Twig + Tale Storytellers - Reclaiming whimsy while living in an unruly body

We're so pleased to welcome Twig + Tale Storyteller Froukje Henstra to the blog this month. She takes us on a journey through her style history: from an eighties kid who knew what she loved, an adult with an "unruly" body who learned to conform to what the fashion industry deemed acceptable, to a sewist who is rediscovering her sense of personal style and whimsy.

We think that Froukje's story will be relatable to so many members of the T+T community who have discovered the liberation of being able to sew for your body and feel at home in your clothes.

CW for themes of body dysmorphia and childhood bullying.

The before times

As a child, I remember fully embracing and loving the fashion of my era; I adored eighties staples such as flowery dresses with big white cotton collars, Laura Ashley fabrics, shiny shoes with polka dots, ruffles, bright colours, double denim and patchwork. My mother was an avid sewist who, by necessity, combined clothes she found in shops with home sewing to give me cute outfits like the ones I saw my classmates wear. I distinctly remember favourites such as the multicolour polka dot dress with flutter sleeves that I wore until I couldn’t fit it over my shoulders anymore, the denim skirt and matching blouse that I loved to combine with an asymmetrical ponytail with a big bow on my head, as well as rocking the white pleated skirt my older cousin had grown out of (looking like a tiny senior citizen). All of that to say: I was an eighties baby with a love of eighties fashion dramatics.

Those were the “before” times, however. I loved clothes before I found out my body was
considered unfit for most of them; before I realised that I was supposed to hide myself to be palatable for the people around me and before I was made painfully aware that my body was meant for ridicule, not for pretty things.

Colouring inside the lines

Growing up fat (a term which I use for myself in a neutral, descriptive way) in the eighties and nineties strongly shaped my idea of what I should or “was allowed” to wear. In the process, I lost my love of whimsy in dress. As I got used to wearing the dark and joyless clothes that I could find for my size in physical stores, I slowly forgot my love of ruffles, colours and fun details. Growing into an extremely anxious and shy adolescent in the nineties, I yearned to hide my body in baggy grungy clothes that were trend-adjacent enough to not be bullied, and I convinced myself that was my sense of style. 

As an adult, I simply continued to wear the clothes that the fashion industry told me my body deserved while I tried unsuccessfully to shrink myself to conform to what I, at that time, perceived as acceptable. The seemingly growing acceptance of bigger bodies in the fashion industry as it co-opted body positivity in the 2010s, to suit its marketing goals, improved the options in shops for people like me, if only slightly. However, I had by then lost the inner sense of what I liked, and had internalised so much fatphobia that I was now my own biggest critic and norm-enforcer: I had learned to colour inside the lines, and I thought that was the limit of my creativity. 

You might be surprised after reading the above that this is by no means a sob-story. The picture I have painted is likely recognisable in some way for most of us whose bodies are or were considered “unruly” because of our size, shape, colour, ability, gender expression, etcetera. I fully acknowledge that my story is shaped as much by my fatness as by my privilege as a white, able-bodied, cisgender woman. But I do think and hope that many of you will have felt, like me, the enormous liberation that sewing is able to bring to any body [sic] that has faced some form of oppression of expression.

So, this is a story of rediscovering whimsy and learning to accept the body I have in the process. 

The three C’s of style and locating my whimsy

Learning (or rather, re-learning) to sew and finding out about all the wonderful size-inclusive designs out there opened up a world of style options that I could not have imagined previously. Starved for fun clothes, I started out buying every pattern I came across that listed my size, hoarding fabric and sewing anything and everything without considering my own style or the way I could combine things. I ended up creating garments I never wore, that made me feel uncomfortable or that I simply could not match to the other things in my wardrobe at all. Overconsumption is an issue in the world of makers and craft as well, and I wished to find a way to be more mindful and intentional in what I bought and made.

Through my online sewing friends, I discovered Caleigh O’Donnell’s content on Instagram, and started working through her model for finding your personal style based on the “three C’s”: comfort, confidence and creativity. Without going into too much detail, the concept of the three C’s is discovering, through your tried and true favourites, which elements of style make you feel either comfort, confidence or creativity (or a combination of those). The idea is that different days and situations make you want a different combination of these elements.

In her essay "Why personal style feels so hard in a bigger body: 5 deeper reasons you might be struggling with your personal style: plus-size edition" Caleigh lists reasons why people in bodies that do not conform to the norm, and in this case more specifically bigger bodies, find it hard to find their personal style. It makes sense: when you are used to buying what fits, to having fewer options, to seeing fewer style role models and content about your body, fashion and personal style often remain a remote concept. Finding out what style elements work for me felt like a very empowering journey, and in the process of going through my three C’s, my love of whimsy found its place.

My three C's

In the pictures below, you will see how I combine several style elements to make a mix that is just right for me at a certain point in time. Knowing what makes me feel comfort and confidence also allows me to experiment with whimsical elements without being overpowered by them or feeling silly. 

Combining the colourful and whimsical print on the Cascades Top with chambray denim Fernway Culottes, sneakers and a top knot made me feel confident and comfortable enough to rock the bright colours and a print that attracts attention, even though the outfit does not conform to fashion standards of flattering and hiding my shape.

The Fable Dress is a tried and tested favourite silhouette of mine. Here I combined whimsical details such as bold colours, high-contrast colours, and piping on the princess seams with a flower print, my confidence colour burgundy and a pair of comfortable high-denier tights.

We all deserve Whimsy

In this era of growing pressure on bigger bodies to become smaller, older bodies to look younger, and non-conforming bodies to conform, sewing is not only necessary, but it is an act of resistance. Sewing allows people with unruly bodies to break the laws of fashion and stand up for themselves. Sewing allows us all to find our whimsy and reclaim it. Whimsy means being seen where we may not be expected to be noticed; whimsy can be a small act of resistance or an expression of inner joy, or both, because to feel joy can be radical in itself. 

So, whether whimsy lives in your comfort zone or stretches your creativity, we all deserve some whimsy in our lives.

Froukje Henstra

September 2026

Want to join in the conversation about reclaiming whimsy, and share elements of your own "Three C's"? We'd love to invite you to the T+T Treehouse to do just that - let's chat!

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