Flattery

Have you been reading the installments of "Fit to Flatter?" I noticed several bloggie friends posted links and I decided to check it out.

In the introduction, the author states:

The non-modeled shots are the ones that really fire me up. What we do as knitters is difficult, often expensive, and results in beautiful pieces of art that should be worn and loved. Why is that so often not the case? Why aren't we proclaiming to the universe that our handiwork is not only fun and challenging but results in pieces that make us feel beautiful?

And just a week ago I said:

Compared to when I first started knitting and would make anything regardless of whether it would turn out well or if I'd really wear it, I'm much more selective. I don't want to waste what little knitting time (or yarn money) I have on dud projects that go into the sweater box and never return.

Good timing or what?

So I read through the introduction and the second installment. And then I stopped. Because while there was really great and helpful advice, I really couldn't use it without knowing what my own body shape is. The pictures of various models are helpful and I identified one that I thought looked most like my inner representation of myself, but I realized that following what I thought in my mind's eye might not be reality. If this information is really going to be helpful, I need to know what my body shape really is.

I found a mostly white space in my apartment, set the timer on my camera and snapped some less than flattering shots. (Do I really want to post these on the internet?? Ok, deep breath...)

The picture on the left fits very well the mental image that I had... bottom heavy. Hips and thighs wider than chest and shoulders. But after thinking about the second installment of Fit to Flatter and the concept of vertical lines widening, I thought, what if I scrunched up the tank so it wasn't cutting directly across my hips/thighs. And there you get the picture on the right. Suddenly less bottom heavy.

So let's get technical. In the introduction, she talks about drawing three vertical lines across your body at your two widest points (shoulders/chest and hips/thighs) and narrowest part (waist). I drew 5 lines because I wanted to be thorough.

I was quite shocked with the result. I'm widest at the shoulders (not chest... ok, that one didn't surprise me) and at the thighs (not hips... not hugely shocking either); the shocker is that my shoulders and thighs are balanced. Hello?! What?! I'm not bottom heavy? I'm actually balanced?! My belief in my bottom heaviness may have actually come from wearing long shirts thinking that they cover bad areas, but in fact enhance them!?

Well, now I really need to finish reading the next 8 installments because I had no idea that I was balanced.

Updated: Hhmmmm... I just got to installment 4 and the author instructs you to take the photos that I did. So I jumped the gun. It seems that I misplaced the top line on my shoulders.

So looking at the new purple and yellow lines, I wasn't wrong... I am bottom heavy. Damn... now I have to go back and reread the first three installments!