Since becoming more active in the plus-size fashion community I have been making an effort to beef up my wardrobe with some key pieces that can be used over and over again.

But as well all know, fashion in general is expensive these days, and plus-size fashion is even more ridiculously overpriced. And if you live outside of the US you can pretty much forget about finding anything of quality at a good price in your stores!

So I sure was excited when I found plus size retailer Sealed With A Kiss Designs (SWAK), an online shop with some cute designs, affordable prices and free shipping worldwide! Yippee!! I had read some reviews of their clothing in the fatshionista! community and they sounded ok.

I quickly placed an order for a few things I had had my eye on for a while, confident that what I would receive would be of sufficient size and quality for me. I even checked my measurements to make sure I picked the right size. Now, for the price range that SWAK sells, I wasn’t expecting beautifully handmade items in natural fibres… but I DID expect something more than what I ended up getting

Here is what I ordered, and my thoughts.

Alicia Shirt Dress ($49.60 CAD)

Looks pretty cute, eh? I love shirt dresses, they look fantastic on me. I wanted another one in a lighter colour and this fit the bill for colour and price.

Unfortunately it didn’t fit the most important thing–ME.

I ordered it a size up from what I normally wear because I was afraid of sizing issues. It is easy for me to take something in, but if it’s too small there is nothing to be done!

When I tried this on I was so surprised! The damn thing was too small! Even in the bust area where I am less endowed the buttons were gaping. Actually, along the entire button line it was gaping. The dress is mostly cheapo spandex so I expected it to give a little, but I looked like a khaki sausage wearing it. After trying it on I estimate that I would have been better served if I had ordered 3 SIZES LARGER than what I normally wear.

Why is the sizing so off on this dress that I would need to order 3 sizes larger than what I really am, just to get it to fit?

Not to mention that the fabric was very thin–I know that for a $40 dress you can’t expect TOO much, but I really thought it would be a bit less see-through, you know? The stitching was also a little bit loose and overall the dress felt cheap and low-quality.  I suppose if I were to lose another 20 lbs I might be able to wear this without inflicting pain on everyone who sees me.

I’m very disappointed.

Plus Size Stretch Leggings ($24.80 CAD)

I have a pair of leggings from Torrid that I love, so I thought I’d get another pair to wear with my skirts & dresses in the colder weather.

These… are ok. They’re basically thick tights with a seam and no feet. I was a little worried that they wouldn’t fit since they’re one size fits all, but I managed to get them on. They feel ok but I think I prefer my cotton-blend full leggings from Torrid more. These ones are a little too close to being tights for me to truly love them, but I think I will be able to use them.

Not a total loss, but I wish the site description was better.

Anastasia Interchangeable Wrap Dress ($80.61 CAD)

I have mixed feelings about this dress. I had originally wanted the Monif C Marilyn dress, but at over $200 I thought it was a little excessive for some shapeless jersey material. This SWAK dress seemed like a good alternative.

This is probably the best thing out of my whole order. I love the feeling of the fabric, it hangs well and doesn’t look too cheap (I was worried about that!) and I think with some practice I will be able to wrap it really well.

The drawbacks I encountered with this garment was the inferior workmanship. I found the skirt piece was cut irregularly, with a giant piece of uncut fabric actually hanging off the hem! I couldn’t believe it! I cut it off myself before I thought to take a photo. I was not impressed. I haven’t made sewing or cutting mistakes like that on my garments since I was a kid!

I also noticed that the stitching around the circle skirt and the straps was rather poorly done. I would have reinforced the stitching much more than what they had done. Already I have heard some threads tear as I lifted it over my head so I’ll have to be careful with it moving forward. At least I could probably sew it back together if it falls apart?

I’m debating whether I could make this for myself cheaper. I think I may take a gander at the costs of making one myself–if it’s cheaper then I’ll make some for me and my friends, but if it’s not cheaper then this is the one piece I think I might actually purchase again in different colours.

A Belt

I also purchased a stretch belt with some cute buckles in front. It’s no longer on the site so I can’t post a photo of it, but it was a BIG FAT FAIL.

The belt came as a one size fits all… but only if you’re “regular” size! I’m a 2x and I could hardly get the thing done up under my breasts (which is the smallest part of my abdomen) even with the stretchy material. I am so frustrated by this–I literally cannot wear it because it’s so tight it hurts. This is another example of SWAK’s wonky sizing. If you’re selling a plus-size belt, it should be able to fit larger than a 1x person, especially if it’s touted as one size fits all.

Overall Impressions

Shop at your own risk. Expect low-quality items and be wary of the cuts and styles you purchase. However, if you go in aware of these issues, you may be able to find some good deals if you don’t mind the quality too much!

Personally I would be willing to try them again if they had an awesome sale and introduced some better-quality pieces.

I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately, but I REALLY want the following:

Morocco Snake print bathing suit by Monif C

Marilyn short convertible dress in fuschia, also by Monif C

Blueberry Babe hand-painted heels by Jellyfish

Black Diamond Platforms by Iron Fist

Flaunt dress (in any colour!) by Kiyonna

Fierce Leopard Dress also by Kiyonna

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about fashion lately which isn’t necessarily a good thing! Because then I end up with lust for so many items…

Thank goodness for 3-paycheque months!

This past week I just bought 2 new necklaces, both as a result of my silversmithing involvement!

I can’t remember if I mentioned it, but the studio I do my work at had a booth at an arts & crafts show this past weekend. They were pimping out their workshops and wanted to display the work of some advanced students, and they asked me for my stuff! Yay!

So I got some free studio time out of the deal, and I got to see my work displayed all professional-like. I stopped by the show and spoke with a professional smith that was manning the booth and she said that people kept trying to pick up my stuff and buy it! That just tickles me pink; that folks think my work is good enough to buy! The artist herself said that I should capitalize on my awesome skull pendants and produce more of them to sell. They’re a really hot motif right now and people love handmade things like that (hey, if I offered them, would you ever consider buying one? I’m trying to gauge interest…)

Anyway, since I had to pay to get into the show I figured I ought to look around. There was lots of cool artzy phartzy Queen West type stuff on offer with a rather high amount of knitted stuff and paperworks around. There were a few other jewelery makers there, and this particular piece caught my eye:

$50 later and it was mine! The small acorn is made from a pearl, while the large acorn is a glass pearl. The top of the large acorn is actually cast from a real acorn cap in brass, and then plated with gold. The little beads are Swarovski crystals.  The gal who made it doesn’t have a shop, but you can check out her blog here.

I don’t normally like brown tones in my things, but I really liked this one! And I like how it tinkles together when I move around

The next piece I got was actually made by Rickson. She happened to be the gal at MY booth at the show. Turns out we have a lot in common: we both LOVE LOVE LOVE kitties, and accessories, too! I had seen her cat pendant earlier at the studio and thought it looked fantastic.

So tonight while I was there, I bought it!

It comes in silver & brass and several sizes. I bought the tiniest brass one because I am trying to bring more gold tones into my accessories. It’s SO cute! And I love cats! Her stuff is definitely worth checking out if you’re interested, all her work is done through the casting process, rather than construction. It’s the same way I made the skull pendants. This set me back about $78 after taxes. Ouch!

I love my new things but I really think I should stop going to studios, stores and shows! Thank goodness all my Christmas shopping is done already!

Today is so gross.

It’s cold.
It’s wet.
It’s snowing AND raining AND hailing
It’s windy
It’s slushy
It’s grey

Ugh. Not a very pleasant day at all! I don’t know what is up with the weather today! I was expecting some nice fluffy snow and instead I get soaked to my skivvies on the way to the subway this morning. Then the subway is too crowded so I wait 4 trains and then get on one which then halts because one ahead of it broke! Bah humbug!

So yeah. Not a totally happy camper. But you know what? My feet are still warm and dry.

I know. I can’t believe that in all the slush I had to walk through this morning sans wellingtons or umbrella that my tootsies would be warm and dry. But it’s the silver lining to my day, it seems.

What do I have to thank for this reprieve from chilly misery?

My cheap-ass Walmart boots!

(Not actually my leg, and my boots are black instead)

They’re totally plastic and kind of cheap-looking, but I’ll be damned if they didn’t keep out all the rain and slush! They’re almost as good as rain boots! I never would have expected this of them; all my experiences with Walmart brand ANYTHING usually end up with me chucking out whatever I bought because of some defect or the shit quality.

I guess as long as the glue holds they’ll keep the water out! I am so tempted to spray them with my leather protector too, to give them that extra oompf.

I want to send props out to the Fatshionista community and particularly socrepuscular (That is her leg up there) for posting about these babies. It’s not easy to find cute, inexpensive boots that actually fit plus sized calves, so these were quite the find. Fashionable, AND practical! The holy grail!

I found myself in a place I said I would never go again.

A shopping mall.

I went back today because it has a Walmart and I wanted to get this cheapo pair of flat boots that would fit my wide calf (as seen in the Fatshionista! community). Lucky for me it wasn’t the zoo it was on the weekend. Note to self: do your shopping on a weird day!

I ended up taking several detours, slowly accumulating bags and purchases like it was my business! (Luckily I had my trusty reusable bags with me to help carry everything, including my My Bag! You can win one from me too, you know! To help you with your shopping! Just click here to enter!)

I just finished jotting down a list of all the people/events I must provide a gift for, and it breaks down like this:

7 (minimum) xmas gifts
4 birthdays
1 housewarming

That is TWELVE gifts that I have to come up with! For me that is a simply staggering amount! I am doing everything as frugally as possible, and I vacillate between being ridiculously proud of myself and crying in the corner because I still spent so much money.

So far I have about 6 of the gifts covered, and am well on my way to finishing up the remainder.

For my friends I’m trying to be uber-frugal, but in the end I wonder how much everything is going to cost. All the little pieces, sunk costs and miscellaneous bits that need to come together for these gifts could end up being quite the investment. For wrapping, I’ve been using the little that I have on hand, and have also visited a dollar store for some interesting items. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m going to be baking/making little bags of goodies for everyone as the finishing piece to their gifts.

Here’s a photo of some of the things I’m giving away that I have ready to go:

Homemade apple butter & vanilla extract

I made and canned a batch of apple butter in the summer, and also made my own vanilla extract, both of which you can see in this photo.

I’m actually going to be including more stuff in each gift basket for my friends, but I don’t have it all in one place yet. Each friend is roughly going to get:

• A jar of canned fruit I grew, picked & canned myself in the summer (pears or plums)
• a jar of apple butter
• and/or homemade pickles I made at the same time
• and/or a bottle of vanilla
• a bag or two of sweets
• a pretty little basket or bag to hold it all in!

Once I’ve got it all together I’ll be sure to take some photos–if everything works out they should be pretty good-looking gifts! (Not gonna lie… when I try I am very talented at wrapping & presentation! You can see my mom’s gift in the background )

Even though I bitch and complain about putting these gifts together, I really enjoy doing it. If I had more or unlimited money I would do so much more! But I’d still probably include something handmade, and I like all my gifts to be as thoughtful as possible.

I just wish money wasn’t such a big concern for me right now. I don’t want to think about it, and I haven’t tallied anything up yet, but I have an inkling that these “frugal gifts” are actually costing me a lot more than I anticipated. Everything from the cost of the jars & wrapping supplies and the ingredients to make the goodies will eventually add up.

The question is–do I really want to know?

Oh man. I just hit up two events today and I am positively overloaded with

SWAG.

My arms actually hurt from carrying it home (time to hit the gym again!!). It’s all very exciting! I shall post about it as soon as I can…

*giggle*

Check this out!

My worlds are colliding, man!

It’s a KITTY CAT PIGGY BANK.

My love of cats + money in one!

It’s only 8 bucks on the Animal Rescue Shop, too! I think I may have to get one!

The best part is that for every purchase on this site, food is donated to animals in need. I am totally on board with that. I really like this site, too. Sure, there’s lots of tacky stuff, but for every 2 tacky things there is at least one super cute thing, too.

OOOOHHH! I think I just saw plant pots! Time for me to go!

I received an email from a reader today asking me how the hunt for a scooter was going. I guess I haven’t done an update on my decision, have I?

To save me some time and effort, here’s what I wrote back:

“The search is postponed for the time being due to funding issues…

At first I decided to look at other brands because the Vespas really are more expensive, but eventually I decided that I just wasn’t in a position to purchase a scooter with cash this year. I would have to purchase not only the scooter, but also insurance and pay my way through the licensing system and take riding lessons as well.

It would be quite the investment.

With the economy the way it is and my friends losing their jobs left right and centre I figured it would be a better idea for me to focus on my Emergency Fund rather than a non-essential scooter.

If you’re interested in one of your own, all I can say is research, research, research! Talk to people that own them, read reviews, etc. to find the model that is right for you. I had my eye on a Yamaha Vino for a while. I never got far enough into the decision-making process to decide whether to go new or try my hand at a used scooter, so I can’t offer any advice there.”

———

So there you have it. I still really, really want a scooter, but it’s just not in the cards for me right now. I still stare wistfully at all of the scooters parked in front of my building every day, wishing that one of them was mine. But I simply cannot afford to buy one right now.

HOWEVER: If someone would like to give me one, I would be more than happy to accept!

I’m currently whipping through Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success.

It is the shit.

I love this man. His books are incredible and so insightful, you need to check them all out. Easy to read and understand, yet so powerful. Fascinating… I could go on and on.

It’s interesting to identify yourself in some of his books (Tipping Point–I’m a Maven) and it looks like I’ve got the makings of a moderate Outlier so far.

I will spare you the details of this book as the Amazon summary does a better job, but so far I am loving it and recommend it to all my friends. And everyone.

This guy is pure gold. I brought up his book The Tipping Point in my job interview and BAM! I got the job!

Was it magic?

If you’re interested in his other books, these are the ones that I’ve read:

• Outliers: The Story of Success
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

PS. If you buy them (and you should!) I will get some pennies from Amazon’s Associate program! Help a gal out and get some great reading material!

I don’t really know how it started, but at some point I began getting tired of my reusable bags. I’ve got a decent collection of them, a couple of the recycled President’s Choice bags, one from the Metro grocery store, and a bunch with branding and logo on them–the kind you get for free a lot.

The problem is, they’re all pretty ugly, I don’t like walking around looking like an advertisement (at least pay me something, sheesh!) and none of them really rolled or folded up small enough to carry in my purse for those last-minute shopping trips. I also wanted to use them to cart things to and from the office everyday and didn’t really feel like announcing to the world that I shop at Cotton Ginny each time.

I was checking out my Google Reader one day and came across a great WiseBread post about stylish reusable bags. The article reviewed three brands: the Flip & Tumble, Baggu and RuMe. I thought it was a really excellent article, so I’m going to share it with you.

Personally, I think all the bags are pretty awesome. Each of them have some unique traits that make them really cool. At first I really liked the Baggu bags due to their awesome colours and prints. But the actual design of the bag wasn’t perfect for me– the handles didn’t look like they would fit over my shoulder very well, and I didn’t like that the little pouch you store them in is not attached to the bag itself–I would totally lose it!

Next I looked at the Flip & Tumble. I know Mama Bear had one of these and she loved it. I think the design is awesome; but again it would only serve me as a shoulder bag and not one that I could easily carry in my hands. Groceries are heavy and I like to switch up my carrying position as I go!

So finally, I came to the RuMe bag (Roomy–get it?). It was love at first sight. Not only are they available in several different sizes, but also some breathtaking patterns and colours! And of course, they fit my carrying criteria; I could hoist them with my shoulder, or carry them in my hand without having to perform some intricate band-twisting.

I love that they come in “collections”, you can buy a set of 3 coordinating bags in different sizes or buy them individually. I like a lot of them, but since I don’t really need 20-some-odd bags to carry around with me, I had to select just one set.

So I picked the Spring in New York Patterned collection!

This is what they actually look like all folded up (I still need to practice a bit so I can get them as flat as they come originally!) I included a lip balm for scale reference. The photo below is the one that I keep in my purse. Three bags is a bit much to haul all the time, but they’re ok if you’ve got a planned shopping trip!

Now, the sad part is that these are only available through one online retailer in Canada, and they were kind of pricey. At $34.95 plus $7.50 for shipping I ended up spending $47 total for 3 bags. However, there was a silver lining! In honour of Earth Day the merchant was throwing in another bag for free if you ordered before March 31, so I got the pink one to go with my patterned ones! Totally fab.

I actually had a good experience with this retailer, too. I think it’s worth mentioning! Even though the shipping cost was a little on the high side, I placed my order at 4pm on a Thursday, and they were delivered by noon on Friday! They sent me emails each time an action happened on my order so I always knew what the status was, and I even got an email from a real lady telling me I would be getting an extra bag for free. It is so refreshing to be treated like a valued, human customer!

Now that I’ve had the chance to use my bags a couple of times I can say that I am totally happy with my purchase! They are a great size, strong, roll up well and are SO stylish! Haha I feel so chic when I walk downtown with my RuMe bag… not only are they stylin’ but also eco-chic! I just know ALL the girls that see me are envious of my beautiful bags hehehe

If you’re interested in getting your own RuMe bag(s) so you can be as cool as me, they are available at GoneShopping.ca for Canadian customers (they’ll give you a free one if you order before March 31), and RuMeBags.com for everyone else.

Happy shopping!