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Friday, April 02, 2010

Dear Dress Pattern Makers....

Dear Dress Pattern Makers,

I respect the fact that pattern making is probably a lost art. However, I have a beef with you that started in 1996 when my mom made a formal dress for me. See, I was attending a formal banquet and never having attended prom, I had no "back up dress" in my wardrobe. My mom made me a dress, cut to the pant size I was wearing at the time.

It didn't fit.

In fact, it was too small. This, sadly, caused me to cry and curse up a storm because I wasn't that big! The sad thing is, she needed to sew panels into that dress. Embarrassment doesn't even begin to describe it.

Fast forward to tonight. My mom sent me the bodice of my wedding dress. Thankfully cut out in scrap fabric as to not use the "good stuff", I pulled out the bodice tonight and went to try it on.

I couldn't even zip it up. Not one tooth on that zipper was zipped. Funny thing is...I had her cut it a size too big based on said experience from 1996. It still didn't fit.

So, now, I'm scrambling to find a pattern that is, literally, 3-4 sizes too big so that I don't run into this problem again. Talk about giving a girl a complex.

Yes, I could lose more weight. But that isn't the issue. The issue is that the size I--and every other woman on the planet wears--never seems to match a dress size.

Well. Unless you're a size 4.
I'm no size 4.

Is it too much to ask that dress sizes be the same as pant sizes?

Sincerely,
A Bride Who May End Up Wearing Pants.

4 comments:

Rebecca Jo said...

Oh man... that's messed up...

I knitted a sweater one time - went with a BIGGER size then it recommended & it STILL was too small - it was tight on my size 3 daughter!!! And it was supposed to be an XXL... Who writes these things?!?!?!

Hope you get it all straightened out... I know that's gotta be a little nerve-pulling!

Amy said...

I would guess that the pattern makers are stuck in the 1940s just like the wedding dress makers. When I bought my wedding dress in 1999 I wore a size 12 dress. The store owner measured me and ordered a size 16 dress. What??? She said the majority of wedding dresses still use the same sizing as they did over 50 years ago. The size of regular clothing has changed, as people have gotten bigger, but sadly the bridal gown industry has not kept up with the times...of course this ends up causing a bit of stress to already stressed brides! I would guess that pattern making, as a lost art, falls into that same trap!

Hula Girl at Heart said...

Oh, the whole pattern thing is a mess. Inconsistency in the sizes of off the rack stuff is a headache, too. My problem is that I'm one size on top and another size on the bottom. So annoying.

Anonymous said...

The only time a pattern has fit me was when I was pregnant. I guess Moo moo size is universal???
Auntie Jane