fat girls wear underwear, too! news at 11

I inherited a bit of money from my grandmother a few months ago, and I just spent a shocking amount of it on underwear.

You have to understand here that I haven't actually bought bras since I got married six years ago. I've gained weight since then, because that happens as you get older, and although my cup size hasn't changed, my band size most certainly has.

So I bought bras, mainly, with part of that money. Some of them worked; some of them didn't. I was hoping for some cute lingerie, too, but that was the part that mostly didn't work out.

I ended up buying from two places: Bare Necessities and Frederick's. I wear a 42D, just barely out of the range of sizes many brands and stores have available. Here's what worked and didn't work, for the other well-endowed ladies of the interwebs:

Wacoal Bodysuede Ultra Underwire Bra: This thing is complete heaven. I'm actually considering returning the next two bras in this list and getting this in more colors. Wonderful. It's stretchy and soft and the underwire sits exactly where it's supposed to. Worth every penny.

Felina Victoria Full Busted Bra: This one fits reasonably well and is way sexy. I approve. I wouldn't wear it to, say, go hiking, but it's a great flattering bra for an evening out or a day sitting at a desk. The straps are a little thin to really support large breasts.

Le Mystere Dream Tisha with Lace Bra: I somehow didn't realize this was a shaping bra when I bought it. Those really aren't my thing, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. It fit well (although it did create a bit of side boobage) and was reasonably comfortable, but like I said I just don't care much for shaping bras. The one I got was on sale in a pretty light blue color that's not available on the site now.

Wacoal Enchantment Full Figure Bra: After experiencing the other Wacoal bra I was a bit disappointed in this one, which I got in black. The straps are a bit too thin and the band size runs a bit small. It's nice enough, but I think I may exchange it for another of their Bodysuede bras.

Only one item from Frederick's worked for me, sadly. I'm right at the top end of their sizing range and most of their items don't size up well. I'll keep this short: I ordered this, this, this, this, and this, and none of them worked well for me. Which is sad, because they were mostly really cute. They were either too tight or just didn't scale well to my size. I also got this chemise and it did work out - it's really cute.