Today's Adventures

[ysabetwordsmith]

I went out thrift shopping today.  In addition to clothes, which I was looking for, we also found a medium cooler, a cookbook, and a quilt rack.  :D

Shopping for women's tops: out of a dozen or more items, only one fit.  Most had sleeves too tight, seams in weird places, buttons that wouldn't close over my tits, hems that rode up if I raised my arms, etc.  Fuck it, I'll go see if the men's section has clothes that are less dumb.

I found several tops and several pants in the men's section, including a leaf-camouflage shirt and purple velour pants.  \o/  That also had a rack of uniform parts, which included practical pants with pockets I can fit my whole hand into.  #pocketwin!  So that was a really nice find.

I did go back to the women's section for sleepwear.  While it's much harder to find flannel now, it is much easier to find wonderful soft stretchy velour.  So I got a really nice set of pajamas and another top, both in velour, and a misfiled set of fall-colored plaid pants in a textured fabric definitely not meant for sleeping in.  The whole range of sleepwear, loungewear, leisurewear, athleisure, athletic -- and this time a new term, soft wear -- is very good for fitting bodies that aren't standard shape and/or disdain weird fashion distortions.

I'll call that a success.

Comments

[cmcmck]

This is why I tend to choose tops without buttons, cuffs etc as these can sometimes be found to fit although I find I may have to take anything from UK size 12 to 20!

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> This is why I tend to choose tops without buttons, cuffs etc as these can sometimes be found to fit <<

Buttons can go either way for me. Buttons down the front are often a failure mode. But if the placement of cuff buttons makes the cuff too big, I can simply move the button to make the shirt fit me -- a common modification that enables me to wear men's shirts.

>> although I find I may have to take anything from UK size 12 to 20! <<

Yeah, I've worn everything from extra-small to extra-large. Not to mention the one insane shop that had completely unique sizing and creepy, hovering staff. I never went back to that one.

Some garments have helpful modifiers ... if I remember to look for them. I had one shirt misfit yesterday that I noticed after the fact was "slim fit." If I'd seen that on the rack, I could've skipped it. "Relaxed fit" is a very useful category for people with unusual bodies.

Meanwhile over in Terramagne, clothes are sized with actual measurements, like how pants here are sometimes sold by waist/length measurements. The fault tolerance has to be less than half the distance to the next size, so if a garment is sized on the even numbers, it can't be off by more than one unit of measurement. The government will crack down on fraud if more than a certain percentage of garments fail to meet their advertised sizing.

[acelightning73]

YOu can find lots of flannel and cotton sleepwear (and undies and socks) in the Vermont Country Store catalog. Also American-made natural fiber kitchen and bath textiles.

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I can't shop from catalogs. I need to be able to touch and try things on. The only things I can really buy long-distance are T-shirts, which are sometimes available in 100% cotton and somewhat consistent in fit. It's still a bit hit-or-miss but it's doable. Everything else I have to buy locally.

Re: Well ...

[acelightning73]

Well, there actually is a Vermont Country Store in Vermont, that people can go to and taste the penny candy and try on shoes and fondle the clothing. I've never been there. But Vermont is a very nice state; they've got maple syrup and Bernie Sanders.

[greghousesgf]

I really don't like clothes shopping. Everything is too expensive and/or too little and I can almost never find what I want in the first place.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Exactly. I love when I can find things that I really like -- I got lucky with a few yesterday -- but often I just have to take what I can get. I imagine shopping is much for fun if one is among the actual target audience so that many things will fit and be pleasing.