Dressing for our shape (a simpler way)

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today I have asked Kate of Fabrickated to help me out a bit. I know that dressing for my shape will help me to use my crafting time wisely (and might save me some money from buying patterns or fabric that won't work on me). Also as I have a minimalist wardrobe (and ethical garments are usually more expensive), each piece needs to attract me (or bring me joy in Kondo speak) and usually that means fit me or even better enhance my shape! 

She made it simple for me (and you) and I will definitely apply some of the principles to my wardrobe and my next purchase. I hope it helps you too! Over to Kate...

Knowing how to dress to make the best of your raw material can be very empowering as you begin to understand your best and most flattering looks. It also saves a lot of time, stress and money trying to make something work that may never really come together. If you know what works you can create a small but useable wardrobe where everything suits you and goes with the other items..

You probably already know that certain shapes really don’t look good on you – say a waisted 1950s type dress, or slim leg trousers, a baggy jumper or a calf length skirt. Sometimes we criticise ourselves and blame our shape – if only my bust was bigger/smaller, if I was slimmer/taller/shorter, I could carry off this look. We sometimes feel pressure to comply with a fashion trend whatever it looks like on us. But actually we are born – men and women – with different underlying body shapes. Regardless of if we are under- or over-weight we will share a number of common features with other people who are in the same group as us. So forget the apples, pears and bananas, the X, Y and 0, the endomorph, mesomorph, and ectomorph. The differences are fairly simple and can be seen in the underlying skeletal structure. My drawings are rudimentary I know but I hope you can see what I mean.

For women there are two distinct body shapes, and an in-between one.




The shaped figure (green)

If you are shaped you will have a defined waist and hips which are full – even if you are slim. If you put on weight it will stick to your thighs, hips and bottom. With your nice waist you will look good in an A line or fuller skirt.

The straight figure (blue)

If on the other hand your figure is straight you will have slim hips, not much of a waist and relatively wide shoulders. You will tend to put weight on in the upper body and waist. You probably look best in trousers.

The semi-straight figure (pink)

is a bit more curved than the straight figure but has some of the elements of both. The waist is not very well defined but you can certainly see an indentation from the back.

The essential advice is that if you body is shaped wear clothes that emphasis the waist and have curved lines and softer shapes. The angular, straight body is best in straighter shapes that don’t emphasise the waist but show off your streamlined shape eg trousers and straight, shift type dresses. The in-between figure can borrow from both types and will probably mix it up a bit.

Simple? Well not exactly because there are other issues that come into play such as

· Your proportions (eg the length of your legs compared to your torso)

· Your overall size and scale (large, medium or small)

· Any specific figure issues (eg long neck, short arms etc) you may wish to emphasise or conceal

· Face shape

· Colouring (more on this here)

Proportion is important especially in terms of discovering how close the proportions of your body are to the “ideal”, if the ideal is a body that is evenly balanced (ie top and bottom half are the same length). If your legs are longer than average you may want to wear lower cut trousers, or a contrasting belt, and your top out. If your legs are shorter than average it may make sense to have a high waisted dress, and choose to wear say black tights and black shoes for an elongating look. Knowing how your body differs from standard types is useful for dressmakers as commercial patterns assume a specific relationship of hip/waist and bust, assume your neck will be in a specific proportion to your shoulder, that your knee will be at a specific distance from the ground etc. Knowing how you differ will mean it is a lot easier to make alterations to fit you.

Let’s take scale. Whether you are petite or six foot tall you need to dress in proportion. So small women should wear smaller patterns and stripes. A larger woman will not look great in a tiny Liberty print but may rock a Marimekko print.

In terms of overall size relative weight is important, but not half as important as many of us think. If you want to look longer and thinner a dark, head to toe look will create the optical illusion. A light coloured outfit with contrasting, horizontal lines will make you look bigger.

Dressing well for your shape, and choosing colours and fabrics that flatter you, will mean that you look like you are wearing your clothes, not the other way around. We want people to see us, the real me, rather than stare at our clothes or feel they don’t “work with” who we are. So if you wear clothes that don’t suit you, or fail to harmonise and enhance your natural beauty, it is possible that you will come across an inauthentic.

There are lots of other issues a good style advisor will look at – such as the shape of your face, the best hair styles, your colouring and making the most of your best features.

Thank you so much Kate for this overview and make it simpler for me to understand! 

Happy Friday everyone! It is finally the weekend. We drove to France this afternoon, already been to the dentist (I know we go to a French dentist, but it is only because it does not hurt and I am not prepared to try others) - and found out that Baby MiH has some sort of issue with his jaws, totally fixable with a bit of time. We are actually pleased we found out that because it might be the cause of his dribbling, snoring (not cute baby snoring) and speaking with a lisp. All of these were not major (except for the snoring in my face during the night) but we were wondernig what to do. So what an evening! So glad we might have an easy solution - if Baby MiH plays ball of course. 

March has come and gone, and honestly I am not sure where it has gone. I am hoping to really slow down in April and enjoy the longer days, a bit more sunshine, and focus a bit more on the blog. The changes to Instagram meant that I have been spending less time on IG, I was quite disappointed to be honest. It is probably a good thing if that means more time to crafting and blogging. How do you feel about these changes? 

Also last month I started getting in touch with bloggers I would like to know more about. There should be more features this month, from Mademoiselle Poirot and Kate.I am also meeting Beckie from Embrace the Cake who maks the most delicious raw cakes. I cannot wait to have her in my kitchen and get 'baking'. 

There will be sewing, I can guarantee it, more knitting (I already have a finished beanie hat - so at least one finished item this month), maybe more natural dyeing, and cooking. 

I am feeling quite exciting about April, how do you feel about April?

*I took this picture over the weekend at Chenies Manor

How colour analysis can help you choose fabric and yarn :: By Kate from Fabrickated ::

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. I love having guest bloggers in my blogging space. I learn so much every time, it is really inspiring. Colour analysis is something I've been wanting to know more about, to make better decisions when it came to buying wool and fabric. And when Kate asked me to come over and have my colours done, I did not think twice, and I was in her office within a week. I was of the view that if I learnt more about my complexion and what worked for me, I would be wasting less money on fabrics that do not suit me, and splash out on those that do. It is another sustainable way to look at fashion. 

Also Kate is amazing fun to spend time with, and totally inspiring. She is an active blogger, as well as the Chief Executive of a housing association. And yes, she does have children, and grand children - I mean whoah amazing. So you get your colours done, and a great dose of inspiration.

I will leave it to Kate to explain how she approaches colour analysis and what her conclusions were for me (hopefully I will make full use of these findings)! 

I love colour and I like making clothes. While I have always known, more or less, what colours suit me (trial and error – lots of them), I wanted to know what colours suited my family as I like to make presents that will suit and please them. So a few years ago I trained in colour analysis and I am happy to share my skills with others.

If you are a keen knitter or dress maker you will spend time choosing just the right fabric or yarn for each project. You may be considering:

• The right fabric for the pattern
• The quality and price of the fabric
• How much it will go with the rest of the wardrobe
• How much you like the colour, texture, pattern etc

Do you consciously think – does this colour really suit me?

Do you hold the fabric up in the shop, draping it over your body, and think – does this piece of cloth or ball of wool make me look more beautiful, brighter, less tired – or does it emphasise the little imperfections in my skin?

The thing is, on the whole, certain shades work really well together. Not all reds looks great with all yellows, but certain reds and yellows look amazing together. Normally this is because they are going in the same direction. So a yellow with a warm undertone will match a red with a warm undertone. A deep purple will usually work great with a deep green. A muted orange will work nicely with a muted brown. If you look at patterned fabric you will see that normally the designer has stuck to one direction (black and white works as they are both bright colours), although sometimes one contrasting element can work well.

You may have found in nature how colours work harmoniously together – a pale blue-green birds egg with a light orangey brown speckle; a tropical flower that includes the brightest orange, yellow and green; a girl with deep brown skin, deeper brown eyes and black hair.

So humans have a natural colour palette that tends to work beautifully together. Take the classic red head with light skin, freckles and light greeny eyes; or snow white with her red lips, white skin and black hair. Harmonious colour palettes.

So the point of colour analysis is to determine what your primary colour direction is – deep or light; cool or warm; bright or muted. Many of us have a secondary direction as well that helps inform the primary direction.

 When I analysed Nat’s colours I found that the light colours looked great on her – colours with quite a lot of water in them, relatively speaking. The deepest shades tended to made her skin look a little tired and grey.  But we found that the muted shades were also better than the brightest shades. So Nat looks best in lighter colours with a softer look. Now she knows which colours look best (I gave her a colour chart of the types of shades that look the best on her), I would say there are a few advantages that she might enjoy.

• Helping her choose what wool or fabric to buy for each project, saving time and money and reducing waste
• Ensuring that everything in her wardrobe will work with everything else, making it easier to put outfits together
• Giving her the confidence to wear more colour, certain that it flatters her delicate pretty complexion
• Knowing that a nicely put together, harmonious look will add to her self confidence
• As a knitter and dressmaker she can use the information to create patterns, blends or mixes of colours that work brilliantly together
• When what we wear is harmonious with our own colouring it helps to give a good impression to those we meet.

Well I am feeling under pressure to make the right choices, but also more confident to make choices. I have my colour chart in my purse, and take it with me everywhere. To be fair, my colours are probably colours that I liked already, but it has certainly widened the range of colours I could consider wearing. And hopefully I will be confident enough to add more colours in my wardrobe (when I finish knitting all the grey wool in my stash...).