I'm feeling so domestic. On today's list of to-dos was preshrinking some cotton fabric. Any of you sewing-needle wielders know what I'm talking about. Before you put in the time working on the piece, you have to thoruoghly wet the cloth and then put it in the dryer. If you don't do this, even if you put in careful hours at the sewing machine, the garment is existing on borrowed time. The first time you do wash it, being cotton, it will shrink, and that's probably the end of the item's life expectancy.
I want to create a couple of tops for my youngest daughter, who has attained the glorious height of six feet. The only problem is that her heght is not regarded as glorious by the fashion industry. People say "Oh, she should be a model. The big names are all tall women now!" Yeah? Why hasn't anyone told the clothing stores? While there are some items that she can buy wherever she wants, she is limited on the availability of many others. They are not long enough in the inseam, if they are pants, or not long enough in the sleeves and body if they are tops. How to get around this? Well, here in Toronto, one of the main options is to toddle off to the "Tall Girls' Shop". They sell apparel for women from 5' 8" and up. So what's the complaint about this? Because it is a 'specialty store', their price tags are always higher than you'd see anywhere else. That means that if you don't have the cash to ignore the price tag, you buy at sales only, or you do some sewing. I'm lucky. I was taught how to sew by my mother, who worked in a tailoring shop, back in the days of "Toronto the Good". She taught me many of the tricks of the trade, so that I can do things like take a pattern and give it the extra two inches in the length that my daughter needs. I personally like McCall's patterns, and #2094 is the one I'll be cutting on that cotton.
How about you? Are you one of the lucky ones, able to fit the fashions wherever you choose to shop, or do you find yourself in the same position as my daughter, 'hemmed in' by your height? What do you do about the problem?
I want to create a couple of tops for my youngest daughter, who has attained the glorious height of six feet. The only problem is that her heght is not regarded as glorious by the fashion industry. People say "Oh, she should be a model. The big names are all tall women now!" Yeah? Why hasn't anyone told the clothing stores? While there are some items that she can buy wherever she wants, she is limited on the availability of many others. They are not long enough in the inseam, if they are pants, or not long enough in the sleeves and body if they are tops. How to get around this? Well, here in Toronto, one of the main options is to toddle off to the "Tall Girls' Shop". They sell apparel for women from 5' 8" and up. So what's the complaint about this? Because it is a 'specialty store', their price tags are always higher than you'd see anywhere else. That means that if you don't have the cash to ignore the price tag, you buy at sales only, or you do some sewing. I'm lucky. I was taught how to sew by my mother, who worked in a tailoring shop, back in the days of "Toronto the Good". She taught me many of the tricks of the trade, so that I can do things like take a pattern and give it the extra two inches in the length that my daughter needs. I personally like McCall's patterns, and #2094 is the one I'll be cutting on that cotton.
How about you? Are you one of the lucky ones, able to fit the fashions wherever you choose to shop, or do you find yourself in the same position as my daughter, 'hemmed in' by your height? What do you do about the problem?
1 Comments:
I don't know about the clothing stores -- but fashion models are usually tall (and scrawny). According to this site, the minimum height for females strutting down the runway is 5'8". Kate Moss is apparently 5'7" and Gabrielle Reece is 6'3". But who wants to be a fashion model anyway? You gotta starve.
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