Well ladies, I bit the bullet and lost the weight (#70) to get from Women's sizes to Misses sizes and guess what??? There still isn't anything cute to wear in the stores, lol! Seems I need to get even smaller as all the Misses clothes in my size are picked over. I like the idea of finding things that are good fitting and then ripping to use as a pattern. Paper patterns are just too much work and too much disappointment most of the time. In the mean time...South Beach has done wonders for me so I'll stay on the beach!