There’s no doubt there’s a lot of love for Colette over here at CSC towers: the Curvy Colette tour was our very first project, and the wonders of a pattern up to a 3XL knows no bounds.
So we’re thrilled that there’s yet another – and Sarai has kindly offered a copy of the new pattern as a giveaway!
The latest Colette Patterns knit creation is the Myrtle dress: it has a draped cowl neckline, elasticized waist and a flowy gathered skirt with bonus pockets. It looks sure to be yet another super comfortable classic dress, that could also be mega classed up for evening. And let’s face it: more secret pyjamas = more goodness.
If you’d like to win a copy of the Myrtle dress, just leave a comment below and let us know how sewing has give you curvy confidence! The contest closes Sunday July 20th at midnight EST, and is open to anyone worldwide. Please make sure you leave your email address or a way to get in contact with you – only entries with a valid contact detail will be eligible to win.
Good luck and we can’t wait to see your Myrtles!
You guys out there in the blogging world give me hope that I will successfully accomplish a FBA and the myrtle dress looks like I could even make it fit me.
Sewing has allowed me to realize that there’s nothing wrong with my body. There’s something wrong with RTW clothing.. as in it’s built for size 8’s then enlarged without regard to the fact that plus size gals have different fit issues than our smaller sisters. The first skirt I made that fit me without making me feel pregnant was an eye opener for sure! 🙂
I always feel confidant when I’m wearing something I made!
This site is so exciting. I hope you are all very proud.
Understanding how to fit and sew my wardrobe has stopped me from see the “negative” — my hips are so big I can’t buy pants — to seeing the positive “my waist is so tiny”. That is such a priceless change of perspective. Sure, fitting can be exhausting but it’s way better than uselessly judging myself in horrid change rooms under awful lights.
I’ve been sewing since I was 4 and started making clothes and altering rtw since I was 9. I have always felt confident in who I am. Size has never mattered to me.
still working on both the confidence and the sewing, but I love the idea of taking control of my clothes and how they fit!
Yay! I felloff the right side of the pattern envelope a while back. Nice to see a new place to be. That pattern looks great! Very flattering.
Sewing has boosted my confidence in my curves so much it is insane! I was always so frustrated trying on clothing that was always too tight on my bust, too baggy in the waist, too long for my height etc etc. I wanted to feel pretty in my clothing not feel awkward! Learning how to sew and adjust things to my body type has been a very empowering experience for me and I love reading how it affects others 🙂 You Go Ladies!!!
Email-shaysimms@live.Com
Blog- frillz24.blogspot.com
Yay! Solutions to all my sewing conundrums in one place. Congratulations on a great idea and a brilliant site. I’ve added curveysewingcollective.com to first place in my favourites.
I have yet to sew anything fancy for myself but I’m hoping through this site I can learn enough to feel confident to sew myself some cute clothes. Thanks for your inspiration guys!
I love to sew because it frees my from what is available in RTW. I can literally wear anything I like! Not just is dictated by fashion and what is available in my size.
I no longer feel the panic of not being able to find an outfit for an upcoming event that fits. Ex: I was having a hard time finding a bridesmaid dress, but in the back of my mind I knew if I didn’t I could make one. Now I just need y’alls help with adjusting!
Happy to have found this site!
I love the confidence sewing my own clothes gives me, both in knowing that the garment was literally made for me, and also that it was made BY me! Thanks for the giveaway.
I sew because I love making clothes that fit me properly and are different to everybody else. Sewing let me choose what I want to wear, not what fashion dictates. The other thing is it’s heaps cheaper which has been a lifesaver during two pregnancies and gaining, losing and gaining weight!
I have been sewing for a while and have had fit issues with patterns and started to feel weird that I wasn’t the “right” size to just make that patterns straight out of the package. I think the FBA needs to be an automatic adjustment for me…
Congrats on the site. Looking forward to seeing you ladies in the same place.
As for curvy sewing, I can finally wear dresses that fit and even get compliments from strangers because they fit so perfectly. Before sewing for myself I would just tell people dresses just aren’t cut for my body and not wear them
I discovered The Curvy Sewing Collective recently, and was so excited by the possibilities that I started a dedicated sewing blog http://poppysews.blogspot.co.nz to encourage me to stick with sewing through the challenges. Yes, there are challenges! Fitting my curvy body is not easy for a beginner. I am suited to the 50’s silhouette with my small waist compared to my hips and bust. But then I’ve got a generous tummy too! I could spend hours looking in shops and not see a thing I like, and if I do like something the price tag might put me off, or it won’t fit. So I’m sewing my own wardrobe to suit myself. I’m so excited to join all of you inspiring, beautiful curvy ladies!
Sewing for myself means that as a 42 DD I can make the top fit my bust and not have it squashed, and put the buttons in the right places so I don’t get them gaping. It means I can choose the fabric I want to use, It means I’m not restricted to 15 different styles of black trousers or the ever popular RTW tent. I can make myself something in bright colours, with pretty finishings that isn’t going to fall apart on me, and that most importantly of all fits! Finding the online community has lead me to new and interesting pattern designers that I can adjust to fit.
This site looks awesome and the FBA for princess seams means I’m going to try a shift dress in Tilly and the Buttons Love at First Stitch with confidence. Thank you all so much.
Just being able to wear a dress again is amazing – that it might fit properly and even look good is amazing confidence!
Hello! Thank you for a fantastic website. I sew because a girl in Gap once reduced me to tears when she sneered that they didn’t make jeans in ‘plus sizes’. I was a UK 14 at the time, and old enough to realise that RTW sizes are ridiculous (as is the term ‘plus size’!). I have a weird shape – narrow shoulders, big bust, very big waist, round stomach, narrow hips, and buying off the shelf is so depressing. So I’m slowwwwlly trying out new techniques, probably failing more than I’m succeeding, but I’m trying, and thanks to websites like yours I’m determined to get there! Thanks again x
I have been anxious about beginning to sew again after a few decades of not – and now for a wholly differently shaped curvaceous me. I am grateful for the tips and positivity I have found on your different blogs and so excited with you for this new venture /website. Thank you :)!
Sewing gives me the confidence that I can have a dress that fits all over, rather than having to go through 5 shops and find maybe 2 dresses that work, and if I’m lucky 1 pair of pants. Or getting told that there’s only one style that looks good with my figure – if I want to wear a sheath dress I will (once I’ve found the perfect pattern…).
I’m still learning with sewing, but I’m also a knitter. I love the freedom of making my own garments that actually fit me.
I still haven’t perfected sewing for me, I’ve only started sewing for myself a couple months ago, but I hope that one day sewing for myself will make me feel more comfortable with my body and feeling pretty since everything RTW usually fits me awkwardly.
Love the website!
I have confidence in my garments when I know they are made with care and fit! Not too big on the hips and not tight on the bust.
I love your new site and I think it’s fabulos! So nice that all of us curvy chicks gets a place to go to when we have questions that those who isn’t curvy can’t answer :).
I hope you will go on for a long time!
Sewing = avoiding RTW clothing.
Most RTW clothes aren’t cut for my proportions and look akward on me, making ME feel akward. Sewing has made me come to terms with my own body and has helped me accept that I don’t fit into cookie-cutter fashions. It pushed me to consider size, proportions and the uniqueness of my shape. I realise with every project there are many different kinds of bodies, and that every single one is beautiful. Plus, sewing helped me figure out my personal style and preferences by forcing me to consider them carefully. In the end, I adore the confidence boost I get when I get compliments and can proudly say I made my dress.
This silhouette looks amazing? I love it that it’s in the larger sizes so no need to try and grade up. Love it that it can be made with knit AND woven fabrics!
i’m a broad shouldered fba apple who, at 56, likes clean modern younger designs and most apple-shaped sutff can be more than frumpy! So I sew for fit 44-36-40 (a 38E) and constantly need to adjust – my upper chest (due to a broad back) is 42 – and most patterns, especially butterick and burda gape gape gape neck to chest. I’m also fairly muscular, kinda short 5’4″ with some extra weight… sewing is my best option for flattering fit.
I love this new blog; it is very inspiring1
I am so excited about this space! I began sewing because RTW clothes just don’t fit me properly. I am very pear shaped and actually am very happy with my bod, especially when I wear my own makes. I’m still a bit of a sewing novice (mostly I sew for my kids), but every time I crank out something that is modified for my shape I feel like a million bucks!
I’m am so glad you folks started this website. It is a answer to a dream. Your posts have been so helpful.
Love this pattern!
Great idea for a sewing collective. I will definitely be following along.
It’s so hard to find anything that fits if you busty and curvy! Sewing is the only option. Now if I could just get those fitting issues conquered!
Best of luck, ladies.
Ramona
Even though i would still class myself as a beginner, making my own clothes that actually fit me is an amazing and empowering experience. I find buying RTW a fairly demoralizing experience so dressmaking for me has so far being a very positive experience 🙂
And thank god there is now a place to go which is specific to plus sized sexy ladies…. how refreshing.
best of luck with the website!!
Ciara
I began sewing when I was in elementary school, and by 6th grade was making fashionable outfits.After I graduated from college, my sewing machine began to gather dust. I made a few Halloween and theater costumes for my daughters, and had to replace the original machine, but didn’t do much more than that for like 25 years. Then, middle age hit me, and clothing wasn’t fitting well anymore. I was also pretty horrified at most of the choices for plus-size women. Just because I’m in my 50’s and curvy doesn’t mean that I’m willing to be resigned to wear boring clothing for the rest of my life. And so, about ten months ago, the sewing machine came out of the closet and got thoroughly cleaned, dusted, and oiled. My dormant creative side came to life, and now I am wearing stylish, comfortable clothing that fits! Colette is one of my favorite pattern lines! Yesterday I wore my second Moneta dress to work for the first time, done up as a midi, with a black, peter-pan collar, short sleeve bodice and a floral print skirt. In rayon jersey, too, so while a lot of people were overheating, I was actually cool!
For the first time, now that I’ve started to make my clothes, I feel in control of my wardrobe as opposed to my wardrobe being in control of me! I can make beautiful clothes which enhance my curves!
Sewing gives me the ability to make the clothes that I want to wear and feel good in. Not the frumpy clothesthat designer and store biyers bbelieve that those who do not possess model figures should wear.
I love sewing and have learning for 35 years. I will never tire of the thrill of discovering a new technique. Now that I am reaching that special time in a woman’s life, cough menopause, cough, I am finding my waistline has broadened disproportionately . Sewing my own clothes and understanding the how’s and whys of a pattern is enabling me to adjust these successfully. But, I must admit, knit fabric is fast becoming my best friend!!
I love this pattern – there is something so liberating about making clothes that fit well. It’s amazing how many styles I never bought, not becuase I didn’t like them but because they never fit me (hello all skinny trousers – in RTW they are always baggy at the knees and tight round my calves). Now I am learning to make my own!
I am slowly coming to believe that just because clothes in shops don’t fit well, it doesn’t mean I am the wrong shape.
Taking up sewing has been an eye opening revelation! I started about 6 months ago and nearly cried when I measured myself and saw I should cut out a UK size 28. I had put on weight, but I was not a size 28. I had always tried to stay at an 18 at the max, but had slipped over and out the other side of a size 20. But 28????? What did it mean? I felt horrified. Until I opened the pattern. Then suddenly, my horror disappeared. The distance between the sizes was so small that I laughed. I had spent so long attaching self esteem to numbers and, look! they meant absolutely nothing. The difference between sizes was a couple of cm. The numbers were just map markers, not symbols dripping with meaning about one’s value as a woman. And so I cut out my dress and realised it was tiny in the armpits and enormous round the knees and laughed again. It was all meaningless. Vanity sizing was absurd and impersonal. What was meaningful were the beautiful patterns and fabrics I could buy, the creativity and personality I could put into the things I made, the fact that I wasn’t engaging in a fashion trade that demeans women and employs child labour and oh, the buttons and bias binding! My 50 inch full chest is a thing to drape fabric on beautifully, to enhance, to think about practically and cleverly and not a just number to be ashamed of. I can sew any dress I like and make it fit me and my shape, rather than feel I need to change my shape to fit into something made for random beauty standards. Oh! I am so happy that I have started sewing.
This is so touching and beautiful Rosie! What a great story and great writing
I love sewing my own clothes, I am still learning what styles and design features suit me, but I feel so proud and confident when I make something that fits and flatters.
What a wonderful and exciting idea! Sewing has taught me that size is a line on a pattern. Sewing is about shape, and fitting your particular shape. It’s much more fun to sew something for myself than to waste time shopping. I’d much rather buy fabric and patterns than RTW clothes. 🙂
I love being able to put together a perfect fabric with a pattern that I know will fit! Sewing is awesome!
When I was little my mom and grandmother made me clothes. But once I was an adult and grandma had died, we couldn’t figure out how to make things fit. It wasn’t until I was 30 that I really realized that there was nothing wrong with me, it was RTW, that I started making an effort to figure out how to make a pattern fit me. Things that fit my body did not accommodate my uber bust and my muscular biceps.
I don’t have to pysche myself up for a trip to the shops to find something to wear for work, or an event and then suffer the emotional beat-down that comes from trying on stuff that just won’t button, or strains over my arms. Or, perhaps even worse, try on stuff that hangs like a tent because it was just too big overall and thus made me look enormous.
Sewing let’s me have a good fit in clothes while feeding my creative need. Both those things make me feel better and have more confidence.
I love sewing! And I love finding new patterns in larger sizes! It’s so disheartening to find a pattern that you love, but it doesn’t come in your size! I really love wearing my creations and everyone complimenting me on them! I would love to try the curvy Collete pattern!
I sew for my daughter and have been looking for a site just like you. Welcome to my world!!!
Deborah
Wow! What a blessing finding you is! I’m looking to get back into sewing, and you are just what I need. Thanks so much!
I started making clothing this year because I wasn’t seeing much that fit me and made me feel good at the same time. With a large difference between my waist and the largest part of my hips, I’ve been having problems finding a dress pattern that suits me and Myrtle looks like she could be the one.
Also, congratulations on the website launch.
So, so glad this is here! I only recently started sewing – I was tired of inexpensive clothes that didn’t fit correctly, and paying out the nose for the ones that did. I’m still very much a novice, and slow, and have wavy seams and mismatched prints and all those other learning curve issues, but gosh it is wonderful to have things that fit!