To expect to be able to find clothes that fit?

Wish I could help nanapug but I have never had a waist!

My body shape was great when I got down to a size 8 but that was some while ago. I have long legs and a short waist so everything fitted is a no no for me unless I am very thin. I think most of us have one issue or another.

I have a long waist, so nothing with a waist or a belt is any good to me, either. The waist on a dress seems to end up in the middle of my ribcage.

I'm just too big and fat!

You found skirts in Evans !!! Well done you.

I would love to wear trousers but I have short legs and middle age spread so have to stick to skirts

No ninathenana, I didn't actually find skirts in Evans, just hundreds of pairs of black trousers, but like you I can't wear trousers as my thighs are too big.
I think I am like you Galen, just too big and fat! I hate it so much. I would love to be slim and be able to buy beautiful clothes and not have to make do. When you think how may big girls shops there are compared to how many other shops. It doesn't correlate with the number of people over a size 16. I would so love to design smart clothes for large ladies.

I`m short and fat, but I always manage to find things that I like, and that fit, at Bonmarche, apart from dresses, they`re usually too long from there.

I think that someone is missing a trick by not designing reasonably priced clothing for all the larger people that inhabit our country. I'm 5'5" size 20 but curvy - the only thing I can wear is separates

Why not learn to adjust skirts to fit. Or find a pattern that you can adapt to make your own? Or ... find a tailor/seamstress- once you've got a pattern to fit, made to measure or adapted to measure, it can be used again and again.

My mil made her living making to measure for ladies just like you who couldn't find off-the peg to fit. The first skirt will be expensive- but then it's a doddle.

Don't have the time granjura or the inclination - life is too short!!

I'm 5 6-7 used to be 5 8. Take size 18 or some times 20. Can be a 16 in a skirt!

kittylester - I understand - but if you really want a skirt that fits well - many of us won't find 'off the peg' - as said, get a seamstress or taylor to do it for you. There is a nice Italian taylor in the shopping centre in Syston.

nana

I have problems too. Very difficult to find an 'Obese Elf Shop'

I presume you're not as large as one I saw recently. 5' 3" 27 1/2 stone.

we're talking hourglass aren't we. sounds frustrating.
Have you got a Bravissimo near you? They do some clothes for the voluptuous woman as well as underwear. Mainly tops. But the models in the pictures have busts and waists.
www.bravissimo.com/pepperberry/products/all/#/1?level=3&show=16&sort=4&exclusive=false&new=false&sale=false

In a bit I will got an rifle through my books upstairs - somewhere I have trinny and susannah on what suits which shapes.... ooops. I seem to have sent them off to Oxfam in recent cull. Wish they were still on TV
Why the long skirts? Ever tried palazzo pants? Or leggings with a knee length dress?

The queen is very short with a bust. and expensive corsets I expect.
But, well...
Judi Dench also tiny and tends to look very chic in kind of floaty.

Well the firm of ?pellier etc hold her warrant!

maybe this might help?
www.bbc.co.uk/lifestyle/tv_and_radio/what_not_to_wear/whattowear_index.shtml

I always had the same problem - my waist was too small compared to my hips (or, rather, my hips were too big compared to my waist!) So if I bought a size 16 for the waist, it was too tight on the hips, so I got used to buying size 18/20 and taking in the waist bands. I believe the healthy ratio is waist being 70% of hip, so 28' waist and 40' hips is ideal. Now I am a size 14, it doesn't seem as difficult.
Didn't Dawn French head a 'big girl' design company for a while - I think she gave it up. Pity, as people have said, there are more women of 16+ then below in the UK, yet when you look at the 'Plus' section in most stores the clothes are nowhere near as glamarous as the smaller sizes.

Why do clothing manufacturers seem to think that the larger size you take, the taller you are! I am only 5 foot 3 and skirts often sweep the floor on me. In the larger bust sizes, necklines invariably are cut far too big and gaping, leading to an off-the-shoulder number whether required or not!

Greatnan - I do agree about the Plus sizes not being as glamerous as the smaller sizes. I find the fabrics also seem to be not as nice.

Larger sizes do not work with cheap fabrics, They look creased and scruffy faster than skinny sizes.

I have to agree clothes size is a nightmare. I am currently a size 18 top but can wear M&S 14 jeans. I am only 5'2". This means dresses are impossible unless I get them tailored to fit or make my own. Also suffer from the off the shoulder look as I really should be 'petite' but to get anything over my boobs means i have excess fabric on the shoulder!! Since an op for gall bladder 4 yrs ago my 'abdomen' where my scar is has become more noticable..not sure if muscles were damaged or if it is old age spread!

I have begun my quest to lose weight so I can hopefully develop a more 'balanced' shape to enable me to buy a dress that fits!

Scaling clothes designs up or down . My DH is not huge. But cannot fit into any M and S t shirts, ever. Because they don't account for the fact that an XL chest comes with bigger shoulders, relatively, than a M chest. A prop forward shaped man is not just a bigger version of a fly half. So the armholes are always too tight.
Leggings anyone?

I wiegh a lot more than one of my daughters does, in spite of her being about six inches taller than me.

But she has done quite a bit of rock climbing. Hauling herself up sheer cliff faces has given her more muscles and bigger shoulders and she has to buy the same size T-shirts as I do.