You know that it's just not a smart idea to pick a blouse up off the rack and take it through the checkout without trying it on.
And when you do try it on, chances are that you'll feel so bad about how it looks on your body that you'll either head straight to the gym and buy a 12 month membership to whip that body into shape, or you'll give up in disgust and go buy a slice of triple layer chocolate cake with a scoop of icecream on the side! But the fact is, blaming your body is no answer.
There are many reasons that a size label doesn't mean a thing, and none of those reasons have anything to do with the size and shape of your body.
In this three part series, you will learn why the number on your clothing label might be messing with your body image, and why you can safely choose to ignore it! The first reason is to do with manufacturers' standards.
Every clothing designer and manufacturer uses their own 'block' patterns.
These are basic templates for all the basic styles of clothing, and everyone has their own small variations.
Many years ago when I was a mad-keen dressmaker, I did a pattern-making course.
I learned to make my own patterns by taking my body's measurements, and turning them into pattern blocks.
They became a basic template to make everything else.
Though I was very careful with my measurements, my blocks were slightly different to those of the person working on the next bench.
That was because, naturally, my body size and shape was very different to hers.
And that's the way human bodies are: there are thousands of variations of size and shape and height.
So many variations in fact, that manufacturers cannot possibly design for all of them, and so they use standard, or average, tables of measurement.
But, here we are over 100 years since clothing was first mass-produced in factories, and every factory and designer uses their own set of standard measurements.
Yes they're all similar, but they not identical.
Good thing too! So if you're a size 10 in one brand and you grab a similar style size 10 in another brand, the chances are it will fit your body very differently.
And we all know that sinking feeling in the changing room when the blouse you have fallen in love with on the hanger, looks absolutely shocking when you put it on.
That does not mean there's anything wrong with your body, it simply means it was destined, from the time the image of the blouse popped into the designer's mind, for a person with different size and shape.
Next time you're in the changing room, remember that - and go look again to find something that *is* designed to suit your size and shape.
In part 2 of this series, we'll take a closer look at the process clothing designers use, and why their opinion shouldn't do a thing to make you feel badly about your body image.
And when you do try it on, chances are that you'll feel so bad about how it looks on your body that you'll either head straight to the gym and buy a 12 month membership to whip that body into shape, or you'll give up in disgust and go buy a slice of triple layer chocolate cake with a scoop of icecream on the side! But the fact is, blaming your body is no answer.
There are many reasons that a size label doesn't mean a thing, and none of those reasons have anything to do with the size and shape of your body.
In this three part series, you will learn why the number on your clothing label might be messing with your body image, and why you can safely choose to ignore it! The first reason is to do with manufacturers' standards.
Every clothing designer and manufacturer uses their own 'block' patterns.
These are basic templates for all the basic styles of clothing, and everyone has their own small variations.
Many years ago when I was a mad-keen dressmaker, I did a pattern-making course.
I learned to make my own patterns by taking my body's measurements, and turning them into pattern blocks.
They became a basic template to make everything else.
Though I was very careful with my measurements, my blocks were slightly different to those of the person working on the next bench.
That was because, naturally, my body size and shape was very different to hers.
And that's the way human bodies are: there are thousands of variations of size and shape and height.
So many variations in fact, that manufacturers cannot possibly design for all of them, and so they use standard, or average, tables of measurement.
But, here we are over 100 years since clothing was first mass-produced in factories, and every factory and designer uses their own set of standard measurements.
Yes they're all similar, but they not identical.
Good thing too! So if you're a size 10 in one brand and you grab a similar style size 10 in another brand, the chances are it will fit your body very differently.
And we all know that sinking feeling in the changing room when the blouse you have fallen in love with on the hanger, looks absolutely shocking when you put it on.
That does not mean there's anything wrong with your body, it simply means it was destined, from the time the image of the blouse popped into the designer's mind, for a person with different size and shape.
Next time you're in the changing room, remember that - and go look again to find something that *is* designed to suit your size and shape.
In part 2 of this series, we'll take a closer look at the process clothing designers use, and why their opinion shouldn't do a thing to make you feel badly about your body image.
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