Designing for Plus Sizes
Why Bother to Sew?
Although there are exceptions, ready-to-wear clothing for large women is often like fast food: cheap, fast, readily available and tasteless.
Compared to other household expenses, ready-to-wear clothing is cheaper now than it has ever been, and there are younger, more trendy styles available than the matronly garments sold to plus-size women years ago. However, the ready-to-wear industry still makes assumptions about large women in order to market to us. Look through any of the plus-size clothing catalogs and ask yourself, "What assumptions have they made about me as a consumer?" The answers aren't very flattering.
The industry often assumes that we are either cheap or poor; that we aren't interested in fashion; that we'll only buy clothes displayed on thin models; and that we like clothes that are either very bright and heavily embellished or clothes that are plain and dark, without much variety in between. They also seem to assume that we neither know, nor care, about quality construction, fabrication and fit. They don't understand how our bodies are shaped, and apparently they think we're all large-busted and have very long arms. In the ready-to-wear industry, plus-sizes are low-budget, low-quality, low-priority and low-prestige.
You can do it better. Instead of owning a closet full of clothes that don't fit, don't wear well, don't flatter your body, and don't work for your lifestyle, invest the time and effort it takes to sew for yourself. Sewing satisfies your spirit as well as your physical needs.
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Barbara Deckert is the author of Sewing for Plus-sizes: Design, Fit and Construction for Ample Apparel and Sewing 911: Practical and Creative Rescues for Sewing Emergencies. Barbara has been sewing for over 37 years, and has worked as a custom dressmaker for over 15 years. She is an active member of the Professional Association of Custom Clothiers and lives in Elkridge, MD.
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