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  • #1

    The joys of clothes shopping.

    I wasn't going to bother sharing this, but then it happened again and really frustrated me. Right now, I'm pregnant with our third baby. Obviously pregnant, like 'shoved-a-basketball-up-my-shirt' pregnant. With that comes the joy of finding new comfy pants because I've either destroyed or donated most of my comfy pants. Enter the bitchy cashiers...

    Store 1: I grabbed two jackets in my normal non-pregnant size because they work with my personal style and I can hardly ever find stuff that I like. I know from past experience that they will fit while pregnant as long as I don't button them, and will also fit post-pregnancy. I walked up to the counter and was met with a cashier that looked me up and down, raised an eyebrow and asked "Are you SURE about the size?" I gave her an ultra-perky smile and a friendly yes, then proceeded with the transaction.

    Store 2: Finally found comfy pants with a drawstring in a size bigger than I need! Sure, it's only one pair and I have looked in several stores but yay! Go to pay for them and the cashier is chatting with friends. I patiently wait, she realises I'm waiting, looks me up and down, and asks in a very bitchy tone "Do you want to try those on?" This time, I was tired, cranky and there was no way that I was going to unlace and re-lace my Docs in a cramped fitting room to confirm what I already knew. So I responded in a similar tone with "Uh...NO"
    Instant cat-butt face, and a sulky few minutes while she very slowly processed the transaction and bagged the pants for me.

    I'm still searching for comfy pants, so I'm unfortunately sure that I'll run into it again.
    Don't tempt pixies, it never ends well.

    Avatar created by the lovely Eisa.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Ooh, I hated that part of pregnancy. Clothes shopping is the worst, because you often can't find pants that will expand enough in the waist without looking like a circus tent in the legs! What is sad is that this include maternity pants, because they don't think plus sized (14 and up from what I can tell) deserve to have the same kind of fit either.

    I got so fed up that I went to the men's section and found comfy shorts that fit just fine. Of course, I had to say screw it to fashion but at that point, fashion took a back seat to feeling relaxed. After I was done, hubby inherited the shorts.
    If I make no sense, I apologize. I'm constantly interrupted by an actual toddler.

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    • #3
      If you're willing to do alterations (or pay someone to do it), narrowing a pants leg is one of the simplest.

      Put the pants on inside out. Have a friend with good fashion sense pin the legs to fit. Both inseam and outer seam, probably equal on both inseam and outer but let her work by eye.
      Follow the line of pins with chalk marks, make sure the pins are aligned for your preferred sewing style. (EG, I pin at 90o to the line of sewing. Makes it less likely I'll break a needle on a pin.)

      Sew along the chalk marks with a tacking thread*. Turn the pants in the right way, fold the excess fabric back and pin it, see how they look and fit. Kneel, squat, everything you do during the course of the day.
      * Long sewing stitch, might be in a colour that contrasts to the fabric. If you do it with a contrast, you'll want to unpick it after you do the final seam. However, if you do it in a contrast thread, it's easier to unpick if you wind up with a bad fit.


      If it's not fine (and the problem isn't due to the excess fabric you're about to cut off), repin to take care of the problem, unpick the tacking thread where it's necessary, and try again.

      Otherwise, cut off most of the excess fabric, leaving a healthy seam allowance. (I like somewhere between a cm and a half inch.) If the fabric is a fraying type, zig-zag or overlock the edges. Then go over the tacking thread with a proper seam. On most machines, this seems to be stitch length 2 or 3 - check your machine's manual. It will also be the matching thread colour to the fabric.

      Done.
      Last edited by Seshat; 04-05-2013, 05:21 PM.
      Seshat's self-help guide:
      1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
      2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
      3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
      4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

      "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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      • #4
        Honestly i didnt buy any maternity clothes. I borrowed my ex husbands workout pants and for work i borrowed my dads work pants( we worked for the same company).

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        • #5
          I suppose this is one advantage of being on bedrest and delivering early (36, 32 and 24 weeks), I never had to deal with finding clothes that fit. Hospital gowns always fit.

          I'm sorry you had to deal with crappy sales people.
          At the conclusion of an Irish wedding, the priest said "Everybody please hug the person who has made your life worth living. The bartender was nearly crushed to death.

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          • #6
            What I didn't understand about maternity pants is why they made the stretchy part out of material that was a different color than the pants. Yeah, jeans with a black stretchy panel really look good under a white shirt.
            Figers are vicious I tell ya. They crawl up your leg and steal your belly button lint.

            I'm a case study.

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            • #7
              Quoth Mishi View Post
              "Are you SURE about the size?"
              Mishi: "No, why?"
              SuckyClerk: "Well, because you're pregnant."
              Mishi: (Shocked look) "Oh my Dog! Are you sure?"



              Hope the rest of the gestation goes smoothly and you find comfort AND nice sales folk in your future outings.

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              • #8
                Jesus. Anyone with half a brain cell knows that you don't make ANY comments about a woman's pregnancy in this regard.

                Especially disappointing that the stupid comments were from other females. Idiots.
                "So, if you wanna put places like that outta business, just stop being so rock-chewingly stupid." ~ Raudf, 9/19/13

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                • #9
                  Note to self: If I ever get pregnant, buy stretch pants beforehand or, if unplanned, when feeling up to it. Thanks for the advice

                  Story 1 is dumb just because who's to say you were buying them for you? Even if she saw you trying them on, that doesn't always mean it's for you. When I was younger, I'd buy clothes for my sisters as gifts. One sister was always the same size but filled it in more than me and taller while the other was 2 sizes smaller and shorter. So if I grabbed my size and it fit a little tight and hung too low, I'd get it for little sis. If I tried to zip up pants and couldn't, but could pull them up my legs while they were high-waters, they were perfect for big sis.

                  This was also how my mom would shop for them too. Around Christmastime for about 5 years there, I'd always have to go shopping with her and experiment in the above way so she could get gifts too.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth Peppergirl View Post
                    Jesus. Anyone with half a brain cell knows that you don't make ANY comments about a woman's pregnancy in this regard.
                    Seconded.

                    I don't have much experience of being pregnant, but I do have experience of being .. generously proportioned. And having "good child-bearing hips"; ie, angled outwards for ideal support for the infant, and for ease of child-bearing. Which means a wide high-hip measurement....

                    Shopping with my sister-in-law (who has two children, but doesn't have the 'good child-bearing hips' genes) is an exercise in patience. She just. doesn't. get. it.
                    Seshat's self-help guide:
                    1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
                    2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
                    3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
                    4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

                    "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Quoth raudf View Post
                      Ooh, I hated that part of pregnancy. Clothes shopping is the worst, because you often can't find pants that will expand enough in the waist without looking like a circus tent in the legs! What is sad is that this include maternity pants, because they don't think plus sized (14 and up from what I can tell) deserve to have the same kind of fit either.

                      I got so fed up that I went to the men's section and found comfy shorts that fit just fine. Of course, I had to say screw it to fashion but at that point, fashion took a back seat to feeling relaxed. After I was done, hubby inherited the shorts.
                      How about bespoke salwar? In India and the rest of the muddled about area have a clothing style called 'salwar kameez' which is a kameez or shirt [can also be called a curta or kurta] and pants called salwar or alternately souarelles with a number of different styles. The pants can range from pencil thin leggings to lovely swooshy harem pants. If you hit up google image you can see the range. Some of the salwar kameez/sari sites from India and wherever offer custom sizing for fairly inexpensive suits if you pick printed cotton. Darned if I can find it right off, but there is a style of top that is more or less empire [fitted shoulder and bust, flares out from just under the bust] which more or less is decent for pregnancy when made so it is actually form fitting on the shoulders and bust, and is of a *pretty* material instead of the unholy strech polyester garbage America buys.
                      EVE Online: 99% of the time you sit around waiting for something to happen, but that 1% of action is what hooks people like crack, you don't get interviewed by the BBC for a WoW raid.

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                      • #12
                        Beside the third trimester of my pregnancy (which was during the summer, so wearing a maternity skirt or dress was most comfortable to wear) I always skipped the maternity stores and went to a plus-size store instead. Somehow, maternity clothes designers over here don't think that pregnant women want to have pockets in their trousers, and since I don't like carrying a purse with me, well...
                        A theory states that if anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for, it will be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

                        Another theory states that this has already happened.

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                        • #13
                          I've never been pregnant, but I just went through one vicariously through a friend (I know right, I'm such a creep), and we went shopping a time or two while she was getting later on in her pregnancy.

                          She's one of those girls who is normally just a little twig (so obviously, after birth, she was going to go right back to being that way....I'm jealous), but both times being pregnant and carrying boys who were carrying extremely low on her.....the way that people looked at her and the way she didn't feel as pretty as she normally did.....my heart ached for her.

                          All she wanted was to fit into normal clothes again and not have to live in sweatpants or unzipped jeans.

                          Some people could be jerks and say "Tough shit, she didn't need to be pregnant" but ya know, she's married, she and her husband always wanted two children. Every woman deserves to feel beautiful every moment of every day. A woman's body can change in ways that may be hard to swallow for some during pregnancy, and people who are going to be rude and make them feel even more self conscious need to be ass fucked with a cactus.
                          You really need to see a neurologist. - Wagegoth

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                          • #14
                            Yup, I'm sticking to yoga/workout pants at the moment, because they're the most comfy. The only problem is finding them in a fabric that I like and for the workout/sweatpants, with a drawstring so that I can still wear them a bit post-birth. The salwar kameez is very tempting though!
                            Don't tempt pixies, it never ends well.

                            Avatar created by the lovely Eisa.

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                            • #15
                              I'm not sure if there's a Kohls nearby you, but another one of my coworkers is pregnant with twins (she's naturally built kind of like me, shorter and very curvy, so she's literally as big as a house in front now) and she bought their special maternity jeans. She can still layer her clothes the way she likes to, with lacey tanks under v-neck tshirts and whatnot, and she feels pretty comfy during the day.
                              You really need to see a neurologist. - Wagegoth

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