Body Positivity vs Body Types

When you see someone who just looks like they have it all figured out, what do you see?

What are you looking for or looking at?

Keep that in mind, and look at this article.

https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2019/10/08/sew-for-your-shape?

You have read a million versions of it before.

Here are the traditional body outlines with their 'corrective' clothing suggestions

Illustration from Threads Magazine

Here is the text by Susan Lazear, interpreted two ways

Condensed for editorial convenience:

The classic:

When I think back to my college years, I remember a woman

She always looked great.

She had simply mastered the art of camouflage and was adept at creating the appearance of a perfect figure.

Clothing can create the “ideal” figure

Most women want to transform their body silhouette into the “ideal” silhouette. Follow these steps to creating your ideal silhouette.

The positivist: 

When I think back to my college years, I remember a woman.

She always looked great.

Few bodies naturally match the fashionable ideal. These days, a curvier, straighter, or more athletic body type is equally celebrated, and there’s no need to shy away from enhancing these silhouettes

I understand the desire to be more conventionally attractive. I am old enough to know that doesn't work the way we want it to. People bring their own bias with them; you cannot control what other people are looking for/looking at/identifying you as. 

You can only please yourself.

Trust me, this is true.

If this process of wardrobe control works for you, great. If it has left you frustrated, ignore it. Go look for models of people you admire, and identify what it is that you love about them. Do that stuff.

Be the best version of you possible.

Whichever ones you want to be.

I'm not here to judge how you lead your life, but I am here to report that my life got a whole lot better when I stopped trying to be the someone other people thought I should be.  That the better version of me was less snarky and spent more time doing the right thing right now. 

I do not always succeed, but I keep trying.

When in doubt, I consult the writings of the zen master James Gunn on IG:

COMPASSION

Here is a photo of a boss rockin babe.

What is it that makes me think she's a rockin babe?

Well, Lindy West is a great writer.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/21/my-wedding-perfect-fat-woman

Am I looking at her dress? Yes. Am I seeing that supremely happy grin on her face?

YOU BET.

and there's the dress in the MOHAI Seattle Style exhibit (just closed)

It's almost as cool by itself, but clothes were meant to be worn.

Be the best babe you can be.

Or, be the best Thor 

https://youtu.be/45a0oiDQP2M

(the relevant bit starts about the 17 minute mark)

Or take a dance class

https://youtu.be/ir0DpmYulJg

This formerly was Paula Nichols School of the Dance, where I learned to tap

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Another story from the House Of Dud

Sometimes whatever I do just turns into a fail. They tend to run in packs, these failures, and it gets pretty demoralizing. "Who the hell am I, what do I think I'm doing writing about sewing when I can't even: blah blah blah.

And then there's the actual item itself. Do I consider making it into something else, and consign it to the UFO tub or do I just recycle it? And is this a scrap pile recycle, or a hard 'send it in the bag to the thrift' expulsion?

No, I didn't forget the seam allowances. I graded up 7 friggin inches for my spacious behind. And no, just no.

Or could I burn it in some ritual sacrifice? Sigh. No. I'd have to pull the nylon zipper out so I wouldn't be making some toxic stuff to accidentally breathe in; because when you burn a failure, you are always downwind. Always.

This is when I turn to mending. Generally, if it's in the mending pile, it's not carrying a heavy weight of expectations. And I am better at mending that most things. 

Edgar Martinez Day is coming up. I bought this back in the days before children, when I weighed as much as a sack of dog food.

I also smoked like a chimney; it was not all good times.

Going to have to open the whole seam out to widen it for my adult frame. That's what I said and that's what I'm calling it now. The sleeve gusset is just not enough.

Making another shirt for the blond one.  This is the same pattern I made the purple plaid jacket from. Apparently I did not write about the plaid shirt jacket, cause I can't find it on here. How can this be? It was EPIC.

He's just taller, not wider, and it's short sleeved. This is an easy peasy make, from some hoarded linen (two years? It was foisted on me at Pacific Fabrics and I could not stop myself from buying it because POLKA DOTS).

He makes the next one.