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Fabric and structure

A knitted cardigan and a coat on a rail

Layering for Changing Seasons in Plus Sizes

Layering is usually described as a question of warmth, but the fit is what decides whether it works. Every layer you add puts fabric between your body and the next garment out, and that added circumference has to go somewhere. Two thin layers can behave entirely differently from one thick one, and a jacket that fits over a shirt will not necessarily fit over that same shirt plus a knit. The practical approach is to think in a fixed order, from the body outward, and to decide the thickness of each layer before the next one is chosen. Doing that turns a wardrobe of separate garments into a system, and makes it far easier to decide what to keep when the season turns. The width you add is not spread evenly A layer does not add the same amount of room all the way round. It adds locally, where the body and the layer's own construction put bulk, and those places are predictable. The armhole is the first place to run out of room. Once the upper arm and the shoulder are inside two layers, a close armhole becomes a tight one, and the sleeve starts to pull. The shoulder line is next: an extra layer under a jacket lifts the shoulder seam and pushes the sleeve head out of position, which is why a jacket can suddenly look short in the sleeve when a knit is worn beneath. The centre front is the third place. Buttons and zips close a fixed distance, and adding a layer under a closed front means that distance has to cover more. A jacket that closes comfortably over a shirt may not close at all over a heavy knit, and forcing it distorts the button stance. Knowing these three points tells you what to check before buying a layer, and it explains why sizing up is rarely the whole answer. Choosing the inner layer by thickness The layer nearest the body should be the thinnest and the smoothest, because everything else sits on it. A fine knit, a light thermal, a smooth cotton shirt or a silk or synthetic liner all do this well, since they add warmth and very little circumference. What to avoid in the base position is anything bulky or textured: a chunky rib knit, a fleece, a heavy flannel shirt. These add bulk exactly where it is hardest to accommodate, at the arm, and they add friction, which stops the outer layer sliding and settling. A smooth base layer also improves the drape of the next layer on top, because the outer fabric can move over it rather than gripping it. The middle layer has to open The middle layer is the one that does most of the work of adjusting to temperature, and it can only do that if it can be opened or removed without taking everything else off. That means a cardigan rather than a pullover, an open-front shirt rather than a closed tunic, a zip rather than a single pullover. A middle layer that cannot be opened has to be chosen for the warmest part of the day or the coldest, and it will be wrong for the other one. If a middle layer is a pullover, its value is limited to settings where you will not want to remove it. It should also be the layer with the least volume relative to its warmth. A thin wool knit gives more warmth per millimetre than a thick cotton one, which leaves more room for the outer layer. The outer layer carries the room The outermost layer is where the extra circumference has to be absorbed, so it should be the one with the most allowance. When you try it on, test it over the largest combination of layers you actually plan to wear, because testing it over a single thin shirt does not tell you what happens at the top of the range. The checks that matter on an outer layer:Fasten it completely over your usual layering combination, without pulling at the front. Raise both arms above your head and check that the whole garment does not ride up; that means the armhole and back have enough room. Reach forward and check the upper back for tightness. Check the sleeve length with the layer underneath in place, because the shoulder line will have lifted. Sit down and check the hem and the waist, since a longer coat can catch on the seat.Where the outer layer is a coat or jacket that has to close over everything, it is worth accepting a slightly looser fit than you would choose for a single-layer garment. A coat that fits well over a shirt and badly over a knit is a coat for one season. What to keep out, and what to put away Choosing between a few similar layers comes down to how many combinations each one unlocks. There is no need for a large number of them; it is better to have one that works over the common cases. A useful guide is how many of your existing base and middle layers a given outer layer will accept. One that works over three of them is worth more than one that works over a single combination. Where a garment fails, the failure is usually a specific one: too tight in the armhole, too short in the sleeve once a layer is beneath, or a front that will not close. Those are the reasons to let it go. A layer that is merely less than perfect in colour is doing its job. Putting things away between seasons Storage is where a surprising amount of damage happens, and the errors are simple ones. Wash everything before it goes away, even if it looks clean. Food, skin oils and perspiration attract insects, and a garment stored with them is the one that will be found with holes. Dry it completely, never with a trace of damp, particularly anything with wool or down. Do not use rigid wire hangers for knits, because the shoulders will be pushed out of shape over months. Fold heavy knits and stack them. Hang structured garments on shaped or padded hangers so the shoulder line keeps its form. Protection against insects means clean storage in a sealed container or a breathable cover, kept dark. Do not store a garment in a dry-cleaner's plastic, which can trap moisture and hold solvents. Before you decide, test the combination Put the layers on together, in the order you would wear them, and repeat the armhole, reach, shoulder and seam tests you would use for a single garment. A layering combination is a fit, and it can be judged the same way. Then walk a few steps and sit down. If the whole stack stays in place, moves with you and does not need constant adjustment, it works. If it does not, one of the layers is the wrong thickness for its position, and that is the layer to change.

A close view of an elastic waistband with its stitching

Elastic Waistbands, and Where They Fail

An elastic waistband is a spring held inside a tube of fabric. It stretches under load, then returns to its resting length, and the whole of its behaviour follows from how well that return works and how the fabric around it is built. When a waistband rolls, folds, digs in or sags, the cause is almost always one of three things: the elastic itself, the channel it sits in, or the way the two are joined. That is useful to know because these are the failures you can see before buying and, sometimes, fix afterwards. A waistband is also one of the few parts of a garment that a home sewer or a tailor can replace completely, which makes it worth understanding rather than accepting. What the elastic is doing Elastic works by having a short resting length and a long stretched length. In a waistband it is fitted shorter than the finished opening, so the fabric is gathered and the waistband holds itself up by squeezing gently. The force it applies comes from two sources: how far it is stretched, and how stiff the material is for its width. A narrow length of very stiff elastic can pull as hard as a wide length of soft elastic, which is why the width alone tells you less than you might expect. Two properties decide how long the band survives. The first is stretch, how far it will extend before it stops returning. The second is recovery, how completely it comes back. Recovery is the one that matters in a waistband, because a band that has lost its recovery has lost the only thing it was there to do. Heat, repeated over-stretching and the chlorine in a swimming pool all reduce recovery. So does time: elastane, the fibre sold under several trade names, ages even in a drawer. Woven, knitted and clear elastic The types behave differently enough that the difference shows in the fit. Woven elastic is the firmest and the most stable. It is dense and unyielding, holds a flat shape well, and is the usual choice for a waistband that needs to stay put. It is also the least soft against the body. Knitted or braided elastic is softer and more flexible, and it curls more easily along its length. It is comfortable in light garments but recovers less firmly, so it tends to be the one that gives up first. Clear elastic is a thin, transparent tape, often used to stabilise a seam rather than to hold a waist. It is strong for its thickness and has little bulk, but it is prone to losing recovery and to being damaged by heat from an iron. Corded elastic has lengthwise threads that stop it stretching in one direction, which suits a casing where you want stretch around the body but not along the band. A folded-over elastic waistband, where the elastic is stitched directly to the fabric and turned, behaves differently again: it has no separate channel, so the elastic is fixed and cannot be replaced without unpicking the whole waist. Why a waistband rolls, folds or digs Rolling is a geometry problem. A narrow band under high tension tends to rotate so that its edge turns towards the body, because the fabric above and below pulls in opposite directions. A wider band, or an elastic with woven threads across its width, resists that rotation. This is why very narrow elastic waistbands on heavy skirts so often end up folded in half. Folding is often a casing problem. If the channel is much wider than the elastic, the elastic has room to twist inside it, and a twist becomes a fold. If the channel is much narrower, the elastic is compressed and cannot distribute tension evenly, so it bites in one place. Digging is a pressure problem. The same total force spread over a wide band is comfortable; over a narrow band it becomes a line. Adding a channel that distributes the load, or moving to a wider elastic, changes the sensation more than changing the tightness of the band does. Sagging is recovery loss. The elastic has aged, or the fabric around has stretched permanently, or both. A band that was fitted too tightly in the first place usually sags sooner, because it spent its whole life near its stretch limit. A channel you can rethread A waistband where the elastic sits in a casing and can be pulled out and replaced is worth choosing over one where it is stitched flat to the fabric. The difference is simple: one can be renewed, the other has to be rebuilt. You can often tell without opening the garment. A casing usually has a small stitched opening in a side seam or back seam, and the band feels loose inside the channel when you pinch it. A fixed elastic waistband feels as if fabric and elastic are one layer, and often shows a row of stitching through the middle. Drawstrings and what they carry A drawstring is a second fastening, not a substitute for elastic. Its job is to let you adjust the opening by hand, which is useful when the same garment is worn by different people, or when the fit changes. The load question is what the cord passes through. A cord in a channel with its own eyelets will take tension well. A cord merely threaded through a channel and knotted will work until the channel is stretched. And a cord that is decorative, sewn in place and unable to move, is not a fastening at all. Drawstrings attached to elastic should never be the only thing holding the garment up, because a cord tied tightly over an elastic waist just concentrates pressure in one spot. Repairing a band that has gone Replacing the elastic in a casing is one of the most straightforward alterations there is. Open the channel, pull the old elastic out, thread new elastic cut to the right length, overlap and stitch the ends firmly, then close the channel. Nothing structural is touched, and the garment loses no length. A fixed elastic waistband is a different proposition. Replacing it means separating the band from the garment, adding a new channel if the design allows, and reattaching. That is worth doing on a garment that is otherwise sound, and rarely worth doing on a cheap garment, because the fabric may be near the end of its life anyway. A band that has sagged because the fabric above it stretched is usually beyond saving. The fix would be to take in the seam, which changes the garment's shape rather than restoring it. Before you buySqueeze the band and feel whether the elastic moves freely inside its channel; that means it can be replaced. Look for a wide band rather than a narrow one, especially on anything heavy. Check the stitching line through the band; if it runs all the way through, the elastic is probably fixed. Note whether the garment is meant to be washed hot or worn in chlorinated water, both of which shorten the life of the elastic. Feel how much force the band applies when stretched; a band that fights back hard will be the first to give up.Choosing the construction deliberately, rather than accepting whatever the waistband happens to be, gives you a garment that can be kept rather than retired.

A printed care label sewn into white knit fabric, listing washing, drying and ironing instructions

Making Clothes Last: Washing, Drying and Storing Plus-Size Garments

Fit is not fixed at the moment of purchase. A garment that fits well is relying on the fabric's structure, its stretch and its recovery, and all three are slowly dismantled by heat, weight and careless storage. On a larger garment there is more fabric under more tension at the seat, the elbow and the knee, so the same treatment costs more. Heat is the main enemy Most of what ruins clothes in a domestic laundry is temperature. Heat shrinks wool, degrades elastane, sets creases into synthetic knits, fades dye and dulls dark colours. Read the care label and treat its temperature as a ceiling rather than a target. A cooler wash with a slightly longer cycle cleans most everyday garments just as well, and it is much gentler on anything with stretch in it. Three habits follow from that:Turn garments inside out before washing. Most of the abrasion happens on the outside, where you sit and lean. Inside out protects the surface and lets the detergent reach the skin side. Wash similar weights together. A heavy pair of trousers tumbling against a thin knit abrades it. Sorting by fabric weight matters more than sorting by colour, though you should do both. Don't overload the drum. A crammed machine means less agitation, more creasing and more strain on seams when the load is spun.Skip fabric softener on anything with elastane or a technical finish. It leaves a film on the fibre, which is the opposite of what a knit that needs to recover its shape requires. A half-cup of white vinegar in the rinse does the softening job without the coating. Washing by fabric Knits and jersey. Cool wash, gentle cycle, mesh bag if the knit is fine or the garment is heavy. Skip the dryer entirely. Wool and tailoring. Cold or wool cycle with a detergent made for wool, minimal agitation, and no wringing. Wool felts when it is heated and agitated, and a jacket that goes through a normal cycle will not return to its shape. Denim. In cold water, inside out, and less often than you think. Denim loses indigo and shape with every wash. Spot-clean between washes and hang it to air. Viscose and rayon. These weaken when wet, so handle a soaked viscose garment gently and never hang it dripping. Lay it flat or dry it on a rack with support. Lined and structured garments. If there is interfacing or canvas inside, dry cleaning is usually the safer route, and the label will say so. Home washing a structured jacket can delaminate the interfacing, which is what gives the shoulder its line. Drying without stretching it out Weight is the second enemy, and it acts through water. A wet knit dress is heavy enough to pull its own shoulders out of shape.Dry knitwear flat, reshaped to its original dimensions, on a towel or a mesh rack. Never on a hanger. Dry heavy garments flat or over a rack, not hanging by the shoulders. Hang trousers by the waistband or dry them flat; hanging them by the hem puts all the weight into the waistband and the crotch. Use low heat if you must tumble, and take anything with elastane out while it is still slightly damp. High heat is what makes a waistband go slack and a knit lose its snap. Tumble only what is designed for it. Heavy cotton and towels survive it; almost nothing else improves.If a garment does shrink, check the length before deciding it is ruined. A hem can be let down, and a slightly shorter dress is often still wearable — but a shrunken knit that has lost its recovery is done. Storing so that fit survives Storage damage is slow and easy to avoid.Fold knits, never hang them. A knit on a hanger stretches at the shoulder within weeks, and that stretch does not come back. Hang wovens and tailoring on wide, shaped hangers that support the shoulder line. Thin wire hangers concentrate the weight on one point of a shoulder seam. Store only clean clothes. Small amounts of body oil and deodorant become stains over months, and food or sweat attracts moths. Wool, in particular, should never go away dirty. Give garments room. Compressing clothes in an overstuffed drawer creases interfaced and coated fabrics permanently, and it crushes the loft out of a knit. Keep light off stored clothes, especially dark colours, and keep the space dry. Damp encourages mildew in natural fibres, which is very hard to remove.Between washes and repairs You do not need to wash as often as you do. Air a garment overnight, brush wool with a soft brush to lift the nap, and steam it rather than pressing it: steam relaxes wrinkles and helps a knit return to shape without flattening the surface. Learn to spot the three repairs that keep garments wearable:A popped seam at a strain point. Usually the seat, the underarm or the crotch. Stitch it with a slight zigzag rather than a straight line, so the repair can move with the fabric. Do it early, before the fabric around the seam thins. Pilling. A fabric shaver removes the pills, but the pilling tells you something: the fibre is abrading where it rubs, usually under the arms or between the thighs. Keep it shaved so the surface does not catch on itself further. A dropped hem. On a heavier garment, a hem comes down at the back or the side because of the body underneath it. A tailor can rehang it, and it is a cheap fix compared with replacing the garment.Care is a fit issue The reason to bother is not thrift for its own sake. A garment whose fabric has lost its recovery no longer fits: it hangs at the seat, gaps at the elbow and rides up at the hem. Looking after the fabric is how you keep the fit you paid for, and it is the only part of the fit that you control after the tags come off.

A close-up of a waffle-weave fabric showing its textured surface

Fabric and Structure: What Holds a Shape and What Collapses

Two garments can have the same shape on the hanger and behave completely differently on a body, because fabric is not a neutral surface. It has weight, memory and direction. Above a certain size, those properties matter as much as the pattern, and unlike the pattern they are something you can assess in a minute. The three things fabric does It hangs. Every fabric falls under its own weight. A light knit follows the body and shows every line underneath it; a heavier knit or a woven falls in straighter folds and skims. This is the single biggest difference between a cheap-looking knit dress and an expensive-looking one, and it has nothing to do with the price on the tag. It stretches, and then it recovers — or it does not. A knit with good recovery returns to shape after being pulled, which is why it can fit closely without constricting. A knit with poor recovery hangs looser by the end of the day, bagging at the elbow, the knee and the seat. Elastane is what usually provides recovery; the higher the percentage, the more the garment depends on it. It holds a structure — or the structure is built in elsewhere. A woven garment with no stretch cannot adapt to you, so its shape has to come from the pattern, the seams and, in tailored clothing, from interfacing and canvas inside the layers. Weight is the number to look for Where a brand publishes fabric weight in grams per square metre, use it. Weight is the clearest predictor of how a knit will behave.Very light knits cling, show underwear lines and outline the shape of the body underneath. In pale colours they are close to transparent, and no amount of styling fixes that. Mid-weight knits are the workhorse: enough body to skim rather than cling, enough stretch to fit closely without straining. Heavy knits and structured wovens hold their own shape and can carry design details — a defined shoulder, a wide waistband, a deep pleat — without collapsing.Where weight is not published, judge it by feel in a shop or by the description of what the fabric is used for. Ponte, heavy jersey, scuba and double-knit fabrics exist precisely because a single layer of jersey is not enough for a garment with structure. Read the fibre, then read between the lines Fibre content is published more often than weight, and it is a decent proxy. Cotton is breathable, holds a crease, and can be pressed — useful if you want a sharp line. It has no natural stretch, so a cotton garment with no elastane must fit you properly rather than adapt. Linen and viscose drape well and crease easily. Viscose in particular can shrink or distort if washed carelessly, and it often looks expensive in a shop and tired after three washes. Wool holds shape, resists creasing and can be steamed back into line, which is why tailoring depends on it. Polyester blends are not automatically bad. A tight polyester weave can be durable and hold colour; a loose shiny one will pill, cling and hold odour. Elastane above all is the one to notice. A garment with a high proportion is relying on the stretch instead of on fit, and it will relax as the day goes on. Where structure actually lives Structure is not the same as stiffness. It is the collection of decisions that make a garment hold a shape:Seams that follow the body. Princess seams, waist seams and darts give a garment a place to fit around rather than a single circumference to stretch across. A flat-fronted garment with no seams has to work by stretch alone. Facings, interfacing and lining. A jacket that holds its shoulder has something inside it doing that work. An unlined jacket in a thin fabric will not. A waistband with depth. A wide, interfaced band supports a trouser waist instead of rolling and digging. A hem with weight. Light, narrow hems ride up. Deeper hems fall better and can be let down later. Grain and cut. A bias-cut panel drapes; a straight-cut one hangs. Where a pattern uses bias, it is usually to let the fabric move around a curve rather than fight it.What "flattering" means in practice The word is overused, and it usually implies a body that needs disguising. Put in construction terms, it means something narrower and more useful: the fabric does not catch on the body, the seams land where they were drafted to land, and the garment keeps its shape for a whole day. That gives you three practical tests, all of which you can do before owning the garment:The light test. Hold the fabric up to a window or a phone torch. If you can see your hand clearly through one layer, plan for a second layer or a darker colour. The fist test. Crush a handful of the fabric, hold it for a few seconds, then release. Does it spring back, or does it stay crumpled? Fabrics that stay crumpled will crease at every seat and elbow. The drape test. Hold the fabric up by one corner and watch it fall. If it falls in tight folds that follow your hand, it will follow your body the same way. If it falls in broad, straight lines, it will skim.A note on care, because it changes fit Fabric behaviour does not end at the checkout. A knit washed hot and dried in a machine loses recovery and grows; a wool jacket washed at home loses its shape and its shoulder. Anything that fits well enough to be worth keeping deserves a care check before its first wash, and a knit that is stored on a hanger rather than folded will stretch at the shoulder within a season. Judging fabric well will not make an ill-graded garment fit. It will stop you buying the ones that were never going to hold up, and it will help you spot the ones that will still look like clothes in two years.