From a comment I left on someone else's blog:

Anyway. My bugbear at the moment is that I live in a city in the southern hemisphere and it is winter at the moment and, although it doesn't snow, we do get strong southerly winds and frosts and heavy rain. And, despite this, the 2 major stores that sell plus-size clothing (and the 4 or 5 boutiques) have apparently all completely independently decided that long sleeves are unnecessary evils contributing to the oppression of fat women everywhere, and that knitted jerseys that close at the front are another great wrong. So it has been like 3 winters since I've found a single warm long-sleeved work-appropriate top in my size. No, seriously. No, seriously. And I fit into the plus-size range; I don't know what the hell women who are significantly larger than I do.

... the not-long-sleeved/doesn't-close-at-the-front thing extends to 4 out of 5 of the winter coats. I don't even know.

DISCUSS*

For the record: I am about 5'9" or 175cm. I weigh about 130kg, last time I checked, or about 290lb. I wear between size 20 and 24 depending on brand (usually a 22 or 2XL). I have been this size for the last 5 years. I do not have any major medical problems except asthma in the winters and a distressing tendency to ear infections, both of which I have carried through baby plumpness, childhood and early-teenage slenderness, and late-teenage and adult obesity. My eating philosophy is simple: if I want to eat it, I will eat it. My exercising philosophy is simple: I get bored easily and like walking places with headphones, so I walk round town a lot and to and from the bus stop but do virtually nothing else.

I'm don't feel guilty about this. There are a number of things—my intellect; my inability to concentrate on my studies; my laziness; my being a massive, massive cow to a lot of people—that I can and do feel guilty about and may or may not feel moved to apologise for. But I am not going to apologise for the size of my fucking waistband.

* You are totally welcome to tell me I should learn to sew. I even have a sewing machine! What I do not have, however, are (a) design skills, and (b) patience. Alas.