[clvquilts]

Originally Posted by baffled111

Carolyn, I've always had a love/hate relationship with pixie women. I'm slightly jealous of how tiny you all can be, but by comparison, I always feel like a giant oaf, so I hate you a little bit too

Baffled - you had me LOLLING again this morning! But there are some draw backs to being so short. I have to get a stool out to reach anything in the top shelves of my kitchen cabinette or the back of the middle cabinette. Sometimes in business situations, people don't take me seriously because of my size, especially when everyone is standing up and towering over me. I have to look up to see anyone who isn't a child.

[paperclippy]

Pants length is so weird. I'm 5'4", which I had heard in the past is "average" height for women, but regular length is almost always too long and petite length is almost always too short! The store that bugs me the most is Express. They're great for tall people, seriously -- their longs are longer than most places, and their shirts are also much longer (which of course looks ridiculous on me). But here is the issue: the longs are like 2 inches longer than the regular. But the regular is FOUR inches longer than the petite!! Whose bright idea was that? For the record though, their regulars are longer than most places too.

But, I did get lucky with my wedding dress. I ordered from a designer that sells them in a "petite" length that is four inches shorter than the regular, and the regular is designed to fit someone who is 5'10". So, with the petite length and some cute heels, my dress doesn't need to be hemmed at all!

[Heather]

I'm with paperclippy. I'm 5'5" and I think my inseam is something like 29. SOmetimes I'm a regular, and I just realized that sometimes I fit petite... but the whole thing is bizarre. I tried on a pair of pants the other day that were a little short on me. I figured they were petite. NO == regular! Maybe that's why they were in the 75% of the lowest price at the Talbot's outlet. Too bad, cause there was a great jacket that DID fit and I could've had the whole pant suit for less than $40.

Tailors can shorten, but they can't add a bunch of length....
Right?

[Heather]

baffled == love the pics, love the outfit!!! GORGEOUS!

Love the dog, too!

[baffled111]

Now that I look at it, that skirt is not doing much for my thighs. Ah well. At least my dog and grandpa are cute

Wyllenn, I have had pants lengthened a couple of times. Usually there's an inch or so at the seam for the tailor to let out; sometimes that can be enough. If you want to get fancy (and really want the whole suit), you could always have her add a strip of velvet ribbon or something to the hems to give you a bit of extra length.

As Stacy and Clinton always say, make friends with a tailor!

[MileHighMama]

I am loving this clothes shopping thread! Clothes are my #1 motivator to keep the weight off.
Carolyn: I love your kiwi sweater and may order one for myself. You'll have to let us know how you like i when it comes and if the XS is the right size for you.
Baffled: You are gorgeous and the skirt makes your thighs look slim and trim. I hear you on the Nordstrom bra fitting. I started out a 38DD and always thought I'd end up a 36D. Imagine my surprise to go for a fitting and find out that I'm really a 34DDD! At Nordstrom I just bought a bra that i LOVE in a 32DDDD. The fitter said the band size ran large which is why I could wear the 32 but still. Once I got over the huge cup size I realize that I look tons better. I feel better too. But ohmigod I lost 50 pounds so I could wear a G cup. How bizarre.
Anyway, I love hearing about everyone's shopping experiences. I can usually wear regular pants and jeans but sometimes they are a bit short. Longs are almost always too long. I do have trouble with sleeves being too short sometimes, and that's a bummer. Otherwise, I like being on the tall side.

Pam

[lilybelle]

baffled, great pic's and you look fantastic , thanks for sharing. Love the lab too, he's cute.

[alinnell]

Maintainers love labs!!!! Great pics, baffled!

[Meg]

Baffled, my jaw is hanging open. You look like two entirely different people!! You have great legs and I agree that you could show them off a little more. You -- look -- absolutely -- fabulous!!!

Welcome to the club, Pam! All clothes junkies welcome.

Heather, I'm in the same boat with pants. At 5' 4", I'm right on the edge of petite and regular. But I need the regular rise in pants so I'm resigned to hemming, generally 2 - 2.5 inches. And I often need to take up sleeves too, even on sweaters. Which is why I love 3/4 length sleeves!

But taking up hems is so much easier than the frustrations you tall people must go through. My sister is 5' 11" and can barely find anything that fits, let alone professional clothes. Blouses and sweaters are too short, sleeves are too short, pants are floods. And she has a very difficult time finding talls (let's not even talk about size 12 shoes).

It just doesn't make sense that the same proportioned clothes are supposed to fit tiny Carolyn as tall Anne and all of us in between.

[baffled111]

Thanks for the compliments My dog is actually part shepherd as well as part lab. She's adorable.

Pam, 32DDDD!!!?????!?!?!?!? Wow. I didn't know that quadruple D was a size...I assumed it went from DD to E or J or something. I completely agree though: high quality, well-fitting bras make a world of difference. I evangelize on the subject of regular fittings whenever possible. There's nothing worse than a woman of any size in an ill-fitting bra, and you see it far too often.

As far as you pixie-types go, isn't the problem, aside from basic length, that the knees on my pants will basically hang around your ankles or mid-calves? Aren't the proportions all wrong?

It really is a pest. I love clothes and I love shopping and I like to look nice. But honestly, I think, a. that women's pants should switch to the 30x34 system that men have, and b. that department stores and boutiques should offer the same tailoring services (for the same prices) for women as they do for men. Why are we expected to be cookie-cutter sized where men are not? It makes no sense.

By the same token, my bf is tall and slimmish and also has very long arms. He wears a 15.5 or 16 in the neck and needs a 37 in the arms. Dress shirts and blazers are almost impossible for him to find, and there is very rarely enough fabric in the seam for a tailor to lengthen the sleeves. He's been trying to find a corduroy sport's coat for about 5 years and has been completely unable to find something that will work. So men don't have it all either.

Actually, I think the only people who have it totally easy with the clothes are women who are around 5'6, perfectly proportioned with no curves. I bet everything fits and looks good on them.

I'm very chatty today. I should stop procrastinating! My dissertation, alas, will not write itself!

[Heather]

Originally Posted by baffled111

My dissertation, alas, will not write itself!

really?? mine did!!

Ha! Just kidding!

I sympathize!

[MileHighMama]

Hi Baffled: What I learned is that a DD = E, DDD = F, and DDDD = G. (Different manufactueres go with all the Ds and others go with the higher letter size.) After that I'm not sure what happens, and I don't want to know! :-) I feel like such a freak, but gosh, when I put my shirt on I really don't look that big. These proper fitting bras actually make me look smaller, which is such an eye-opener for me. And with the larger cups, you go down in band size, so it's kinda fun wearing a 32.

Has your bf tried tall sizes? My hubby is 6'3" with 37-38 inch arms and he can find nice fitting shirts and sport coats in talls (starting with size large or 40-42) at Eddie Bauer, L.L. Bean, Dillards, and other stores.

Pam

[Meg]

Pam, excuse a dumb question, but how did the fitter figure out what your band size is?

My DS needs a 37-38" sleeve too and we've had good luck with Macy's on-line, in their Big and Tall Shop.

[MileHighMama]

Meg: She never actually put a tape measure around me. For the first fitting, she looked at me and tried me in a 36D, which was too big around and too small in the cups, and it just went from there, until we got the cups so they covered me and did their job and the band was snug. By the way, one of the fitters said that the band needs to be really tight, almost too tight, when you first try it on, that it should be on the furthest out She even suggested using bra extenders the first few days so it was comfortable until it stretched out. My bras did fell snug when I first bought them but a day or two later I was moving the strap to the middle hook.
I hope this helps.
Pam

[paperclippy]

Meg, usually they measure you right below your breasts to get the band size (it's something like that number + 4, then do trial and error to find exactly what's right). When you have a proper fit, the band should sit under your shoulder blades in the back and not ride up at all, and the underwire in between your breasts should lay flat against your chest. Last time I was measured I ended up as a 32FF. Apparently FF is a half-size in between F and G!

The thing about going down in bands with higher cup sizes is so weird. Basically in a normal store, I would end up getting like a 36DD, which wouldn't fit right at all but at least it would cover me up everywhere since there is enough fabric. Really though, the amount of fabric in the cups needs to be more, and the amount in the band less, otherwise it will just slide down and not provide support. My boobs look much smaller with a 32FF than they did with a 36DD!