At any rate, as an update to my update in my last post (about why all my patterns seem to be fitting large lately), I'm regrettably wrong in my initial assessment.
That assessment was that I must be getting leaner as a) everything seems to be fitting more loosely and b) all my new clothes (of TNT patterns) are particularly roomy.
As soon as I got home I took out my handy tape measure and took some notes. Alas, the numbers are almost identical to those of 2 years ago (and then of 3 months ago) - though somewhat smaller than those of 6 months ago (when I was on the eating binge). In fact, my bust and hip measurements are identical to those of January 2009 and April 2010. Those numbers don't seem to change. My waist - it's about 3/4 of an inch larger. Whatevs. I'm working on it. And it's January. And I like wine. Leave me alone.
There are some theories:
- I'm 41 years old. My body is changing in shape.
- I haven't been doing as much weight-bearing exercise lately. My muscle mass may be down, affecting fit.
However, I think the likeliest reason for looseness of TNT (and even new, handmade) garments is that I'm sewing with smaller seam allowances. I never seam anything wider than 1/2 inch allowances these days. Often, I use a scant 1/2 inch or a generous 1/4 inch. I don't see any benefit in cutting too much fabric, only to let it languish in a seam allowance which, let's face it, is generally serged away. I guess I've just got to start cutting one size down given this predilection.
I don't know why this kind of thing fascinates me no end. Point is, though, the tape measure doesn't lie. And don't sew with 5/8" seam allowances. That's crazy wasteful.
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