I’m a big fan of alterations, but I have not had super-good luck buying custom-sized clothing on the internet. Etsy is theoretically a fat girl’s paradise -- there are so many shops that say they’ll make things to your measurements, and even more that will do it if you ask. But I always measure something wrong, or fail to take into account how things will look on my skin tone (if you think you’re about my size but look good in red and white, I have a proposition for you!).
So I didn’t really get on the custom clothes bandwagon until I discovered Ureshii, a tiny operation run by two charming Canadian ladies (who I believe are married). That link is to their Etsy store; they also have a website, where they are constantly adding new styles that make me cry because I can't afford them all.
Ureshii’s clothes are all stretchy, mostly a nice heavy bamboo jersey, so you don’t really NEED them to be custom-sized. What “custom” means in this case, though, is that they can make basically any size (they’ve never charged me extra for plus, though they might at larger sizes) and they can tweak the design in more or less any way you can think of. They encourage it -- a lot of their dresses are designed to be mix-and-match, so you can put any top with any skirt.
A couple years ago I was into this dress, but I wasn’t crazy about the two-layer skirt. So I sent an Etsy conversation asking if it could be one layer. The ladies said they didn’t recommend it because jersey can show underwear lines (they really don’t want you to not look good), but suggested some other skirt styles I could pair with that top. Then I got the idea to make the underlayer a different color and the top layer a little longer, and not only were they totally on board with that, they consulted with me on which colors would go best together. Anyway, long story short, because I told Lesley I wouldn't write about this site without a chubby model:
Ureshii’s clothes are all stretchy, mostly a nice heavy bamboo jersey, so you don’t really NEED them to be custom-sized. What “custom” means in this case, though, is that they can make basically any size (they’ve never charged me extra for plus, though they might at larger sizes) and they can tweak the design in more or less any way you can think of. They encourage it -- a lot of their dresses are designed to be mix-and-match, so you can put any top with any skirt.
A couple years ago I was into this dress, but I wasn’t crazy about the two-layer skirt. So I sent an Etsy conversation asking if it could be one layer. The ladies said they didn’t recommend it because jersey can show underwear lines (they really don’t want you to not look good), but suggested some other skirt styles I could pair with that top. Then I got the idea to make the underlayer a different color and the top layer a little longer, and not only were they totally on board with that, they consulted with me on which colors would go best together. Anyway, long story short, because I told Lesley I wouldn't write about this site without a chubby model:
Basically, if you look at any of their clothes and say “Wow, I really love that, but,” chances are the “but” can be changed for you -- and because the whole thing is run by real humans (and extremely nice ones at that), you can also get feedback on what will work.
DOWN SIDE: Expensive! Their dresses cost more now than when I bought this one, and it was spendy even then. If your budget just can't allow for investment pieces, it might still be worth waiting around for a sample sale (mostly size small, but I’ve picked up a dress that got returned or never paid for or something), but then you don’t get the personal touch. But if you can afford it... well, I’m not going to tell you how to spend your clothes money, but you could do worse than a dress made exactly to your specifications.
DOWN SIDE: Expensive! Their dresses cost more now than when I bought this one, and it was spendy even then. If your budget just can't allow for investment pieces, it might still be worth waiting around for a sample sale (mostly size small, but I’ve picked up a dress that got returned or never paid for or something), but then you don’t get the personal touch. But if you can afford it... well, I’m not going to tell you how to spend your clothes money, but you could do worse than a dress made exactly to your specifications.
