Do you find your ankles swell on long haul flights? You lose weight or put on weight overseas? You can't fit into last year's swimsuit? The tights split?
Here are some solutions:
Stretchy fabrics. Anything with lots of elastane. Georgette reversible clothes. Thai wrap around skirts. Saris (but you may need boleros in two sizes or with two rows of buttons).
Clothes too big?
How to adapt existing clothes if they are too big and baggy:
Wear a belt. Secure the belt by making two small loops from a piece of co-ordinating ribbon.
Cut a piece off the hem to make a matching belt. Cut a piece off the inside seam to make a strip or rosette or stripe or diagonal stripe to make a contrasting belt look likes it is part of the outfit.
Alternatively make a half belt starting below your underarms, attached at the waist, and tying at the back in a bow.
Separate the skirt from the top half. Make it tighter. Or wrap around. Then reattach it if you like.
Clothes too small?
What kind of outfit fits any size? A wrap a round outfit. A stretchy outfit.
Top too tight?
Leave zip at back open. Wear a bolero. To keep the neck together, add ribbons at the nape of the neck where the zip top should meet. If you like, add a lace back similar to a corset.
Dress too short?
Wear a matching long slip. Sew a ribbon around the hem. Cut off the hem, add two widths of ribbon then sew back the hem.
Dress too long?
Cut off the lower skirt edge. Turn up and seam, just a running stitch with matching cotton. Use the cut part for a matching belt or headband.
Arms too tight?
a) Insert a diamond of material under the arm where the four seams meet. Let out the inner seam along the top of the arm.
b) Add a huge diamond and make raglan sleeves.
d) Cut seams and leave loose showing top of arm.
e) Cut arms out to make tank top.
f) Insert strip of ribbon along top of arm.
g) Insert strip of ribbon underarm.
h) Cut strips across the shoulders.
i) Cut out the shoulder
Arms too baggy?
Cut off the arms and make a tank top.
Seam up the sides one inch in to armholes are not too big. (Wear matching underwear.)
Turn arms of garment inside out and make a second seam one inch in from the original.
Cheap shop skirts too tight? Buy two garment. Undo seams. Seam them together making one the front and one the back. Or simply use a strip cut from he second garment to expand the first. To fix skirt together in a hurry, use 'replacement buttons' which look like a tie pin with a button on the front. I found some in my button box, originally bought from Kleeneze.
Turn a sarong into a skirt
Cut the sarong fabric to the right length from either your bust or your waist. Use the second piece to fill in one side. Clip the sides together with safety pins or replacement buttons. Sew on a ribbon. It should fit around a spare button or tie with another ribbon. The second ribbon must be a n inch or two in front the hem to ensure an overlap.
Need a big pull-on dress?
The easiest dress to make is a caftan. Buy a pattern and join a sewing group and somebody will help you. Or take a cheap caftan and lay it on the floor, use newspaper and copy it. A caftan is basically a large oblong. If buying fabric, decide which way the pattern goes. Staff in the shop will advice you. Cut with pinking shears. For a beach dress, you needn't even worry about a finished edge.
You have to allow room to fit inside it and pull if over your head and shoulders and hips, so the side seams must be far enough apart and the neck must be wide enough. You might want to go into a shop and try on a caftan.
An alternative is to cut up an old sheet, or an old sheet from a charity shop, or the cheapest fabric from a fabric store. The hardest part is finishing the neck. The edging is a strip which overlaps in a V shape. Alternatively, cut a circle using a saucer and a plate as a guide. (Check with your existing garments.
If you are wearing a jacket when travelling, beware of batwing sleeves which will not fit inside tailored jackets. You could make a jacket with kimono sleeves to go over your caftan.
I made a caftan in Singapore using cotton fabric bought on sale from Spotlight. The girls at the expat Australian sewing group helped me. A Malaysian girl told me that Malaysians never buy dress patterns. They always make their own clothes by copying garments or using a newspaper.
At school in sewing lessons they measure themselves and make a newspaper pattern for a top and skirt which is the basis for all their garments. If they grow taller or wider, they alter the notes about their measurements on the front page of their sewing notebook. (Remember to allow an extra inch to each pattern piece for the hems and seams.)
In Singapore National library sewing and crafts section I found a book, probably American, on how to make your own patterns and copy any garment. The author suggested that you unpick the seems of your favourite garment, lay it flat on the floor, copy the pieces onto a paper pattern.
You then have all the seam allowances. All the cuts for darts are in the right places. Then re-sew all the seams.
This assumes you can machine sew as neatly as the professionals who made the garment, you have co-ordinating threads for sewing seams, and plenty of time.
In Singapore I found that I needed to wear a caftan to bed to be fully covered if I had to answer the door. This happened when I was staying with friends and family staying in their home. Also in a hotel when, receiving the boy bring my early breakfast tray.
I found that my existing wrap around dressing gowns and beach towelling robes revealed too much. The answer was to buy an open ended zip. You can buy them from major stores such as John Lewis in the UK and half the price on line.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, speaker.
Here are some solutions:
Stretchy fabrics. Anything with lots of elastane. Georgette reversible clothes. Thai wrap around skirts. Saris (but you may need boleros in two sizes or with two rows of buttons).
Clothes too big?
How to adapt existing clothes if they are too big and baggy:
Wear a belt. Secure the belt by making two small loops from a piece of co-ordinating ribbon.
Cut a piece off the hem to make a matching belt. Cut a piece off the inside seam to make a strip or rosette or stripe or diagonal stripe to make a contrasting belt look likes it is part of the outfit.
Alternatively make a half belt starting below your underarms, attached at the waist, and tying at the back in a bow.
Separate the skirt from the top half. Make it tighter. Or wrap around. Then reattach it if you like.
Clothes too small?
What kind of outfit fits any size? A wrap a round outfit. A stretchy outfit.
Top too tight?
Leave zip at back open. Wear a bolero. To keep the neck together, add ribbons at the nape of the neck where the zip top should meet. If you like, add a lace back similar to a corset.
Dress too short?
Wear a matching long slip. Sew a ribbon around the hem. Cut off the hem, add two widths of ribbon then sew back the hem.
Dress too long?
Cut off the lower skirt edge. Turn up and seam, just a running stitch with matching cotton. Use the cut part for a matching belt or headband.
Arms too tight?
a) Insert a diamond of material under the arm where the four seams meet. Let out the inner seam along the top of the arm.
b) Add a huge diamond and make raglan sleeves.
d) Cut seams and leave loose showing top of arm.
e) Cut arms out to make tank top.
f) Insert strip of ribbon along top of arm.
g) Insert strip of ribbon underarm.
h) Cut strips across the shoulders.
i) Cut out the shoulder
Arms too baggy?
Cut off the arms and make a tank top.
Seam up the sides one inch in to armholes are not too big. (Wear matching underwear.)
Turn arms of garment inside out and make a second seam one inch in from the original.
Cheap shop skirts too tight? Buy two garment. Undo seams. Seam them together making one the front and one the back. Or simply use a strip cut from he second garment to expand the first. To fix skirt together in a hurry, use 'replacement buttons' which look like a tie pin with a button on the front. I found some in my button box, originally bought from Kleeneze.
Turn a sarong into a skirt
Cut the sarong fabric to the right length from either your bust or your waist. Use the second piece to fill in one side. Clip the sides together with safety pins or replacement buttons. Sew on a ribbon. It should fit around a spare button or tie with another ribbon. The second ribbon must be a n inch or two in front the hem to ensure an overlap.
Need a big pull-on dress?
The easiest dress to make is a caftan. Buy a pattern and join a sewing group and somebody will help you. Or take a cheap caftan and lay it on the floor, use newspaper and copy it. A caftan is basically a large oblong. If buying fabric, decide which way the pattern goes. Staff in the shop will advice you. Cut with pinking shears. For a beach dress, you needn't even worry about a finished edge.
You have to allow room to fit inside it and pull if over your head and shoulders and hips, so the side seams must be far enough apart and the neck must be wide enough. You might want to go into a shop and try on a caftan.
An alternative is to cut up an old sheet, or an old sheet from a charity shop, or the cheapest fabric from a fabric store. The hardest part is finishing the neck. The edging is a strip which overlaps in a V shape. Alternatively, cut a circle using a saucer and a plate as a guide. (Check with your existing garments.
If you are wearing a jacket when travelling, beware of batwing sleeves which will not fit inside tailored jackets. You could make a jacket with kimono sleeves to go over your caftan.
I made a caftan in Singapore using cotton fabric bought on sale from Spotlight. The girls at the expat Australian sewing group helped me. A Malaysian girl told me that Malaysians never buy dress patterns. They always make their own clothes by copying garments or using a newspaper.
At school in sewing lessons they measure themselves and make a newspaper pattern for a top and skirt which is the basis for all their garments. If they grow taller or wider, they alter the notes about their measurements on the front page of their sewing notebook. (Remember to allow an extra inch to each pattern piece for the hems and seams.)
In Singapore National library sewing and crafts section I found a book, probably American, on how to make your own patterns and copy any garment. The author suggested that you unpick the seems of your favourite garment, lay it flat on the floor, copy the pieces onto a paper pattern.
You then have all the seam allowances. All the cuts for darts are in the right places. Then re-sew all the seams.
This assumes you can machine sew as neatly as the professionals who made the garment, you have co-ordinating threads for sewing seams, and plenty of time.
In Singapore I found that I needed to wear a caftan to bed to be fully covered if I had to answer the door. This happened when I was staying with friends and family staying in their home. Also in a hotel when, receiving the boy bring my early breakfast tray.
I found that my existing wrap around dressing gowns and beach towelling robes revealed too much. The answer was to buy an open ended zip. You can buy them from major stores such as John Lewis in the UK and half the price on line.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, speaker.
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