a busted zipper.

I am very picky about turtlenecks for that exact reason. Most of mine are either slouchy enough that they're halfway to cowl-necks, or they're mock-turtlenecks and therefore don't have enough fabric to get really constricting.

Congrats on your pruning!