I currently have about twenty yards of fabric literally hanging around my house. (I washed it, didn't want to put it in the dryer cause twisting+fraying+wrinkling=UGH, was too late to put up the clothesline, so draped it on the banisters and dining room table.) This is gorgeous, normally-expensive-but-I-got-it-cheap Liberty of London lawn. I want to make it up into stuff, now that summer's just about here, but what?
I can't find any patterns that I'm not sick of. I've seen the same ones over and over, and either they're a) boring, b) won't look good on me, or c) are of the OMG YOU ARE FAT YOU MUST SHROUD YOURSELF IN A BURQA variety. Costume patterns are too costumey. I can wear a nice summer dress to the office; I cannot wear Renfaire garb.
Part of the problem is that I have very little idea what looks good on me. My body type is not exactly what's designed for. I carry my weight mostly in the front, so there's not much waist definition. I can't look to the media to find examples of people like me dressed in flattering ways-- i.e. not giant jackets designed to hide my "flaws." My entire body is a "flaw," at this point.
I could learn to draft my own patterns, but again, what would I design? What's a good-looking style that doesn't make me look like I'm trying to hide myself, but at the same time doesn't make me look hideously disproportionate? I am short and round, and I don't mind being so (except for the anti-fat prejudice that's ingrained in all women). I just wish I could find the magic pattern that both subjectively and objectively looks good on me.
Hmm. If I did look at historical patterns...
Anything pre-1905 or thereabouts is rejected, based on the stays requirements. 1910s? Maybe, if I can find something that doesn't look too FLDS. 1920s? Right out, I have too much boob for that. 1930s? Possibly. Hmm. Must investigate 30s wear. 1940s? Again, possible. We're heading into vintage now, which doesn't look costumey, although I haven't seen a lot of 40s wear that I like. 1950s? Possibly, except that the clothes are designed to be worn with girdles, which brings up the stays problem. Still, fat was not as shamed in the 50s, and I do love circle skirts. 1960s? Yes and no. I'm not into mod. I am very much into boho, but I have so much boho stuff, and there's a limit to how many peasant blouses one can own. 1970s? Meh. 80s? Meh. 90s? Meh.
Okay. I shall hunt for 1930s and 1950s wear, and see what I come up with.
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rednikki moved west. Wow.
giggly