Last week I decided it was time to clean out the linen press. (Old fashioned term for a cupboard you keep sheets & towels in.) I had ours made extra big so I could store the craft materials overflow and those things you never plan storage for, like boxes of ornaments. After all, you can never have too much storage.

By the time I was done, I had filled two big garbage bags and half the dining table covered in things for the op shop. Half of the latter was clothes for alteration/refashion. While I can sew, it’s not something I love and I’d rather be spending craft time doing something that excites me. Yet that wasn’t the main reason I gave up on these projects. When I ask myself why these clothes ended up in the pile it was because:

1) I didn’t want to let go of old favourites just because they didn’t fit any more
2) I’d bought something that turned out to be a dud

Both reasons pointed to the real problem: my body shape has changed in the last few years, and I haven’t a clue how to dress it.

I used to be a classic pear. Dressing a pear isn’t too hard. Balancing proportions is all about creating illusions. People notice the top half of a person more than a bottom half, so half of the work is done already. You just need to pick slimming skirts and pants in dark colours, then you’re free to have fun with tops.

But I’m not a pear any more. I’ve got bigger over all, but mostly around the bust. Going from a 10 to a 12 in my 30s and a B cup to a C didn’t make a huge difference in the clothing I wore. I filled out my clothes a bit more, but didn’t have to change many shopping habits. It was the shift from size 12 to 14 and C cup to D in my 40s that made the biggest difference. It meant some styles no longer suited me and it’s taken a while (and some awful photos) for me to spot which ones.

I’ve also realised that a lot of clothing available in size 14 isn’t very well designed for the body shape it is supposed to fit on. Last year I ordered this cute vintage style dress from ModCloth. It looks lovely on the site – the waistband clearly sits at the dress model’s waist and the specifications put the length a little above the knee. The design should have scaled up to a size 14 perfectly well, but whoever did the sizing must have assumed it was for a short size 10 who’d put on weight, and only enlarged it sideways. The waistband is up under my boobs and the hem is too high. Maybe I would have noticed this if I’d tried it on at a shop instead of online, but to tell the truth, I didn’t twig how bad it looked until I saw photos of me at the wedding I wore it to.

Clearly I need to reeducate myself. So I dragged out my old Trinny & Suzanna books. Using their guidelines, I worked out that I’ve turned into a Vase. Unfortunately, the advice for each body shape runs to only a few pages, so after taking some notes I went looking on the internet for more advice. I found a great little blog called youlookfab.com.

There are only five body types dealt with, but they recommend you poach some advice from other types as regards specific physical features. I most closely fit the ‘Hot Hourglass’ shape.

Between the T&S book and this site I spotted some mistakes I’d been making. Like:

“Empire cuts are hard to wear with a fuller bust because they aren’t cut long enough from shoulder to under bust point.”

Now I understand why they never live up to their promise. Well, other than the fact that they make me look pregnant.

“…voluminous silhouettes look wide from the side even when they are cut well.”

Aha! That’s why the silver bat wing top I bought looks terrible. Drapey material will hang off protruding bits, making those bits more obvious and everything below it appear the same width. Basically, it makes my entire body torso as wide as my boobs.

Most of the tips simply articulated what I’d already begun to notice. Like how the skirts I own that are shorter than just above the knee are no longer flattering. How do bigger frontal features on a woman make a skirt look different? Balance and proportion, dahling. Lots of fabric up top and less on the bottom makes a gal look top-heavy.

Which is why high necklines aren’t working for me as well, because a bigger bust means there’s acres of fabric between the chin and waist. Which is another problem with that ModCloth dress.

After this, I didn’t feel so bad about culling old faves from my wardrobe. They don’t work for me not just because I’ve put on a little weight, but because I have a new, curvier body shape. And perhaps I’ll have a bit more confidence about dressing it now.

Anybody wanna buy that ModCloth horseshoe dress?