Carolyn, I used to wear Calvin Klein jeans all the time, but I haven't seen them in stores anywhere in quite a while. I don't know who carries them now.

I have an easy time picking out jeans or capris without trying them on. Medium rise, slim cut fit me best. (size 4 in women's or size 5 in Jr. 's always seem to fit.) Shirts are completely opposite, I have to try them on.

And I can look at a shirt and pretty much tell if it's gonna fit. Pants I have to try on.

Susan, I wish I could just look at shirts and know they would fit, but I can't. I have a horrible time finding shirts that fit and look good. My shoulders and rib cage are so broad that the shirts always seem to be flowing out over my tummy as if they were maternity shirts. I am just not very proportional. I guess that when I buy dressy blouses that I need to take and have them altered down the sides to make the waist fit better.

I'm collecting quite a stack of things that need to be altered. I do have a sewing machine and used to sew for DD all the time. Maybe I should have a look at some simpler things myself. Surely I could zip in the inseams of some scrub pants, shorten a shirt ...

You'd think because I'm an artist that incorporates sewing into my artwork, that I'd be able to alter clothing. Best I can do is hemming and button sewing. I've made a few clothes, but they all were from patterns.

Last night at swing dance I found that my 'new' Calvin Klein jeans are too stiff, so they're in the wash today to soften them up along with all my other recent acquistions that need some shrinking.

I think altering clothes is not the same! I make quilts all the time, but beyond hemming or repairing a seam I'm not much for alterations. Lately I can't buy anything without trying it on. While I know from looking that a shirt will fit, I can't judge the length well. I am so long waisted that the hip skimming styles just don't work for me! I love mail order catalogs that list the length of things. 23" just doesn't cut it! LLBean annoys me - "falls at hip" does nothing to tell me how long the shirt is, except it's longer than "falls at high hip." I'm with Carolyn, I don't need/want to be exposing my skin in that area!

I've been trying not to buy much new, as I have a ton of stuff that I should be able to wear with another 5# loss - mostly I just can't button the waists on the pants. Now how to tell my body where to lose that 5#......

Susan, my sewing is fairly limited but I found that taking up the seams in scrubs wasn't too difficult. I hate, hate, hate sewing patches on my DS and DH's uniforms. I try to get them to take them to the cleaners to have it done, but alas, I usually get stuck with the job.

Pat, I'm fairly long waisted too and always have to watch how long my shirts are. Especially since my jeans are medium rise. I definitely will never expose my tummy. Best some things are kept covered.

I have so much loose skin now on what used to be my very fat upper arms. I haven't worn a sleeveless top since high school. (almost 30 yrs. ago). I just hate seeing fat or flabby arms in sleeveless shirts. Probably my biggest clothing pet peeve. Right up there with saggy boobs in skimpy shirts going braless. LOL.

I'm here in Santa Fe and yesterday my DD drove up from Albuquerque to spend the day. Our favorite mother-daughter activity has always been shopping so that's what we did.

I wasn't going to get anything for me but there's an outlet mall right by the interstate with a Jones New York factory store. Jones always fits me well, so we went in. I found a fabulous jacket, beaded top, pants outfit at a riduculously low price - black brushed silk, black and white flowered jacket, really pretty. I love the pants because they sit on my hips, have a 3 inch band around the top, and no pockets.

But here's the odd thing: the jacket is a 4, the top underneath is a 6, and the pants are a 6 petite. Ordinarily I would have grabbed a 4 regular in the pants and they would have fit but needed to be hemmed. But there weren't 4s so I was trying on every other possibility and lo and behold, the 6 petite looks like it was tailored for me. Weird. Sizing is SO strange!

I love a good buy!

Meg - you're new outfit sounds terrific. You better post so pix.

Yesterday, I went to TJ Maxx for the first time. I found the endless racks of clothing a bit overwhelming, so I concentrated on getting some tops that fit my newly thinned out torso. Everything I've been wearing is several sizes too big and swimming on me.

I found 3 that I liked plus a really cute spaghetti strap dress that I can wear swing dancing. It's causal enough for day but dressy enough for evening.

Lily? would you tell me how you altered scrubs? Please and thanks.

Susan, my MIL helped me and we took my scrubs up from an XL to about a medium. We just sewed along the seam with a sewing machine and then cut off the excess material. We used the outer seam on the scrub pants to make them smaller. Unfortunately, I had to quit working shortly after making the alterations. I ended up selling all my scrubs in our yard sale.

I took back some of the clothes that I received for Mother's Day because the shirts were too big. I couldn't find any other shirts I wanted, so I bought me some cute sandals instead. (As my puppy had chewed up my favorite sandals).

UGH ... they've got cargo pockets over the outseams!!!
I guess that wasn't a very good idea for a first try.
However, not all the cheap scrubs at WalMart do, so if I could find a nice colour just that they were too big ... I think I'd try. Even I should be able to do straight up the seam.
Thanks Lily.

clvquilts - TK Maxx rules! I got my prom dress there for twenty pounds! l'm so cheap

Here in the UK it's all cropped denims. They make me look short (er!) lol. This is slightly offtopic, but I did put it in the clothes forum and no-one answered, so I thought I'd ask you guys about it. In clothes shops in the US, how prevalent is size 0? I mean, is it everywhere or just in some shops. I'm a writer and I'm doing an interview next week where I knnooow they're going to ask me to comment on this stuff cos of the book in question - so I'm just gathering a little info first - also, it true there's now such thing as *double* zero (mind boggles) and that US size 8 is now plus-size in some places? I 'm really hoping this isn't happening everywhere but just a few places.... thanks x

Off the top of my head ... 4's are common (Zellers, WalMart, Sears). 2's not so much. 0's are usually only in 'youngish' stores. I don't think I've every seen a 00.
In one of the 'youngish' stores I've been in lately, they had plenty of 14's.

Hi Me!

Let me take a stab at your questions.

Size 0 isn't very common. It's in some stores, but even then not everything will come in a 0. Most department store sizes stop at 4, though you may see a few 2's. I've never seen a 00 myself.

A size 8 is NEVER considered to be a plus size. Most regular sizes will go to 14 - 16 (I read that 14 is the most common size). There also are plus size 14's and 16's that fit differently, so there's a bit of an overlap there.

Ha! I see Susan snuck in before me and said pretty much the same things.