TRUE BIZ. Luckily I have come across a small handful of great, great vintage dresses, all by Miss Rubette, that look astonishingly good on me, considering they were for sizely gals in the '60s. My problem in particular tends to be finding stuff that fits my ridiculously large bosom...so I always cross my fingers for more dresses that are elasticky with no zippers ;)

One of the things I am trying to do in my own shopping is create an index of plus-friendly thrift stores. They're out there, they really are, but since most of them don't have websites it's hard to track them all. I've found some fab consignment stores in my own city after a dedicated day driving EVERYWHERE and taking notes on each location. I still have places in my city to visit yet. I published my results on my blog, but I'd love to get other people's notes from other cities!

I share your pain. As a youthful inbetweenie with 2 fat grandmothers I systematically worked through 4 decades of vintage cast-offs till I got too fat to wear them any more. This bears out my theory that the reason one so rarely finds vintage plus sized garments is because most fat women share the same mindset - i.e never throw anything away in case you never see anything you like in your size ever ever again. I also personally relate to the "must buy every cute frock that comes my way, regardless of whether I have the money or not" mindset precisely because I did live the nightmare of not being able to find dresses in my size for over a decade.

I do remember coming across a stall in London's Camden market that boasted lord knows how many 1950s Evans full-skirted cotton summer dresses, never worn and still with their original tags. Unfortunately they were charging an arm and a leg for the privilege so I had to sit that one out. Similarly I once saw the entire sartorial life of a (presumably deceased) fat woman laid bare in Portobello Road. Almost all of it looked to have been made for her and she must have had serious money. Sadly I can't sew worth a damn and, at the time, the clothes were about 3 sizes too big for me - so again I had to pass. Because of these two experiences I do still look in thrift shops, but tend to luck out with the odd 21st century cast-off rather than anything else.

In the UK, the kind of vintage I personally favour, (30s - 60s), has become obscenely big business. I have seen simple 1950s cotton print dresses priced upwards of £400 and featured in the glossies. Meanwhile what passes for vintage with the younger set, (i.e. clothes I'm old enough to remember the first time around and which are relatively affordable), simply baffles me. It's not that there weren't some fab clothes around in the 80s and 90s - it's just that most of the stuff I see at flea markets nowadays wasn't even fashionable at the time. And polyester looms large even in non-plus sizes.

This is an outstanding idea! I tend to avoid vintage and consignment shops I'm unfamiliar with, as I have neither the patience nor the grace to go in and eventually discover that nothing they carry is going to fit me. Such an index would be a fantastic resource!

It's true. I have in the past worn garments way past the point at which other folks would have thrown them out. Even now I ration wearings of certain older garments since I know their days are numbered and I won't be able to find their like again. It's funny and depressing at the same time.

I do the rationing thing too. In fact I nodded so much reading your original post it's a wonder my head didn't fall off.

One of the few vintage dresses I was ever able to fit into came from the Garment District. It was an early '60s white taffeta with a black chiffon overlay and it was actually a little too big (!) so I took it in at the sides with safety pins. As dorky as it sounds, I wore it the first time I kissed the guy I ended up marrying.