Last January, a comprehensive and passionate discussion around size inclusion by pattern designers raged across the sewing Internet. That month we posted a “good news in sewing” piece that looked at some of the inclusion work that had already happened or was announced by designers.
We thought it was time to update you on some developments since last January, focusing on indie designers. Sadly, the Big Four pattern companies (McCall, Butterick, Vogue, and Simplicity) have not shown much progress in making the majority of their patterns size-inclusive, so we won’t look at their progress here.
Grainline Studio followed through with their promise to create a new block and released two new patterns up to size 28 or 30: the Thayer chore jacket and the Reed skirt. Look how cute their model is rocking that skirt!
Link.
Closet Case Patterns released the Sienna Maker jacket in a new size range, though the extended sizes (14-30) are only available for pdf download.
Cashmerette Patterns–a perennial curvy sewing favourite!–has started expanding their sizes up to a 32 in some products, including the Turner dress and the Montrose top.
Helen’s Closet patterns just released two previous designs with new sizes: the Elliot sweater/tee now goes up to a 30, and the Avery leggings to a 32.
Link.
New to the scene is Muna and Broad, who have released three patterns so far: the Glebe pants, the Torrens box top, and a great pair of period or regular panties. The patterns have been so popular they’ve actually sized down for the “small fat” community. They’ve also offered to grade up their patterns for anyone beyond their size range for free. Big things are coming from this new team!
It’s not perfect, but it is progress. Probably more progress than we have seen with the Big Four, who provide the vast majority of patterns purchased by home sewists.
There’s a lot of anger from fat sewists (myself included) about size inclusivity in pattern making. We need thin sewists to show up and help us fight the battle. To help you find the words, I’m including this excellent piece by @marielle.elizabeth on Instagram. As she said in the story that she put out shortly after this post, thin privilege doesn’t mean thin people are bad. It just means they don’t have to worry about finding a chair at a restaurant that fits them, or having a doctor assume their health problems are all related to weight, and that they’ll be able to buy season and activity-appropriate clothing when they want it for a reasonable price and in or near where they live. Fat people don’t have that privilege.
If you’re mad, that’s great. Take action. But don’t just be mad at the small indie designers. Be mad at McCalls, Simplicity, Vogue and Burda. Be mad at the convenience-store-industrial-complex. Be mad at the fact that fast food is cheaper than cooking. Be mad that so many people live in food deserts where buying an apple is hard, and forget about the fancy ingredients in your healthy food. Be mad, and take action. But above all, support your fat friends.
What about you all? What are some of your favourite wins this year in body inclusivity? Who are you following now that you didn’t a year ago? What actions are you taking? Let us know and we’ll do a follow up post with responses highlighted from here and Instagram!
Kerry is a lifelong fat woman who is learning to tame her inner monologue so that she doesn’t assign value to food, her appearance, or that belly roll that doesn’t quite fit into pattern sizes.
This is beautiful Kerry. The part about thin privilege is gold. Gold. I’d like to point out my friend Pipe Dream Patterns expanded her range on, I think, 2 patterns this year? (checked, one is out, one is in process of testing) She’s a one-person show with a day job, and I’m so proud of her work. https://www.pipedreampatterns.co.uk/ I’m also proud of our community getting MORE vocal, more aware, and supporting each other. Those of you that show up and see this as a positive call to help and a call to action: you are awesome. Keep at it.
Thanks for this follow up post. Accountability is necessary. Companies that have not been size inclusive need to be accountable to those who have been marginalized. It’s how you build trust with people who have been excluded. You can’t just say you are changing – you have to change and show the actions you’ve taken. I appreciate the companies above making changes, even though they are long overdue. I appreciate the plus size community for being angry and vocal about the problem. And I second @marielle.elizabeth ‘s post. We need thing people to show up for this as allies, just like white people need to show up for anti-racist work and so on. To see this change around size inclusivity is exciting. I am eagerly awaiting the re-release of many, many patterns I own that I have sized out of and have high anticipation for new-comers to the scene like Muna & Broad.
Several other “big” indies have also started expanding their size ranges–Megan Nielsen’s Curve patterns started coming out around a year ago, and True Bias recently re-released the Lodo dress and Roscoe blouse with expanded sizing.
As excited as I am for these expanded size ranges, though, I’ll echo those who say that they’re most excited about Muna and Broad, as that pants draft for the Glebe pants is just *chef’s kiss*.
I can’t wait for the boiler suit they’ve been teasing!!
Tessuti just released another non size inclusive pattern. When challenged on Instagram, they took down their Instagram page and are not posting any non-supportive comments on their blog. Completely side stepping the inclusivity discussion.
This was pretty appalling. Shutting down the conversation is not a good look. Not every designer is going to have every size; that’s fine. Could have been handled way better.
One of the movements from the last year this post didn’t mention was the instagram move for more sewists to declare their measurements in their posts. As a plus-sized sewists I love that we are getting more comfortable exchanging the measurements behind the body. Size numbers vary so much that they are meaningless. And when you are approaching a pattern company as a plus sized sewist – it is easier if the measurements are what you focus on and not the size numbers. is a ‘size 20’ a 48″ hip or a 54″ hip? Is a ‘size 30’ above or below a 60″ hip? This really impacts plus size sewists, and I think we are starting to see a bit more openness on instagram about measurements. (There’s definitely a hashtag for this, but I don’t remember it).
I have definitely enjoyed in the last 12 months seeing so many indie brands get on board the size expansions. Sadly, I’ve also seen straight size sewists more publicly defend not including extended sizes. but you watch closely when this happens, you’ll often notice trolls within the online sewing community – accounts with little to no sewing content suddenly offended that a sewing brand might be including a size 22 but not a size 4. I point it out simply to let others know not to get too upset by these sentiments, not everything you read is real, and some people go around the internet trying to be argumentative and petty. They appear in our community too (at least we are influential enough to get trolls I guess).
One of my favourite inclusive brands is Elbe Textiles. Who develops on a large size range and develops a lot of gender neutral options. Which means providing good staple patterns that are accessible to many people. Her Fremantle pants go as high as 61″ hip and the Cornell Shirt is drafted up to a 56″ chest/55″hip but has finished garment measurements up to 70″ so people in the 55-63″ could still make it up without getting something overly fitted. For menswear dressers a lot of other brands cap at around the 45-50″ chest.
I support the need to extend the size range, but as someone who is tiny with a D bust (32E/F bra size), I am also dressmaking to fit my non-standard shape and I am finding it incredibly difficult to find patterns that go down small enough, and for me the Big Four are no help either. I’ve just come back from a SewOver50 meet and a significant number of us were struggling to find patterns to fit our petite frames. I fit into the teen ranges, but there are very few makers of teen patterns. (RTW I fit into preteen boy patterns, but as a 60 year old woman I really don’t want to wear most preteen boy designs).
Big call out to makers with good inclusive ranges: Elbe and the Freemantle pants has a fantastic range, I’m making them in the smallest size – to fit my 35″ hip with a graded waist – for So50Visible in March; they also promote SewOver50.
Call outs too for:
* Jalie with bust to 51″ and hip to 56″, but also sizes down to teen and children’s sizes,
* Sinclair patterns who design for tall, regular and petite for many of their patterns and size to 59.8″ bust and 63″ hip;
* Megan Nielsen’s mini range that extends to age 12 and height 152cm which extends her range;
* Love Notions – with sizes to 57.5″ bust and 59.5″ hip and matching children’s patterns to age 16;
* Ottobre magazine patterns with a good teen range in Ottobre kids and adult patterns up to a continental size 52 (US 26) which I think is 48″ bust and 49.5″ hip for women, bigger for men.
I would include Burda magazine if they included teen and petite patterns more often than one petite per magazine and teen patterns once in a blue moon (last teen patterns were 18 months ago). Their sizes can go to a EU size 60, US size 34 depending on style.
I feel like for the amount of promises that went into the big sizing discussion last year, very little has actually been done. It’s sad when you buy a pattern in good faith after the designer has said it will be reissued to buyers with updated sizing in a few months and almost a year later it hasn’t been done. It’s great to see the progress that has been made, but that loses a lot of respect from me.
It is super frustrating for designers to say extended sizing is coming at a certain time and then have it delayed repeatedly and significantly. I wish there was more transparency and accountability in communicating if there are delays and why. It does fray trust when you’re waiting and wondering. I understand that logistics or complications might come up for designers and sometimes it takes longer than they anticipated. Just a “We said this month, but X, Y, and Z are going on and now we think this date instead. Sorry we for the disappointment; we want to get it right for you” would go a long way. Different companies have done better jobs of this than others. I’ve taken to posting on their website and blog asking for more details: “When is this happening?” And it is especially frustrating when you have invested in their product and are waiting to be able to use it. It’s about managing expectations and being accountable about doing what you said you were going to do.
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