In the sewing community, it can be WAY too easy to get caught up in what other people are making (yet another reason why I took social media off my phone). I found that constantly taking in other people’s beautiful makes made my own personal sewing vision kind of fuzzy. I try not to regret any of my sewing projects because I learn from all of them, but time after time I have sewn something just because it looked great in someone’s perfectly curated Instagram post. And almost every time, the project did not work out.
I had no idea why these makes weren’t working out. I picked a fabric that I thought I loved and my handiwork has been getting better and better. Yet, I would put these on and something just wasn’t right.
Then a couple of weeks ago, Erin had me take a quiz on what my body type is. I used to take these quizzes all the time, the ones that you could find in a magazine about whether you were pear-shaped or hourglass. This one however, was different. It was my Kibbe body type. Kibbe is referring to the author of the whole book about it, which is now out of print.
Your Kibbe body type is based on not just your overall body shape, but your bone structure and balance of your features. Once you determine yours, there are endless articles and guides as to what fabric, colors, and shapes are going to look best on you.
What was most profound about it for me was that all Kibbe guides were exactly right about the kind of clothes that I won’t look (or feel) good in. The funny part about it was that these clothes were all the exact look that I was striving for due to seeing them on complete opposite body types on Instagram and Pinterest (stop pinning, start doing!)
The Instagram projects that I got far enough to actually make fell under this category. This brings me to a specific project that I worked on recently.
The M7969.
This pattern can be found on most “big” Insta-sewists accounts. And it looks wonderful on all of them. It is a big-sleeved, oversized dress with an overlapping v-neck in the front and is often hacked into a top.
I picked up the pattern for this during a $1.99 sale of McCalls patterns at Joann’s before I learned about Kibbe. At the same time, I picked up this sheer swiss dot fabric and some pre-made bias binding. Even after learning about Kibbe, I still figured I would give it a shot, knowing in the back of my head that the babydoll look went totally against my Romantic Kibbe body type. The Romantic Kibbe is all about accentuating the waist.
Starting with the sizing of this pattern, my measurements set me as medium. I saw in a lot of comments that the pattern was seriously oversized, so I went a size down to a small.
The construction itself was actually not bad. I have always feared Big 4 patterns but had heard that this pattern wasn’t that hard, and I agree, it wasn’t. The only new steps in the pattern were the set-in sleeves and bias binding.
This pattern features gathered sleeves and a gathered skirt. I have to tell you, this fabric actually made gathering a dream. I did the standard way of gathering with a stitch length of 4 and two rows of stitches.
My absolute FAVORITE part of this shirt is the bias binding. I love that I did it and I love how it looks. I had previously been terrified of doing it and now I think I want to put it on everything. I say that and yet I cheated with pre-made bias tape…
Apart from having to think through the neck binding to make sure I got it right, this shirt did not take long at all. On the hanger, it really truly is a pretty shirt but the babydoll style just is not something that I feel good in.
As I said earlier, I try not to regret my makes and I definitely do not regret this one. I learned a lot from the fabric and the construction itself.
And as for Kibbe, I am currently planning on some future makes with Kibbe guidelines in mind. I will attach a link to the preferred quiz by me and the women around me here. I urge you to keep in mind that the Kibbe results are not meant to put restrictions on you. They are there to help you create a better understanding of why you like the things that you like and why you don’t like things as well. Of course, if you feel good in things that aren’t technically in your Kibbe closet, by all means, wear them! I personally just found the Kibbe to be liberating for me.
