How do you know if your clothes fit your body? You have learned which clothes enhance your body by looking at your Body Elements. The next step is to look at how these clothes should fit your body.
Most likely you will go shopping for these clothes in the ready to wear world.
If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know women come in many shapes, sizes and lengths. It’s hard for the fashion industry to accommodate all of them. Could the fashion industry do a better job? Yes!! But it’s much too hard to fit every shape, size and length.
Maybe you are like me; understand that we aren’t alone. In a poll taken in 2017, 46% of women struggle with clothing fit issues (Women agree: It’s impossible to find clothes that fit). I think it’s much higher because a lot of women don’t know how clothes should fit.
In this series of posts, I will dive into clothes’ fit and alterations. In this post you will learn the general concepts to determine how clothes’ fit on your body. Also you need to understand the fabrics the clothes are made of. Different fabrics have different fit requirements.
The next posts with get more specific for:
- Shirts/blouses
- Dresses
- Jackets
- Pants
- Skirts
In this series of posts I will go into further detail about clothes’ fit. My intent is for you to understand the reasoning behind the general rules.
For me when I understand the whys I can better discern how to evaluate the problem. My goal is whenever you try on clothes you can evaluate the clothes fit and know exactly what the problem is and if it can be adjusted or not.
Clothes Fit -- Basics
When looking at clothes fit you will look at two things:
- Length
- Circumference
Length fit is comparing your length of your body and all the areas with that of the clothes. You know clothes fit your body when everything matches.
When considering circumference make sure the circumference of the clothes fit your body. In many cases you want the circumference of the clothes to be bigger than your body’s circumference.
Length
Length fit is all about clothes fitting the length of your body. The areas you look at are between:
- Underarm and shoulders
- Bust and shoulders
- Waist and shoulders
- Crotch and waist
- Hem and crotch
Two important areas are:
- Shoulders to underarm for tops, dresses and shirts
- Waist to crotch for pants
These areas are critical because in most cases they can be difficult to alter. If you find these areas are too long then consider looking in the petite department.
When considering length fit look at the placement of horizontal lines. Make sure the placement is perfect for your body. Remember hem lines are horizontal lines and in most cases they can be altered.
Circumference
How can you tell if the clothes you put on are too big or too tight or just right?
In general, clothes that are too big have vertical fold lines that aren’t a part of the design. The garment shoulders fall below your shoulders and the pant/skirt waist falls below the area they were designed for.
Clothes are too tight when you see horizontal stress lines. Classic areas you see these stress lines are at the:
- Bustline
- Crotch
- Thighs
- Across the back shoulders
- Waist
- Biceps
A major factor in determining circumference fit is the concept of wearing ease. Wearing ease is extra clothing circumference to allow your body to move comfortably. This is especially true for clothes made out of woven fabrics without Lycra. (You’ll learn more about woven vs knit fabrics below.)
Clothes Fit -- Fabric Types
I did write about fabric as it relates to fit in my series on Shopping For Pants: Pant Fit — How Do You Know? To truly understand how to know if the clothes fit is right for you, consider the type of fabric used.
Knit Fabric Vs Woven Fabric
The main difference between knit and woven fabric is that knit fabric has much more stretch than woven fabric especially woven fabrics without Lycra. Knit fabric has interlocking thread loops. These loops allow the fabric to stretch and give as you move around.
Woven fabric has horizontal and vertical threads woven together. The threads don’t expand, or stretch and give as you move around. To create ease of movement, extra fabric is built into the circumference of the back shoulders, bust, waist, hips and legs.
As a result, many slimmer cut pants are made out of knit fabrics. For example, leggings are made out of a single layer of knit fabric and many skinny pants are made out of a double knit fabric called Ponte. You will see trouser style pants made out of woven fabrics.
Woven Fabric With Lycra Vs Woven Fabric Without Lycra
A great invention in our modern world of fibers is Lycra. It was originally used to create workout clothes and swimwear. People needed the fabric of those items to be closer to the body and at the same time able to move with the body.
Overtime Lycra started to be mixed in with other fibers: for example cotton, polyester, wool, silk or rayon. By adding a little bit of Lycra to these fibers the resulting fabric had a little stretch in it. When using this thread in the horizontal weaving, it allowed the resulting woven fabric to stretch depending on the ratio between the non-stretch fiber and Lycra.
The result is slimmer cut clothes in which you’re able to move easily, which is perfect in our active world. So when considering fit do you have enough room to move with the fabric content?
In the next post you will start applying this concept to real clothes. The first category is tops and shirts. It’s called Blouse Fit – How To Create A Perfect Fit.
Did you learn anything about clothes fit in this post? In the past has clothes’ fit been a problem for you? Tell us in the comments below.
Wear Your Greatness!!
