Croquis Anyone?

Today I decided to remove old e-mails from my in-box because I had over 1,200 in there and I came across some pictures I had my friend take of me last year when we were working on a draping class assignment. I had thought that I would use them to make myself a croquis (pronounced kro-key), which is a sketch of the outline of a human body. There are instructions for making one in Fantastic Fit for Every Body by Gale Grigg Hazen. When I first looked at the pictures many months ago, I was so aghast at what my body shape looked like that I closed the e-mail and forgot about it. Fortunately I'm feeling better about myself and decided to make a croquis.

Kind of shocking when I first saw it, but that's me. If I wasn't already doing Weight Watchers, I'd be joining today after seeing this silhouette. I'm close to being as deep as I am wide. But that's another blog entry for another day. What's a croquis used for, you ask? Well, according to GGH, I use it to plan successful garments that will compliment my figure. I can check the proportions of any garment to my body shape. Lots of garments look great on the skinny model on the envelope, but what will it look like on me? Let's take New Look 6781 for example:


Right away I can see that it is too long. It would look better if it came to right above the crotch, not below. Also, the tie-back is a bad idea. The neckline could be lowered a bit as well. I still like the pattern, but I'm not as hot to sew it up as I once was. Orange wouldn't be my choice, but it was the only marker I could find at the time.

Another reason for making a croquis, according to GGH, is to make observations on how my body is different from the pattern companies' standard body form. She has you compare your croquis to a standard dress form size 12. I thought I'd share that with you, but please hold the laughing to a minimum.

If you can't tell, that's me on the outside and inside is the size 12 in blue. As if I didn't already know I have to add a ton of width and depth around the middle of my body. I certainly could have gone all day with out actually putting this down on paper. I only share it with you so that you know what you're in for if you try this at home. Of course, you could be one of the lucky ones that actually look like a size 12 dress form. If that's the case, I may hate you. I haven't decided yet.