Tales from the Dressing Room........

I've decided to add "Tales from the Dressing Room" as a regular (and fun) feature to my blog which showcases my analysis of Ready to Wear (RTW) fashions. I really like trying on RTW clothes and analyzing their fit. I'm able to incorporate what I learn into what I sew for myself. Plus it's another easy way to figure out what works for me and to test drive new styles. It's funny because in the past I really dreaded going to Fitting Rooms, especially before I could sew. I was always disappointed when things wouldn't fit right or be off a little.Once I realized that I could customized my own clothing I stopped being disappointed with RTW. I  If I want something I can just go make it myself or I can choose to buy RTW at a good price. Having options has really relieved my stress and now I love dressing rooms. Anyway here's the first post:

I went into town this past Saturday to pick up elastic at Jo-Ann's and made a stop into TJ Maxx to see if there were any major clothes or shoes sales. I'm not one for buying clothes unless I can buy them for much cheaper that it will cost to make them. Case in point when I was in Florida a week or so ago I bought those 10 pieces of clothes for around $34 which averaged a a little over $3 a piece. Now that was a steal!!! Out of the clothes I purchased one item was a brown pair of comfortable capris which I paid only $6 for but retailed at around $40. Come on, at $6 I'd rather buy the capris and spend time sewing up something else.

So back to my story, I went to TJ Maxx and noticed that there were rack's of capri on clearance. During Spring & Summer, aside from dresses, capris are pretty much all that I wear---especially at work. I definitely could stand to get a few especially since they were on sale. I grabbed a few of them and went to the dressing room to try them on and here's what came of my efforts........

(I found this cute pair of black sateen capris with zippers at the hem. They fit like a glove and were very cute. Since I needed a pair of black capris I swooped these up to buy.)

(I thought I'd give some short shorts a try. Well once again I'm reminded why I don't like to wear short shorts. I just don't feel comfortable in them. I like short shorts, just not on myself. Since my legs are so long I just think capris balance out my body much better. I love to see others in them. If I were just a little thicker and a little shorter I'd sport these because they probably wouldn't look SO short on me.)

(Now this is more of my speed!!! I love cargo style capris with lots of top stitching, zippers, etc) These are just awesome and oh so comfortable.)

(Look at those details up close. These are great!!! To be honest with you I would hate to sew this. It would honestly drive me insane. There's more details on these pants than I'd care to sew up. Isn't that sad. But for $13 I'd gladly buy these.)

(I loved how these tan capris fit near my hips but the longer length aged me a bit. I needed a shorter, hipper style. So I had to skip on these.)

(These were cute cargo pants in black with a ruffled hem but they didn't not fit my backside well at all. They weren't contoured to fit my bottom and the lack of pants depth caused them to stick out away from my body instead of cup it.  Look at all that excess fabric. If I were wider and flatter in the seat then these would have fit me. But that's just not my body shape.)

(Well I started with 8 pairs of pants/capri/short. I don't have the best luck with finding pants & capris since I'm super picky about their fit. Being a seamstress will make you like that (wink)!)

(These are the only 2 capris that I ended up with and I'm happy with my finds.)

Well that was my dressing room adventures. I'll definitely have more in the future.....

What about you, do you like to try on clothes? If you sew, have you found it easier to face dressing room disappointments? Or do you like to skip the dressing room all together and take it home and return it if necessary (I often do this)? What say ye?