Fit 2 Stitch

Peggy Sagers: Janet Jackson has said, "Every body type is different, that's what makes you unique.

What makes you special is you, and you are different from the next person," end quote.

I think it is really true that there is no weight limit on beauty yet over and over I meet women who want to just cover.

Our guest today dresses women all over the country and will teach us how to use the clothing to make the best of our figure type.

This information is critical to help us love what we sew.

All today, on "Fit 2 Stitch."

male announcer: "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors.

announcer: Plano Sewing Center.

announcer: Elliott Berman Textiles.

announcer: Bennos Buttons.

announcer: Imitation of Life.

announcer: And Clutch Nails.

Peggy: I'm really looking forward to this episode.

It doesn't matter how many times I deal with dressing, every time I talk to someone who just does it for a living, I learn something more.

Today, I have on Roxanne Carne and I'm so excited to have her.

She's so good at what she does.

She does women's wardrobe specialist.

And you go through their wardrobe and you just tell them, because I think over the years as they gain weight, and we do it such a little bit at a time, that we no longer kind of are on course anymore.

It becomes too emotional for us.

Roxanne Carne: Absolutely, Peggy, and thank you so much for having me on your show.

Peggy: Oh, I love to have you, thank you.

Roxanne: But you hit the nail on the head.

As women, we typically are in a world where we're nurturing others all the time and, over the years, we kind of prioritize ourselves a little bit lower.

Peggy: 'Til we're all the way at the bottom.

Roxanne: Right, and before you know it, years and years have gone by and one of the ways in which we are seeing that kind of come to life is through what we wear.

Peggy: Sure, that makes a lot of sense.

Roxanne: Yeah, and you know, you often or sometimes get in a space where you know you want to improve your image, but you don't know how and then you settle.

Peggy: You don't know where to start 'cause it's been so long.

Roxanne: Right, it's been so long.

Peggy: That's where you come in.

Roxanne: Absolutely.

Peggy: So you're gonna shortcut it all for us.

Roxanne: Absolutely.

Peggy: You're gonna help us.

That's the goal.

The goal is to help.

Roxanne: Yeah, to help to understand because when you know better, you do better, and that applies to every aspect of your life, but certainly can apply to how you dress yourself.

Peggy: And I think as we've talked and gone over these issues, they're not difficult issues.

I think it's just for some reason that weight gain haunts us over and over again.

So we're gonna take away the weight gain.

Over and over we're gonna say that.

Roxanne: We're gonna strip all that down.

Peggy: Okay, all right.

Where do we start?

Roxanne: Okay, so, really, the concept of dressing for yourself is going to be based off of your body shape as opposed to your size.

So I wanna strike that myth out, because a lot of women that I work with initially, they come to me thinking, "Oh, I must be a certain size to be able to be stylish, or to look great," but that's absolutely not true.

When you learn how to dress for your body type, doesn't matter if you're a size 2 or a size 22, if you have the same body type as a size 2 or 22, the concepts are going to be the exact same.

But what's important is that, and what we realize over the years is that this isn't something that we are taught and this is something that is just not, you know, something that's inherent to people.

Peggy: It's not, I would agree with that.

Roxanne: You know, but the beauty about it is that it's not rocket science.

When you can understand the concept, you can apply it to yourself and it really does reframe how you just attack your wardrobe every day.

Peggy: So do you think it helps sometimes to think back when you were 12 or 14 or 16 when we, most of us, were smaller sizes and we had more freedom, a lot of times with what we wore or what-- we didn't have the inhibitions.

It seems like we gain more inhibitions as we get older and put on that weight gain.

Roxanne: We do, and I think a large part of that, Peggy, is just media.

We have so much information coming to us visually, right, especially through social media, so you're automatically always comparing yourself against someone else.

Peggy: Yeah, it happens pretty quickly.

Roxanne: Right, and you just kind of again in that process lose a sense of yourself, but I think it's important to realize that you are beautiful no matter what size you are, no matter what height, but once you understand the concepts of how to dress for your body type, all of that melts away and you'll look fabulous.

I always like to say: You'll look fabulous whether you're going to the ball game or to the ballroom.

Peggy: 'Cause you'll feel good.

Roxanne: You feel good.

And that's what it's all about.

When you look good, you feel good, and one thing I'd like to share is that when you're in that great space, when you are looking good, you're not distracted by the would have, could have, should have, in terms of, "Oh, I wish I didn't wear that today," right?

Peggy: Wow, that's interesting.

Roxanne: Yeah, you're not getting distracted with those thoughts, you know, on--throughout the course of your day, but what it does allow you is to be the best version of yourself to the people that you care about the most: your friends, your family, your community.

Peggy: And everybody you interact with that day.

Roxanne: Right, 'cause you don't have that little thing on your shoulder nagging you, saying, "You shouldn't have worn that."

Peggy: Shoulda, coulda, would have, yeah.

Roxanne: Right.

Peggy: That's really cool.

So, body type, it gets down to body type.

So what are those?

I mean, are they sincerely that different?

Roxanne: They are and the, I would say for the most part, women fall into one of five body types.

You're either going to be bigger on the top which means that you have more bust than you do waist and hips, bigger in the middle where your midsection-- Peggy: And nobody likes their body type.

The minute you started to say that, you know, because those women who have no rear end, the first body type you just said, I thought to myself-- Roxanne: They wish they had-- they were endowed somewhere else.

Peggy: And the women who have the rear ends don't want it.

It seems like no matter what you are, you want-- Roxanne: The grass is always greener, right?

Peggy: Boy, no kidding.

Okay, sorry.

So we have the first one that is busty.

Roxanne: Yes, busty, that's bigger on the top and then bigger in the middle where your midsection is bigger than your bust or your hips or I should say, and your hips.

Bigger on the bottom.

So this is what people commonly refer to as being pear-shaped, right?

You have proportional which is more of a hourglass figure, and then no curves which doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have a bust and/or hips, but basically your proportions are pretty much the same through from your bust, waist, and hips.

Peggy: Oh, the straight bodies.

Roxanne: Straight body.

They have quite--and they're a lot of athletic ladies tend to be straight bodies as well.

Or also, fashion models, they tend to really have not a lot of curves and almost the same proportion.

Peggy: So there's really not a best.

There's just differences between them all.

Roxanne: There's no best, but I will say when you are dressing for yourself and this is the exciting part, this is the key right here to style.

What you want to do, Peggy, is ultimately aim to provide visual proportion between the top half of your body and the bottom half of your body.

Peggy: Okay, that's a big statement so let's just take that in.

So, let's say if you're straight, there's no difference, and so you're visually trying to make it look like there is a difference.

Roxanne: Right, exactly.

Peggy: So, then can we say that a slight curve is the more preferred?

Is that what I'm going for?

Roxanne: Well, the proportional body type is what, if you don't have a naturally proportional body type, that's the body type that we want to try to give and the illusion of.

Peggy: Because it's more feminine.

Roxanne: It's feminine but all it is, is just balance.

Visually, your bust looks the same as your hips, that's it.

And we're creating a way-- Peggy: So it's more a perception of people looking at us that it looks balanced to their brain, not so much that it's better or worse.

Roxanne: No, and there's not one body type that is better than the other, but we just wanna create balance.

That's all that we wanna do.

Peggy: Balance and harmony.

I like that.

All right, and you can do it, any body type can do it.

Roxanne: Any body type can do it.

Peggy: Okay, Roxanne.

Roxanne: Yeah, and this is the fun part of dressing and dealing with clothes and fabrics.

Peggy: How did you get into this?

Roxanne: Well, I--so I was born and raised in New York City and I-- Peggy: This is the capital of fashion.

Roxanne: The capital of fashion, and I just was always in awe of the people that I saw on the street from different cultures representing their own and expressing themselves through their wardrobe, but what I paid particular attention to, Peggy, were what women were wearing and how when, you know, they've got an amazing outfit on, and it drapes on their body beautifully, the confidence that came with that.

Now, I was-- Peggy: And you would notice that.

Roxanne: Well, I did, but you know, I don't think I was able to put it or articulate exactly what that was until years later, but I was always inspired by it.

And it made me really realize that, gosh, fashion is an art form and really being able to see how designers, how they design for women's bodies and having that inspiration, that's something that was always a part of me.

So, interestingly enough, my first career was actually in corporate HR.

I was in the business world for about 15 years but through the work that I did there, having just exposure to a lot of fantastic women and also helping people through change in their lives, I really saw how image can impact you, professionally and personally, and when I decided to strike out on my own, I wanted to marry the two, in terms of supporting women in some way but also my love for fashion always came back so I--that's how I became a personal stylist.

Peggy: I just think that's so exciting.

So when you talk about all these years that women sometimes we give and we give and we get here at the bottom, the best way to maybe start our way up is clothing.

Is just good clothing, or just dressing ourselves.

Roxanne: And putting, you know, approaching it with intent, right?

Just as how we put makeup on.

Peggy: Oh, that's a good clarification, "with intent."

Roxanne: With intent, right?

Because you wanna aim to do it right.

Just as, you know, we put time to get our hair done, our nails done, you know, putting makeup on, invest in your clothing as well because that's representing who, really, who you are.

Peggy: Makes sense.

Roxanne: So-- Peggy: Let's see the body types.

Roxanne: Yeah, so I want-- I would love to bring out my assistant, Rosa, who, she--her body type-- my lovely assistant Rosa.

So her body type is what you would classify as being bigger on the bottom.

Meaning that the circumference of her hips and her bum are larger than her bust.

Peggy: And even though she doesn't look like it, but you have to use a measure.

Roxanne: You have to measure her, absolutely.

Peggy: You can't really do how you feel.

Roxanne: Yes, and I can't tell you how many women I work with who have the preconception that they're one particular body type but then I do the measurements and the numbers don't lie.

And then when we're putting them in the right clothes because of the body type, they're now seeing how their silhouette should look.

Peggy: So you're dealing with women all over the country?

Roxanne: Yeah.

Peggy: All kinds of women.

Roxanne: All kinds, they just-- Peggy: Do they listen to you?

Roxanne: They do because the beauty about it, Peggy, is that it's--the change is immediate.

Once you start putting on the right type of clothing, they see, I mean, it's not even potential anymore.

It's how they actually look.

And they look beautiful and they feel beautiful.

Yeah, so with Rosa, with her body type being bigger on the bottom, ultimately what we want to do is bring attention to the top half of her body and this is where the fun comes in with choosing the different types of garments.

So, this particular-- this is beautiful satin top that she has on.

We have a nice puffy sleeve.

Peggy: It's just so pretty.

Roxanne: Right, so pretty.

Peggy: You know, it's funny, I never really recognized what puffy sleeves did.

They balance.

Roxanne: They balance because here, visually, her shoulder ends right in here, but with the puffy sleeve, it looks a little bit more pronounced and falls in line with her hip line, right?

But then we also are drawing attention to the top half of the body just through specific elements, so here, we've got a plunging neckline and I will say, because she's not--doesn't have a massive bust, she can get away with it.

If you have a larger bust, a plunging neckline probably would be just a little bit too much, but she can get away with it.

But, you know, for instance, when you look at her, Peggy, what's the first thing that you look at?

You're looking at her top.

Peggy: I am.

Roxanne: You're not looking at her bottom.

Peggy: And her lipstick looks so pretty with her top.

I can't get away from that.

Roxanne: Yeah, beautiful-- But I'll share with you as well in terms of creating that balance and proportion what we also want to do is create or accent her natural waist.

So this is a beautiful top because, visually, she's got this twist tie right in the middle, so you are creating that hourglass silhouette.

So you're not looking at her and thinking, "Oh, she's not 'busty,'" right?

You're looking at her and thinking, "We've got some even proportion."

Peggy: We are.

She looks beautiful.

And that's what I, when I saw her, I said, "She looks beautiful."

I didn't even go into the body type, actually, which is really interesting.

Roxanne: Right, because you're thinking, "Wow, she nailed it."

Peggy: She did.

Roxanne: Because we're leveraging clothes in the right way.

One other thing I do wanna point out about dressing for your body type if you are bigger on the bottom like Rosa is, is you want to keep the bottom half streamlined.

You wanna wear darker colors so, in a sense, you are kind of detracting from that, because we want attention up here for her, right?

So, darker colors on the bottom, as well as very clean lines are going to help us achieve that.

And I'll just show you, if you wanna turn around for me, Rosa, the back.

So, even from the back, Peggy: Oh, how adorable.

Roxanne: Look how stunning, right?

I'll turn her around a little bit more, so we've got a beautiful cut-out here so, even from the back, if you were to see her from the back for the first time, you're drawn to her top half.

You're not paying attention to what's kind of going on in her hip and her bum area.

So yeah, so this is Rosa's look.

Very beautiful and when you look at her, ultimately, she looks very balanced.

Peggy: She does, yeah, and very pretty.

Very well done.

Roxanne: Thank you, Rosa.

Peggy: And I would never think her hips were larger than her bust.

Roxanne: Right.

Peggy: Only the tape measure will know for sure.

I mean, really, truly.

Roxanne: Only a tape measure.

That's why we, you know, when we're styling our clothing, we're doing it in a way where we're leveraging color, we're leveraging pattern, and we're strategically placing it on our body for where we want the attention to go.

Peggy: That one's good.

And I've never liked puff sleeves but I get that puff sleeves serve a purpose-- Roxanne: Yeah, for some body types, absolutely.

Peggy: They have a tendency to come in as a style when everybody thinks they should wear puff sleeves but it's not the case.

It's specific for-- Roxanne: If you're bigger on the bottom, a puff sleeve is gonna be a great piece for you.

Peggy: This is great, thank you, Roxanne.

This is so good.

This is what I needed.

Roxanne: This is what we all need, right?

But that wasn't a hard concept, and that's what-- Peggy: No, it's not.

It's all easy.

I think I just wouldn't have put it all together.

Roxanne: Exactly.

So, let's bring out Margaret who is a different body type, our lovely beautiful Margaret.

And so, Margaret's body type is bigger on the top so kind of the reverse of Rosa's, right?

And bigger on the top, again, is where you have more bust than you do waist and hips, okay?

Peggy: Again, by tape measure.

Roxanne: By tape measure, right?

So, what we wanna do is the opposite.

When we're bigger on the top, we wanna bring attention to the bottom half of our body.

Our legs are actually our assets.

We wanna show leg whenever possible.

Peggy: It's amazing what good legs she's got.

Roxanne: I know, because--and you know why?

Because she's wearing a great skirt, right?

Peggy: Wow, it is, totally cute.

Roxanne: But when we look at Margaret's outfit, when you look at her for the first time, again, your eyes are drawn to the pattern, the print.

But also what we've done here is that we've put Margaret in an A-line skirt so this is important because what we're doing, again, we're creating that hour-glass look.

When you wear an A-line skirt, nobody really knows how big or small your hips are, underneath, but what they see-- It's a secret, right?

It's an illusion.

But what they see, is proportion.

She looks even.

So I'm gonna show something.

If I were to convert her skirt into, like, a pencil skirt, fitted, she looks top-heavy, does she not?

Peggy: She does.

She looks like she's gonna fall over.

Roxanne: She's gonna topple over, right?

Peggy: I hate to say that.

Roxanne: We don't want you to topple over, Margaret.

Peggy: I can't believe what a difference that makes.

Roxanne: It makes a huge difference so this is why we need to put her in something a little bit voluminous on the bottom half, because we're concealing that smaller bottom half for her, but we're making her--we're giving her shape.

And I think-- Peggy: That's so interesting to me, is because I'm not that body type.

I've always wanted that body type.

Roxanne: Where you would have some more-- Peggy: Yeah, where you have no rear end, you know?

And you could--but I can see there's challenges with every kind.

It's not--there's no better.

Roxanne: There is, and then also too, you know, you also have to think about your preferences as well.

If you're thinking about your body in terms of the garment types, that is really what's going to be helpful, and then, of course, you know, playing with pattern.

Eyes again, go straight to-- go straight to her beautiful skirt here.

Peggy: Would you put a belt on her at all, ever?

Roxanne: So we could--yeah, we could add--if we wanted to really, really define her waist, we would for this particular outfit we would do a nice wide belt because what that'll do-- Peggy: Really?

You don't typically think that.

You think of a little skinny belt, 'cause women, a lot of times, don't like that wide belt.

Roxanne: You can do--you can do a skinny belt, depending on--so a skinny belt would work best for a dress like mine where it's a sheath dress.

It's extremely fitted.

But with her top here, has a little volume, got a little bit of volume here.

If we put a skinny belt here, we probably wouldn't be able to see it.

Peggy: You'd lose it.

I see.

Roxanne: So, because of the ensemble here, I would definitely go with a wide belt, but what the belt will do is draw you--draw attention to the smallest part of her waist.

So what I wanna point out, too, with Margaret is, she's got a lovely figure.

What I wanted to do was, when we were getting dressed, her--she wanted to put her--the elastic waist down here, right?

She was like--I would say, "Where do you normally-- if you put this on, on your own, where would you put this?"

And she had the elastic waist down here, and I was like, "Margaret, no.

We wanna bring it up, closer to your natural waist, that smallest part of your torso," because then, this is just hugging onto her mid section, right?

And that was a little bit of, like, a moment of clarity, right?

Margaret: It was.

Roxanne: Yeah, we just had to bring it up a little bit and now we can really see that A. Peggy: It looks great.

She looks beautiful.

Roxanne: Yeah, absolutely beautiful.

Thank you, Margaret.

Peggy: And that is so pretty.

It's amazing when you pulled that skirt in too.

Roxanne: You can see the difference.

Peggy: You can really see the top-heavy-- Roxanne: Immediately, right?

Peggy: It's so--it's just amazing how the clothes, though, so the goal is balance.

It's all about balance.

Roxanne: Always balance.

You always wanna strike the balance.

And it doesn't matter what you wear.

Peggy: So I get that when you say that.

It really can't be about the body.

If you're balancing anything, it's just that you're balancing it on you.

So we can't take it personal, we can't make it about us.

You're just playing a balancing game as to how to do it.

Let's do some more.

This is fun stuff.

Roxanne: Yeah, absolutely.

So, this, I think this is a great dress because it is slightly tapered inward so we are seeing a little bit of the waist here.

But what I wanted to point out was that if you really wanted to define the waist even more, employing the use of a belt.

Peggy: So you're not afraid of belts.

Roxanne: Definitely not.

Peggy: But don't you think a lot of women are afraid of belts?

Roxanne: Yes, most women that I work with, the only belts they own are for functional purposes, just to put in their jeans or trousers and that's it.

They never ever think about putting the belt in their natural waist.

Peggy: But I think it's simply because we just don't know how.

Like, when you said to wear a wider belt on that, that just--it makes sense now that you've said it, because that little belt would just get lost.

I mean, that would be silly looking.

That wider belt really makes a difference.

But it doesn't have to be a big contrast.

It can just be kind of a tone on tone, but it just refines that--I know I'm repeating what you said, but I'm just making sure I understand it.

Roxanne: But it's important, yes.

And you're--but you're spot on.

You're spot on.

And remember, this is all about visuals, the illusion.

So what I wanted to point out with this dress here, is if we wanted to define the waist even more, then we could put a belt on.

Peggy: See, she looks so much thinner.

I mean, she--Miss Manikin here looks so much thinner.

Roxanne: So do you see how that, it's sagging just a little bit.

But if we just draw in that waist, do you see we--the proportion comes to light now.

Peggy: Absolutely, absolutely.

Roxanne: We're just creating that waist and it's so, so simple.

Peggy: Talk to me about this 'cause I love print pants.

But print pants are not for-- Roxanne: So, if you are bigger on the bottom, this is not what you want to do, because again, we, like Rosa, when we're bigger on the bottom, we want to bring attention to the top.

But this, a piece like this, it would be great for Margaret, for instance, where she is bigger on the top and we wanna bring attention here.

Peggy: Then, what about this one?

I love this.

Roxanne: I love it too.

And this is an empire waist dress, and this particular style is perfect for those of us that are a little bit bigger in the middle or our midsection is bigger than our bust and hips.

Peggy: Ah, so it--'cause it really pulls in.

So you're not emphasizing the waist in this particular case.

Roxanne: In this particular-- for this particular garment, we're not.

But what it does, is that because we've got that high--that high waist right under the bustline, then you see how the fabric just cascades, it gently conceals any trouble areas in the middle.

Peggy: So the balance is obtained by making this part--making this part, actually, smaller in proportion to this.

Roxanne: Yes, really also lengthening, visually lengthening the torso, 'cause we don't know where the torso ends and begins.

Peggy: Because it's wider.

Roxanne: It's a little bit wider, exactly.

Peggy: Okay, Roxanne.

This is too good.

That all makes perfect sense.

I wanna ask you one question about this.

This is a textured fabric.

How does texture come into play?

Roxanne: So, texture comes into play when you're thinking about volume.

So, for example, if you were bigger on the bottom, we do not want to have thick fabrics, thick tweeds, heavy wools.

We want to again keep it streamlined and light as possible, so you really do need to consider the weight of a fabric and where it's gonna go on your body.

Peggy: Roxanne, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Roxanne: Thank you, Peggy.

It's my great pleasure.

Peggy: Thank you.

You know, I think these principles are so important.

They're so important because we're starting from the beginning.

We're our designer.

We're choosing the fabrics, we're choosing where they go.

To not put the thicker fabrics on the bottom.

It makes so much sense.

Just sometimes, I think we need to hear it and, as we change over the years and our bodies change and our likes change, sometimes we pick out things we like rather than them liking us, I think is often what I say.

And I just think it makes a lot of sense when we hear it.

We just need to hear it, and remember it.

The word is balance.

So balance between body, balance between fabrics, balance.

And it all keep us looking our very best.

Over the years of sewing education, many interesting words of advice have been collected regarding garment interfacings.

But what's happening today in the world of interfacing for garment construction?

Join us next time on "Fit 2 Stitch."

announcer: "Fit 2 Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors.

announcer: Plano Sewing Center.

announcer: Elliott Berman Textiles.

announcer: Bennos Buttons.

announcer: Imitation of Life.

announcer: And Clutch Nails.

announcer: To order a four-DVD set of "Fit 2 Stitch," series 11, please visit our website at fit2stitch.com.