I'm so glad I sew...

Today I did a bit of clothing shopping. Originally, my plan was to go to my regular sewing group which meets on Mondays, but my morning's to-do list quickly ate up my day!  When the afternoon errands put me in the vicinity of Coldwater Creek, I got sucked in.

First I make the rounds in the store, pulling things that might work and letting the ladies start a dressing room for me (they will take my choices from my arms and put them into the dressing room to await my arrival).  Once I am sure I have seen all there is to see, it is time for the try-ons.

As is usually the case, I am between sizes on most of the tops I chose.  The ladies who work there try their best to get me to go down a size...and I will humor them and try on the smaller sizes they bring...but in general, I buy the larger size.  I can sew.  I can shorten tops that are too long.  I can raise the armholes as I take in the side seams when needed.  Because almost invariably, those smaller sized garments are too tight.  Not sausage casing, but tighter than I am comfortable wearing.  I ended up with one Medium, 2 X-Larges, and the rest were Larges...and if they had had the XL tops in a Large, I would have gotten the smaller size.  But they didn't.  And I can sew.

The ladies there think I buy my clothes too big.  But I know how to sew.  I can make those clothes fit better than they did in that dressing room.  And while I am not fond of alterations, I can make these changes quicker than I could make the tops from scratch.

Plus, everything was on sale.  Big time.  Buying the fabric to make these tops would have cost more than the tops did.  Assuming I could even find these nice fabrics...

Anyway, I have a bit of sewing to do to make these tops fit me.  But I didn't just walk away with nothing, nor did I end up with clothes that are too tight.  A win.  :)