Baby got back

I've always been a relatively petite person, and have often received comments about how tiny I am. I went through a stage when some size 6 clothes would be too big for me, and even though I ate lots of bad food and never exercised, I never put on weight.

All of that has recently changed and I have been putting on weight! I blame turning 30, and falling in love. I'm now all kinds of content, happy and chubby! Although that being said, I'm still wearing some size 6 skirts, and I don't own anything bigger than a size 10, so I really shouldn't be complaining.

A couple of weeks ago, however, I tried to wear a dress to work and there were 4 dresses that I had made that no longer fit me!! What a depressing morning! My fiancé tried to help my by using his strength to do up the zips, but I had to point out that if the two sides of the fabric don't meet, no amount of strength will close that zip!

With that in mind I started making some new dresses, but I found that my trusty dress makers form (made in 2009 by a friend wrapping me up in duct tape) doesn't mach my shape as well as it used to. So I am endeavoring to pad out my dress makers form and I have had to take some measurements in order to do this. Ignoring the addition of up to 4 inches in places, I found a really interesting measurement and I wonder if other people have similar figures.

My waist measures 29", my bum (at the largest part) measures 39". Yep, I have a 10" bum! Even more interesting than that is the fact that once you get two inches below my waist, I expand by about 4 inches straight away! This is best illustrated in the great dress that I have, check out the pictures below.

Luckily I have always enjoyed classic movies, and therefore the idea of having a small waist and a larger bottom is fine by me! I think it makes me look a little bit more vintage, and a lot more interesting than a straight up and down stick figure. The one thing I wish though, is that my bust measurement would be in proportion with my other measurements. According to most pattern sizes, I'm a size 10 in the bust, and then a 14 everwhere else! Luckily this dress, from Kitten D'Amour, fits quite nicely and isn't too big in the bust area.

I have just done some quick googling of some of my favourite actresses measurements, and it turns out that a 10" bum isn't that strange after all!!

My measurements - 34 (bust)-29(waist)-39(hips)

Jane Russell - 38-24-36
Marilyn Monroe - 36-23-37
Heddy Lamar - 33-22-34
Betty Grable - 34-24-36
Vivien Leigh - 32-23-33
Ava Gardner - 36-23-37
Ann Miller - 35-22-34

Some modern day starlet measurements:
Rachel McAdams - 34-25-37
Anne Hathaway - 34-26-34
Kate Beckinsale - 34-24-34
Natalie Portman - 34-25-35
Jessica Biel - 34-24-34

So my analysis of those figures implies that Hollywood actresses have an amazing ability to keep a tiny waist (maybe these measurements are taken while sucking in!), and some bums have gotten a little bit smaller - they seem to be more align with bust size, rather then a little bit bigger. Hmmm...interesting.