whereabouts x hysterical fit
Rekindle your Closet Series | The "perfect" fit 🫠🪡
We’re back! Jacque here 👋. Welcome to the third edition of this collaboration. If you didn’t catch our other posts, see them here and here. We have been working on different ways to fall in love again with our clothes, and our closets. One of the ways to do this? Alterations + mending!
I have learned so much from Hillary throughout this process! But, one of the biggest takeaways is how we feel in our clothes is not really about our bodies at all. Hillary, does fit “matter”?
Hillary: Hi folks! 💕 I’ve seen (especially in my custom design work) something that typically feels like a problem to my client disappear when the garment actually fits them. When a garment fits, they are no longer preoccupied with the things being too tight, too loose, pulling, gapping, riding up, or falling down. They have fewer decisions to make when getting dressed and can focus on what feels good.
I often witness people negotiating a few things when it comes to the fit of their clothing, using the fit of their clothing as a form of body checking – a side effect of diet culture and fatphobia. Defaulting to how something “should” look or what is “flattering” (every time I hear this word, I throw up in my mouth a little bit). The worthiness of the garment (or themselves) to go to the “effort.” The fantasy of who they will be wearing it vs. what their life actually looks like.
We are taught to use comparison to gauge where we fit in the world. When it comes to our clothing, it's: “How do these fit compared to the photo? How do I look in these compared to how she looks in these?” When we put these man-made objects on our organic, natural bodies, we internalize that something is wrong with our bodies, and therefore us. But, in the case of root heave (when a tree pushes up a sidewalk), we don’t blame the tree for not having “self-control” or for no longer fitting into a size 6. We praise mother nature for not boxing herself in.
Speaking of sizing, IT’S ALL MADE UP!!!!!!! It’s not a secret, I even learned this in school (I’m not kidding, it was a test question, people!). There is no standard sizing across the industry, or even within the same brand—the only thing that is real is YOU!
This is my long way of saying: nothing is wrong with you; it’s the clothes, it’s the system. Although the clothing industry has a bias toward eurocentric bodies and the size ranges offered are an absolute joke, the overall fit of our clothes is not entirely their fault. At some point, a company can only offer so much variety in shape, size, and proportion in an “off the rack” industry.
The solution is to stop trying to make your body fit the clothes and start actually making the clothes fit your body, your lifestyle, and your expression.
Jacque: STANDING OVATION! 👏 🌲 Oh my god! The root metaphor, yes! With this in mind, I brought Hillary 3 pair of pants to work her magic. One a hem, and the other two bringing in the back waist (the ever dreaded back gap iykyk).
Hillary: This gapping at the back waist is a super common issue, especially with women. Jeans are created with a front that goes straight up and doesn’t accommodate a belly that protrudes, which most people’s do (organs and all of that). Because of this, the belly pushes the pants forward at the waist, which warps the waistline and creates a gap at the back (imagine squeezing a plastic cup). As I was talking about earlier, this specific fit issue is one that I’ve seen create a bit of body dysmorphia in myself and my clients. There are a few altering techniques that can be used to address this, and in most cases, it means taking this back area of the pants apart and putting them back together.
Here is a before and after video where I did this alteration on a pair of jeans for myself. I knew when I bought them I was going to have to put in work but because I scored these Madewell jeans for $15, I was happy to do it!
Jacque: Oh that’s really interesting! Doing a fitting with Hillary was great. I felt very supported, and learned a lot. I quickly got to “Ohhhh, the problem isn’t me!”. Which brings me to my next question. Hillary, should I alter, fix, mend, reimagine everything I already own? Should I buy things knowing they need some “work”?
Hillary: The broad brush answer is: If you already own it, it’s worth it. You’ve already decided it’s worth owning, worth taking up space in your life—so yes, it’s worth fixing/altering, etc. Maybe you can't get your entire pile altered. In that case, the pieces I’d consider are: things you see yourself wearing the most, things with sentimental value, and things of good quality—meaning they were originally made well and are in a natural fiber.
Now, if you’re planning on buying something that you know needs altering, my suggestion is to set parameters. For me, it's a price point, and that max is $45 unless it is a very special, unique piece.
Jacque: Good advice! I feel like one of my rules is I can buy pants knowing they may need a hem, because I can’t always find a petite, short, etc. Set up some rules!
Ok, let’s do a Grandma tote bag update. 😊 The bag has been on a beautiful journey. Hillary has put SO much work into this, including a sourcing trip for fabric for a special surprise. Hillary, thank you, thank you, thank you!
Hillary: The bag was originally quite stiff. This is common, especially with canvas, because there’s typically a coating on it similar to starch that helps it stay rigid. However, through the process of cleaning and dyeing the bag over and over again, the fabric became softer. Much like our jeans, when cotton is washed and worn, it becomes “broken in" and more flexible.
I knew Jacque didn’t want the tote to be too soft or floppy, and while I can't restore it back to the original stiffness, there were a few things I could do to help it maintain its shape and give it a bit more structure. In this however, I also didn’t want to add extra weight to the bag, since it is already quite large and has some heft even when empty. The best course of action was to stabilize it with interfacing and a lining.
This required a bit of shopping, so we scheduled a time and I headed to the garment district to find some options. We ended up finding something sooooo PERFECT—along with a few other things to keep in mind for future projects.
Jacque: I AM JUST JAZZED. Hillary has boxed and sent all the final items 📦! We are both refreshing the tracking number so often we might break the internet?! 🔥 I predict an unboxing in our future! Stay tuned for next time, a HUGE REVEAL loading 😉
We are two artists trying! 💃
Up next for Hillary:
Pockets, Pockets, Pockets! / June 19th & July 3rd
This two part virtual workshop for adding and altering pockets in our existing garments. Lengthen your RIDICULOUS jean pockets and add hidden pockets to your bottomless tote to take up space by adding functionality to your wardrobe, baby! whereabouts readers can shop through this special link for 20% off: https://lu.ma/tl16ttqi
Ready, Set, Sew! / June 21st
This workshop tackles the hardest part of sewing… getting started. If you’re machine keep malfunctioning 9.9/10 times it’s going to be simple human error. Get off YouTube and get started on the right track by properly threading, troubleshooting issues and control settings like a pro.
Up Next for Jacque:
IDEA CAMP July 6th - Aug 15th with
ACTIVITIES ZONE 🛶😎✂️:
Kick off call // July 6th 12pm EST
Bi- Weekly zoom sessions for co-working + creative advising with P + J.
Weekly assignments delivered in your inbox tailored to your medium to actually move the needles!
Chat community (here on Substack!) to create surrounded by a bunch of brilliant weirdo artists and multi-hyphen hotties.
Feedback portal to submit weekly assignments AND get feedback from P+ J!
During Idea Camp we have fun, games, gold stars and cash money to nudge that internal motivation (your ideas!!) with an external reward (the joy of getting paid to make!).