The girl in the image in very big in the shoulders, breast, hips and thighs.  She's also taller than average, a feat I accomplished by slightly increasing the length of her legs and abdomen.  As has been suggested in this thread, I thought I'd shrink her down in frame one and allow her to "grow" into her actual size.  It didn't really work that well, though.

Most of the time, cloth simulations work for me without too much effort.  Occasionally I'll have problems, but the vast majority of my dynamic simulations progress without any trouble at all.  I've scratched my head for a long time at people who find it so confusing.