A thread for the Petite Vintage Lady

Oh boy do I fit in here lol I am also quite petite, 5'2" --and 1/2 thank you! and 36B-29-34. I agree with what ya'll said about the capris, they don't do petite girls any favors. It's a shame too cuz I like them. But luckily, I have long legs even though I'm short and the couple pairs I have work as long as they hit right under or at my knee--just like the pencil skirts, (which are my favorite style).

As far as pants go, I get my mine hemmed as well, although I am hoping to be able to do that myself soon. And I pretty much figured that I would be better off making my own clothes too. I am proportioned pretty well, so I can fit into nearly anything labeled small or medium(depending on designer) and I was a size 4 but now I'm closer to a 6. Being a 6 seems to make things a little easier

I really am just getting into vintage clothes and fashion in general because I wasn't able to acquire any in the past. Which means I am also learning now what styles look best on me. I know what styles I like the best, but those two things could be quite different! This forum has already helped me a whole bunch with different things. You gals are great with this stuff!

That article on shoe vamps was good, definitely something to take into consideration. Thanks for sharing

Robyn

I'm reading other people's posts and now I'm confused: am I petite? I thought so. I am a modern size 4 and five-foot-not-a-dang-thing, but my shoulders are somewhat broad and I'm fairly chesty at 36C. I am not nor ever have been WAIFISH the way so many slim lovelies seem to be here.

I definitely wear petites in pants, always, otherwise things are ridiculously long. But in skirts I'm less consistent, and in tops it just depends. I like to wear short skirts, honestly, so I'm tempted to be more consistent about hemming; I need the shortness of skirts in order to prove that I HAVE legs. lol

Can I still hang out here?

Sure Viola, you are petite! But you are also nicely endowed! Lucky you
My husband's mother was considered petite and she was five foot nothing with a 42D chest! She would get her clothes at a store in New Orleans callled D.H. Holmes and they had a dept for 'petite clothes for the large breasted woman'. Isn't that nice?

I'm kind of in between sizes right now and it's soo frustrating! Needless to say, I'm not shopping too much right now. Something I would really like to know is, how I can re-create vintage clothes that I see in movies, like dresses and such? I guess I just draw the dress and then make a pattern from there? IDK
Anyway, that may be for another topic, but talking about this made me think of that. lol

Oh, and I think you can hang out wherever you want.

Ooo I need the petite for the lady who is well endowed!, the bust is the one place that I always trip up on. I'm a size small in most things, but sometimes have to go up a size because I am a 34D! Ugh!

I'm 4'10"ft. I certainly try to avoid the unflattering mid calf length but I still stubbornly insist on hemlengths below knees but any length above or below my calves will do. As long as long skirts aren't too flared, they look good if not better than short skirts. I won't wear thigh high skirts. My hips are too wide for that.

NicolettaRose said:

Ooo I need the petite for the lady who is well endowed!, the bust is the one place that I always trip up on. I'm a size small in most things, but sometimes have to go up a size because I am a 34D! Ugh!

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Here, here! Shopping would be much easier if we had flat chests! lol

Lillemor said:

I'm 4'10"ft. I certainly try to avoid the unflattering mid calf length but I still stubbornly insist on hemlengths below knees but any length above or below my calves will do. As long as long skirts aren't too flared, they look good if not better than short skirts. I won't wear thigh high skirts. My hips are too wide for that.

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I may be pretty tiny myself, (I don't feel tiny, but that's what everyone calls me!) But, I never have and never will wear mini skirts!! It's just not something I feel comfy in. And I'm all about being comfy when it comes to clothes.

NicolettaRose said:

Ooo I need the petite for the lady who is well endowed!, the bust is the one place that I always trip up on. I'm a size small in most things, but sometimes have to go up a size because I am a 34D! Ugh!

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I also need one of these departments (!) - I'm 5'1 1/2" and have very similar measurements to C-dot. My legs are the reason for my shortness, though, so I tend to have to buy regular tops and then get my skirts in the petite section. Trousers/pants are a pain to buy and not particularly flattering on my figure, so I tend to avoid them altogether.

With dresses, I find that it varies by what style they are. Anything that is fitted and not elastic in any way is out of the question, unless I'm making it myself, because there is never anything that is big in the right places and small in others. I like to emphasise my waist whenever I can, but because I have to buy bigger for my bust, this is generally difficult (even with a belt). Writing this post has reminded me of how many times I've been into shops recently trying to find a nice dress for the office and come away disheartened, because everything I tried on finished not far from my shin and made me look like a little girl dressing up!

Partially as a result of that, and partially as a result of all of the inspiration and encouragement that I've found on this board, I've recently decided to start making more of my own dresses from vintage and vintage-inspired patterns.

I have to admit that, given the difficulties I have with modern clothes (the above ramble is all to do with modern shops), I'm wary about looking into actual vintage pieces. I also have a particular fondness for sewing, which may be causing a bias in my opinion, too.

Petite department? I've never seen one of those lol but then, maybe because in Spain my height is sort of average (5'3" I think). And here I mostly shop at Zara, Mango and Sfera which are Spanish brands. They sometimes have vintage inspired clothes. In H&M there is sometimes something too. Hey, what can I do, I am on a budget and there are no vintage shops here

Most dresses still won't fit me, because I am extremely short waisted, and pear shaped, I am actually all legs I just buy tops that are 3 or 4 sizes smaller than my bottoms. Sometimes I have problem too, because I don't like tops that don't fit my very small shoulders, but then the buttons on the shirts sometimes are a bit tight (is it me or are buttons in modern shirts too far apart??) If I really like the shirt I will just wear it with a waistcoat, which I love anyway. My bra size is 32D and I can only find that size online

Another couple of problems are waists and trouser lenghts. I think I only ever bought one pair of trousers that I didn't have to cut 10 centimeters off, and that because they came in two lenghts. And this even though my legs are disproportionately long. Well, I do not like trousers much anyway [huh]

Shorter skirts are perhaps more flattering for petite women, but if the hips are wide, well I just don't feel comfortable in shorter skirts, maybe it is all in my head but I think they look unflattering on me. The shortest I will wear is right at the knee, I prefer right under the knee or a bit longer. But unless I make it myself, it is very difficult to find something longer than under the knee. I guess most skirts are just designed to be over the knee, and luckly I am short enough that they are longer on me

Waists... :rage: most modern clothes have no waist supression whatsoever.

Sorry about the rant, it is a bit frustrating

RobynLe said:

I may be pretty tiny myself, (I don't feel tiny, but that's what everyone calls me!) But, I never have and never will wear mini skirts!! It's just not something I feel comfy in. And I'm all about being comfy when it comes to clothes.

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I'm probably on the extreme end of comfy. Not to the point of being careless about my appearance but comfort, durability and function above all else. If I can do it stylishly, then that's great! That's what I feel a retro/vintage style allows me to do and because many women were short on the average (so they wouldn't have been considered short) vintage styles work well for me.

Petite department?

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I found timeless classics in the petite departments when I lived in the U.S. Most people probably thought I was dressed oddly for a teenager but they fit better than the junior styles. When I gained weight and never thought I'd fit into my old clothes, I dropped it all off a thrift shop in north Stockton, CA. Maybe it's still there.

Here in Denmark there's no such thing as petite departments or even well assorted petite shops. They've discovered that there are tall ladies, they've discovered that there are plus sized ladies but they haven't discovered the petite ladies and they sure would never guess that the majority of plus sized ladies are actually under 5'3"ft which is a category called petite plus size.

With each generation generally growing taller and the older generations being larger in numbers than the younger generations and the older generations have more money to spend, there may be some shops I've never heard of but I probably can't afford anything in such a shop any way. Now that older ladies think slacks is the way to go, they probably won't have any petite dresses or skirts worth investing in.

Come to think of it...I didn't pay for my own clothes as a teenager. I have no idea what the prices are like in the petite departments in the U.S.

Medvssa said:

Shorter skirts are perhaps more flattering for petite women, but if the hips are wide, well I just don't feel comfortable in shorter skirts, maybe it is all in my head but I think they look unflattering on me. The shortest I will wear is right at the knee, I prefer right under the knee or a bit longer. But unless I make it myself, it is very difficult to find something longer than under the knee. I guess most skirts are just designed to be over the knee, and luckly I am short enough that they are longer on me

Waists... :rage: most modern clothes have no waist supression whatsoever.

Sorry about the rant, it is a bit frustrating

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I have motion sickness now. I've just sat and nodded and nodded.

In the context of vintage or retro styles for the decades we cover on FD (I'm assuming that's still the 20s-50s and not yet the mid 60s-90s in which case we'll have to change the forum name too ) I'm not even sure how to justify shorter skirts.

If a skirt is designed to fall under the knee I'm in danger of the unflattering mid-calf length which I'll only tolerate if it is a genuine vintage skirt I had the luck to find cheaply in a thrift shop or someone gave it to me because I can't sew and hem it up. If the skirt is designed to be ankle length, I'll step in the hem and tear it up. Wearing heels doesn't make the hem safe from heel tears! I know what I'm talking about! Some skirts and pants float at an odd just below calf but above ankle length which only works with some ankle length boots but...*sigh!* I'll just stop the rant here!

Today my skirt falls to the lowest part of my calves which is still wide but not the widest part and I look stupid at home but it sort of works with my suede ankle length boots because the shaft is wide and straight so you can't actually see where my calves start and end.lol The images that must conjur up in some heads.lol

Medvssa said:

Another couple of problems are waists and trouser lenghts. I think I only ever bought one pair of trousers that I didn't have to cut 10 centimeters off, and that because they came in two lenghts. And this even though my legs are disproportionately long. Well, I do not like trousers much anyway [huh]


Waists... :rage: most modern clothes have no waist supression whatsoever.

Sorry about the rant, it is a bit frustrating

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Isn't this thread comical? Don't worry ladies, I am laughing with you!!
I have to laugh about it, honestly. It keeps me sane. [huh]

Yes, I have just accepted the fact that I will have to hem every pair of pants that I want! So I basically just buy the ones that I feel are worth all that. But this is part of the reason that I am learning how to sew, because I am tired of having someone else do it. (Although I did find an asian lady here that does it quite cheap at $7/pair) When I could afford it, I would drop off my laundry to her and oh boy, she does a marvelous job!

Mango and H&M have some cute clothes!!

RobynLe said:

Yes, I have just accepted the fact that I will have to hem every pair of pants that I want! So I basically just buy the ones that I feel are worth all that. But this is part of the reason that I am learning how to sew, because I am tired of having someone else do it.

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Exactly. Good thing I learned to sew as a child, cause I would either be tripping everywhere, or in debt from hemming everything. Some petite ladies can get by with petite trousers, but its probably cause they have nice long legs for their frame. Me? Everything is short!

I'm also petite: 5'2" (even though I come from a petite women country )

Lucky me I'm proportioned, but clothes are always too long and too big on the waist and I have to pay to have them re-sized (my mum used to do it but I guess I need to learn to sew now!).

The thing I hate the most is when I find a dress with nice detailing at the bottom and can't buy it because I'd have to cut it off.

Mirinda said:

The thing I hate the most is when I find a dress with nice detailing at the bottom and can't buy it because I'd have to cut it off.

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Oh dear You don't take the skirt up at the bodice?

C-dot said:

Oh dear You don't take the skirt up at the bodice?

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I can't do it (no sewing machine and no knowledge, by now) and if I take it somewhere not too expensive they just do it the lazy way >.<
I live in a city where customer service is a bit... absent. Can't wait to move!
The other option is wait until I go to visit my parents and then leave the clothes so my mum modifies them, but sometimes that's not possible.

fftopic: I can't wait until I can sew really well....I'm going to be a sewing fool!! lol

I don't know why I waited this long to learn because I've always been like, "Oh I love that dress/shirt/skirt, etc., if I only knew how to sew I could make one of my own!!" I am not the type of girl to drop hundreds or GASP! thousands of $$$ on clothes--no matter how much I love it. Although I don't mind spending a little more for vintage.