Some of the reasons why clothes do not fit. Part 1.

Clothes That Fit

On our journey talking to women about the challenges they face trying to find clothes to fit them, we discovered that we need to give all women the reasons on why things do not fit or look flattering. Unless you are a pattern cutter or pattern grader you might not understand. Now I do not profess to know all the answers and every woman is different. So here are a few of the issues to look out for when trying on clothes. Tops can be tricky and so many do not fit.

Q. Why do blouses and shirts constantly fallback and you spend half your day pulling you shirt or blouse down from the front?

A. Often the shoulder seam is too far back and does not sit on the highest point of the shoulder. This is because most humans lean slightly forward and as you get older this becomes more pronounced as gravity sets in and we spend more time sitting and staring at screens. Look for shoulders seams that sit forward.

If the shape of the armhole is not curved enough it can mean the armhole does not sit properly under you arm causing the front of the shirt or blouse to rise up, you end up with the buttons at the front staring you in the eye! Look for armholes that are curved L shaped or raglan (diagonal) 

If the back neck (the seam that runs around your neck at the back) is not curved and is too straight it will not sit correctly and will make the shoulder seams fall back.

If you are blessed with ample bosom all of the above can be even more exaggerated. Some designers suggest putting in darts at the bust-line, we think this makes clothes look a little bit old fashioned and therefore we are working on the pattern shaping.

Sometimes the button position at the widest of the bust is in the wrong position. This is a difficult one to resolve, because everyones busts are a different levels. We have tried to position the buttons in the right place to limit this problem and make sure that other parts such as across the back and the armhole shaping help compensate for this. Most of our shirts have been designed in fabrics that are flexible, have back darts, generous across the bust and slimming across the shoulders.

Q. Why am I constantly pulling my trousers up?

A. As we get older our waists thicken, having said that our waist have been getting thicker for generations and is less to do with age. There are plenty of younger people out there with trousers that fall down.

Some of the challenges are around fabric. Better quality fabrics with the right amount of give or stretch perform better on the body. Fabrics that are too rigid are uncomfortable and slide down and fabrics with too much stretch grow and move thus slide too. we have been working to find the right amount of give, using quality sourced fabrics with the aim of getting them to sit where you put them and not move about,

Many brands have specifications for sizes that look at pure measurements and not at scale. Hence something that fits a size 8 body, if graded in this way will not and cannot fit a size 16. The waist to hip ratio needs to be looked at differently. If you identify as a "Classic Cut Diamond" in our Community, it is very unlikely that what fits you beautifully will fit a "Trillion Cut Diamond" 

What we have done to mitigate this is to design and produce products that are either specific to several of our Diamond Shapes or using the right fabrics and cuts will suit most of the Diamond Shapes. we will not get it right all of the time, but we are working on this diligently.

Signs to look out for from poor fitting are: A waist that cuts into your flesh, excess fabric around the top thigh and crotch. Front and back rise not long enough or the curve in the rises is not curved enough. You are not flat, you are 3D, thus clothes should be 3D.