Oh oh oh - very nice jeans on sale for plus sizes!

I read this lovely blog post by one of my fav fashion bloggers, Frocks and Frou Frou. She's promoting an amazing 25% off great jeans for plus sizes over at Embody. But be quick!

seasonally inappropriate but...

I received an email recently from Annette at Subway Shoe Diffusion, a Melbourne based shoe importer. This coming winter they will be importing a range of reasonably priced boots with sizing for 'athletic' calves. The styles look nice and are really competitively priced. While I know most people are really not at all focused on winter boots right now, I'm mentioning it in case I forget to chase Annette up next year for a list of stockists! Now you can all feel free to remind me...

I also wanted to give all our blog authors and potential authors a giddy up! Come on guys, lets see some content! If you'd like to contribute in any way at all, please drop me a line - soozs[dot]com[at]gmail[dot]com

boots for freakishly large calves

Like many women with larger than average calves the hunt for a winter boot has been exhausting, disappointing and humiliating. I have tried on so many pairs of boots I couldn't zip up that I have resorted to simply wearing trousers all the time.

Over the last few weeks I have had this conversation with many other women, lots of whom are not particularly 'large' but still don't manage with conventional fittings. There has been lots of moaning and frustration. I have one friend who bought lovely and expensive boots and paid lots of money to have them altered. She's happy with the result, but that's a nerve wracking exercise and a bit of a financial risk for many.

But after sewing two really nice skirts last weekend I decided I just couldn't stand it anymore and spent yesterday in a last ditch effort to get me some boots.

It should be said that quite aside from the calves issue, I am pretty fussy about shoes. I walk a lot and I am big - my feet get a real work out and most shoes just aren't up to the challenge. I want style but never at the expense of comfort and durability. I don't like lace ups or overly manish shoes (except elastic sided boots which I wear all the time when not at work), I don't wear heels and almost always I prefer leather. My foot is broad so I prefer squarish toes.

My criteria is long I know, but none of it seems exactly out there to me. Sensible, reasonable, dare I say almost too obvious.

Anyway, here's what I have to say - I found my boots. They are made by Kumfs, a New Zealand brand which makes a really excellent range of shoes for people like me. There are plenty of daggy models in their range I won't pretend otherwise, but more and more I find stuff of theirs I like. Oh and that cowboy spur bit is completely removable! But they make two calf fittings (so sensible - why don't more boot makers do it??), so they fit me very well.

Now all I have to do it find some good larger size footless tights - can anyone give me a tip??

Psst - sale starts early!

If you aren't in Melbourne I am sorry to disappoint, but if you are listen here.

I went in to Myers today to look for some T-shirts. My three favourite T-shirts (which are all MATERNITY ones from TARGET because I am so CLASSY) are very much the worse for wear. I haven't been able to part with them because aside from their age they are perfect. Light weight cotton with enough lycra to have stretch but not so much as to have no structure. They fit me really well - tighter up top and looser down below, V-neck with short and flattering shaped sleeves.

For two years I have been searching for replacements in vain. Don't get me started.

Anyway, since I am going to the beach on Boxing day I had reached the end of my tether and was all up for some compromise to save me from looking quite so much like a sad old lady wearing badly aged maternity Ts with my shorts.

And can I tell you? All the boxing day sale merchandise in the plus size section (now on level 2 Lonsdale during the store renovations) has already been marked down. The sales chick told me they don't have time to do everything on sale day and there isn't that much business up there in the few days before Christmas so they just go ahead and mark everything down early! I'm not a big fan of the sales - can't stand the crowds and never find anything great - but now I think I've just never started early enough.

Showing unbelievable restraint I looked only at T-shirts (well, and bras, but that's a whole other post) and ended up buying 5, all at half price or less. And I could have bought more! Basic run of the mill stuff by Regatta, Yarra Trail and the like, slightly more groovy stuff by Urbane and Piper and some really cool designer stuff by Mink and Estelle were all well discounted, basics as well as more hit and miss lines. There were also lots of dresses, pants and all the rest. Not that I was looking. One top I bought was not shown as marked down, but they still took 50% off at the register.

So if you can squeeze the time out of Christmas eve and you are in the market for some new clothes, head on down.

And guys - will someone please do us some posts here? Large needs some author support!

more from my wardrobe

Not much news today, just a glimpse of what I was wearing as I rushed off to work this morning all fuzzy headed from a cold.

I am totally in love with this shirt. I made it from the latest Ottobre magazine (can't remember the issue number maybe 5/2008?), size 52. I like that the collar makes it look smart and a bit more professional, but the thick knit fabric is really comfy and T-shirt like. I like the print too. I bought the fabric at Joy's Fabric Warehouse in Geelong and apparently it is an run off from a designer. The pants are from TS 14+ and I like them too. I had to alter them a little to lower the sides of the waistband, but otherwise they are a good fit. The fabric has some stretch, but also the vertical stripe you can see is actually textural and contracts the fabric too (you can see it a bit at the hem line in the top photos).

The shoes are yet another pair of Josef Seibels bought from Mountfords - same brand as the red shoes in the previous post everyone liked so much. These are medium priced shoes that are built for comfort and durability (I walk a lot and that combined with my weight makes for hard wear on my shoes).

investment pieces

I try and sew as many of my clothes as I can, and I tend to buy fairly plain and inexpensive clothes when I do shop. But every now and then, well once in every two or three blue moons, I buy something special.

Earlier this year I learned about Towanda, a shop full of amazing, gorgeous, interesting, edgy designer wear just for plus sizes. I had to check it out, just looking. Because, you know, that's expensive stuff.

I'd never been in a designer shop where anything fit me before and to be honest I was quite dumb struck. Racks and racks of clothes I had only ever dreamed about suddenly made real. Lack of sizing no longer an excuse I was really unsure how to proceed. Like a lot of plus size people I am used to buying what I can find to fit me rather than what I actually like.

When I tried on this top I was totally in love. It is made by the New Zealand brand Euphoria and is a light semi transparent top, hand screen printed across the front cross over panel. It goes with everything, can be worn over a long sleeve top in winter or a singlet in summer and feels totally great. When I wear it I feel like I am in designer duds. It was totally worth the high price tag. And even if you can't afford to shop there, anyone can look and get inspired by their amazing stuff.

edited to add: The pants are from TS14+. I love the hem detail and the way they make their trousers without closures that add bulk to the waist and tummy by clever cutting and good stretch fabrics. I buy most of my 'good/work' trousers there. The shoes are from Moutnfords and are made by Josef Seibel, my current fav in really good shoes that aren't totally out of the question on price. The black singlet under the nice top is from Target's organic cotton range (love that range).

open for business

Welcome.

I started this blog not because I have a great desire to write it (I'm busy with my main blog over here) but because I want to read it. I'm large, and so is my life and it is a constant disappointment to me that the blogs I read, the forums I search and the pictures I see so often don't apply to me.

My main thing at the moment is fashion. Like lots of plus size people I seem to oscillate between wanting to be invisible and wanting to really stand out. I find it difficult to determine the line between finding what suits me and wearing the clothes I feel my culture dictates fat people should wear. I worry about taking fashion risks and about being a middle age matron before my time (or at any time at all for that matter).

In real life I find feedback and advice, inspiration and community invaluable but often limited. I want to see more images of big people looking good, I want some role models and some advice from people who are unafraid, practical and innovative.

And because I sew a lot of clothes, I want more than just advice on what I wear. I want to talk about sewing experiences for big clothes too. The stylish sewers tips and tricks, the pattern and fabric wins and pitfalls, the tried and true methods and finishes that make people feel good about their clothes.

Knowing where to buy stuff is good too, especially down here in Oz where there are less clothes for plus size people and they are harder to find. Experience with individual brands, retail stores and online buying can really help other people size up their choices.

What I don't want this blog to become is one big whinge about being fat. I'm sure this blog will evolve and there's lots of stuff beside fashion that's worth talking about, but views and life choices about size and diet are too complex and personal for this forum. Neither do I want it become a place where people are harshly judgemental, humiliating and taking delight in other people's bad choices. A little bit of fashion disaster posting is always fun, but the main game is what we like, not what we don't.

I'm going to have to be braver than I usually am to post some of the stuff here I think it would be good to post. Sewing clothes in progress for example would be a great feature but you'll get to see some wobbly bits I usually keep out of view. I hope all those who post here will be brave too and I hope readers will respect that. A lot of us find it hard to step out into the harsh light of public scrutiny, so even those of us seeking feedback want it to be constructive and delivered with sensitivity and humour.

While I hope to post here often and retain the role of administrator for large, this is designed to be a community blog. The more people who post, the better it will be. I encourage you to contact me (soozs.com@gmail.com) if you'd like to be involved, either to become a regular poster, a one-off poster, or even just to email me a tip, link or suggestion for something you'd like to see posted about. Equally, commenting on other people's posts and photos is really important so I urge you to make the extra effort to do so, feedback and community are two way streets.