Clothes Solutions

I think if your shirts get too big, you can pair them with leggings and a belt if needed. The proportion of "loose on top" and "tight on the bottom" balances nicely. Especially if the shirt is longer covering your butt, worn with leggings and flats or a longer shirt with leggings and ankle boots is a nice look. If you feel that you would like more shape with that look, you could use a tie belt or a long scarf and wrap it around your waist.

Get a good belt to sinch at the waist for jeans, one with a lot of holes in it so that you can adjust the size of the belt with your changes in size. I like the look of baggy jeans that fit casual with a nice shirt.

Suit jackets are very versatile and you can pair them with many different items, and dress them up or down. You can definitely find a nice suit jacket for cheap that fits you at a second hand shop. Wear it with a skirt, pants or jeans.

I would get a few pieces that you can wear with everything at the size you are now. (1pants or 1skirt, 1jacket, 1sweater and 1shirt) in a neutral color (black, grey, baby blue or brown) so you can mix and match it with different items until you are at the size you want.

Have fun with it, try different styles and looks. Clothing can make you feel really good when you find the right pieces that look good on you.

I use schoola.com because the local thrift store is terrible. Also I am wearing a lot of dresses and skirts, certain cuts are good for 2-4 sizes. Very forgiving styles.

VintageFeline wrote: »

I've shrunk about three sizes so far. I didn't buy much at all until the smallest size and just shopped the sales. Because I wear vintage or good repro I'm lucky that it mostly retains its value so I sold my big clothes to pay for the new clothes and will do the same again when I hop down another couple of sizes (which will hopefully be goal).

Just curious, where do you buy your clothes? I love vintage dresses but have no idea where to buy them! I'm looking to splurge when I reach goal

If you can find nice secondhand clothing in your area, go for it. It also depends on what you are dressing for - work or casual? In my experience it's easier to buy secondhand for casual clothing. I am still about 10lbs from goal but could not wear any of my work pants anymore (literally falling off me at work), so I was forced to get some new pants. I have a long inseam and I could not find anything secondhand that fit me properly and looked appropriate for office wear. So, I picked up some pixie pants from Old Navy on sale this weekend. About $20 each and I bought a few pairs to get me through this last few months. Once I go into maintenance I intend to restock my wardrobe a bit with some of the higher end work clothing that I would normally purchase. But I can't justify it right now because I know in a few months I'll be in one size smaller than I am now. I'm also holding off on tailoring a few more valuable items I have and want to keep, as again I just can't justify the cost until I'm ready to go into maintenance.

Go to a thrift shop, or get your existing clothes altered.

If you need more professional clothes for work, I suggest getting dresses. Many styles of dresses seem to be much more forgiving than career pants, and I can wear them longer. I'm wearing my pants as long as I can with a belt, but the sagging butt, thighs, and hips don't look great and they obviously don't fit the way they should any more.

I am lucky that my hips are much bigger than my waist so even though all of my pants are way too big I can still wear them with a belt. I don't work so I don't have to worry about looking professional. I will likely buy some new clothes soon because my shorts are Way Way too big!

i actually found Ralph Lauren wool-blend dress pants at Goodwill, and they were like-new, and judging by the perfect pressed creases in the legs, freshly dry-cleaned. this is not an area with a lot of folks who have to dress-up for work, and yet Goodwill had many good options. It's a worth a look first if price is an issue.

@VintageFeline , thanks! I'm new to this and live in southern suburbia in the US, so don't exactly have brick and mortar stores in my town...and can't drag 4 little boys along anyway, so thanks for the online leads

Do you have an outlet mall nearby? It might be worthwhile to subscribe to e-mail lists for your favorite stores to get coupons and sale alerts. I just used a 40% off e-coupon on top of clearance prices to get 3 sweaters, 2 tops, 2 dresses and a pair of pants at Banana Republic Factory Store for $60.