(  , goth skirts & gown, fairy skirts,some new with tags dresses, lots of cute things, :)  ).

So I've used Avenue for black (and other work) tights. They've been great and usually a few pairs last me the season and into the next year. I've bought something like 8 of them in the last 6-8 weeks and they've all ripped or ran on the first wearing.

Am I alone in this?

Thanks!

Hi everyone!

Second attempt at this for me; this time an outfit worn to work and then to a Skunk Anansie gig. Have been taking LOADS of inspiration from all the fabulousness in this community and have purchased some dresses to liven up the wardrobe instead of wearing the same old black bootlegs to work.

( baby steps... )

Promise to post more soon as I get all belted up!

Are any of you wonderful Fatshionistas heading out for Black Friday? I've got plans to hit the stores early with my sister but am wondering what stores my fellow fatties are checking out. Any great plus size bargains? Suggestions on where to go?

There is no store that is too early for consideration... and we have a great variety in the Chicago area.

Hi everybody,

Can anyone tell me how the unisex tri-blend (or any other) cardigans from American Apparel run? I typically wear an XL in most of their t-shirts if that helps.

Thanks!

effloresense makes the best damn cookies on the planet, I'm just saying. Today I'm thankful that I have a platter of them! I was all excited for my orange chicken lunch but the cookies kind of overshadowed the tastiness of the chicken. Now I don't want to go to Thanksgiving dinner, I just want to sit and eat cookies all day.

Hiya people,

I hope this is ok to post, since im not selling anything. Does anyone know of any stores still selling black maxi dresses? I finally discovered them just as they were starting to disappear and im so sad. I need them in either a 28 or a 4x.

I would appreciate recommendations if you have them

Thanks!

I posted here a little over a week ago, asking if I should get bangs. I promised photos if I did. And I did. ( And I like to keep my promises. )

hello fat folk!

i'm relatively new to FA and am looking for FA books. i've read Notes from the Fatosphere (took it out from the library) and really enjoyed it, but that's the only one i've read. i'm looking for relatively accesable non-fiction, as i'm a 17 y/o high school student and certainly no acedemic. and heck, if you know of any fat positive YA or adult fiction can you point me in that direction aswell?

♥ thanks, Sonia

So I wandered into Torrid today while at the mall trying to find a winter coat that suited my very specific and picky standards.* I've never actually been to a physical Torrid or bought anything from them but I'd been admiring some cute things on their website for a couple of months. I figured I should go see what the clothes look like IRL and how the sizing is before ordering something online. At this point I should say that I am a 16, occasionally a 14, and basically only shop at "straight size" stores. And by that I mean, that 95% of my self-bought wardrobe is from the Gap, Banana, Old Navy or H&M. I also have a strong preference for all things natural fibers (or at least a significant natural fiber make up). I thought it might be time to branch out a bit from Gap, Inc stores. I've gotten a couple things from Lane Bryant in my time and have generally been less than impressed with them for various reasons. I went to a Faith 21 Forever 21 store and tried things on, although I was unemployed at the time so I didn't buy anything. My forays into plus-sized specialized clothing stores, in other words, have been very limited. So many of you look adorable in stuff from Torrid, though, and some of the stuff on the website was appealing so I was eager to see what was on offer.

And boy, I was sorely disappointed. Firstly, there was a not a natural fiber to be found. I'm probably exaggerating a little bit but most of the clothes I looked at seemed to be made mostly out of polyester or acrylic. Worst of all, things looked sort of cheaply made--the sort of quality I'd expect at H&M or Forever 21's throw-away prices, for example, or even worse than that. Except, of course, the prices were a lot higher than H&M or Forever 21.

I decided to try on two dresses to get an idea of my sizing. I tried on this dress and this dress. Both of them were very.....bleh. Not very flattering and definitely not worth nearly $70. Pencil skirts never look good on me so the second gets a little bit of a pass on that account--I tried it on because I like the secretary dress look and wanted to see the look on me. Although the secretary dress is primarily cotton, it was very thin--not what I would expect from something at full price in the late fall. The store was really small and definitely didn't have the selection that the website did and was also sort of disorganized so I didn't hunt for other things to buy since it was late and I had not yet found my coat.

In any case, is this normal or did I catch the store/the clothes/myself on a bad day? One of my objections to Lane Bryant** is its overuse of polyester, so is this just ubiquitous in plus sized stores?


*This quest at least was successful--I bought this coat in blue at Lord & Taylor at 50% off! BTW, even though I'm a 16 with a big rack, the 14 fits well so it runs big.

**This might have changed since I last bought something there/was inside a store in circa early 2006.

Okay, slacked off for a bit, but here's my next to last set. This was the end of October, beginning of November, so you can see there's a very "rusty" look going on, which, givena full look, can be rather imposing and handsome. Watch out for the one with ducks!

( more under the cut )

I'm going to Las Vegas next week and would like to bring back some new wardrobe items. I saw that they have a Torrid and LB but I was thinking more boutique or some good thrift stores. You are all fantastic and inspirational to me!


I don't have a photo of them on yet but I will try to post something soon. I went to DSW and tried on Bare Traps Trudy slouch boot. I tried on the 81/2 wide and it fit my 20 caves! They only have WW in the store They are soo cute and I get tons of compliments. I walk everywhere and my feet have yet to hurt! I m a flats type of person because I'm pretty clumsy but the heel on this works! It has this hidden elastic panel to help with size. I later bought the 9 M online and it's tighter but I'm gonna stretch those puppies out.


http://www.dsw.com/dsw_shoes/catalog/product.jsp?index=14&sort=&category=dsw12cat530005&prodId=194740&brand=

Hello fellow fats!

I apologize if this has already been asked; but, can any one give feedback or a review on Evans tights?

Thanks!

in something that will fit a size 28. black, but other than that I'm ok with different types such as fishnet, solid, etc. (though I've found I sometimes need to spirit gum the ones with lace tops up; the nylons are fine but the lace wants to curl).


have any of you ever tried converting the plus sized fishnets and tights from We Love Colors (cutting them off, adding some elastic and shirring to conceal that, etc)?

So my sweet little girl has decided that she would still like to be transverse most of the time. If we spend a lot of time rubbing my tummy, she will move, but she really does prefer to be up in my lungs, sideways. The good news is that since she has demonstrated she is ABLE to move, the midwife was not terribly concerned at my appointment last week. She did indicate that by this week's appointment, they'd want to be looking a little closer, but that last week was not the do-or-die that they had originally told me.

The crappy thing about that appointment was the little squabble she and I got into over my declining a cervical check. It's common to begin cervical checks at 36 weeks, and I planned to decline all of my checks. Honestly, being some amount effaced or some amount dilated means absolutely nothing until labor and even then, it's not uncommon to go from 5 cm to 10 cm in less than 20 minutes. In all likelihood, I'd be declining most cervical checks during active labor, too. So the midwife gets done telling me that baby feels head down (and she was for about 2 hours surrounding my appointment time) but that since she was moving around so much it didn't likely mean much.

Another little procedure that they do at this time is a Group B Strep swab - if you want to have a water birth and avoid unnecessary IV antibiotics, you kind of need to consent to having the test done. So, I was stripped and waiting for them to shove a 9 inch q-tip in the places that they were going to do so and she starts in on me about having a cervical check, which I'd already declined. Her reasoning? To make absolutely sure that baby is head down. Umm... we just spent 5+ minutes talking about how it didn't really matter if she was or wasn't, I had another week. So if it doesn't matter, why are you now backpedaling and trying to get me to have a fucking cervical check?

I was so upset - she kept pushing the subject. Let's see... I'm stripped, legs in stirrups, flat on my back where I can't look you in the eye, trying to decline an unnecessary medical procedure and this is a good position of power for me? Um, no. Fuck you. I was so upset - here I was, in a relatively uninvasive medical practice, with a female care provider, with all socioeconomic factors being equal and I STILL felt uncomfortable declining this procedure. Imagine how I would feel if I didn't speak much English, was poor, didn't understand that it was truly unnecessary and wasn't a stubborn ass. Yeah, I would have been subjected to a painful, uncomfortable procedure with the risk of introducing infection that would have meant absolutely nothing because as soon as I ate a fucking chocolate donut an hour later, she was flipped and transverse again.

That midwife has been renamed Lisa-fucking-stick-up-her-ass. I'll not be seeing her again.

That whole process really got me thinking about what I/we really want from the birthing process. Natural childbirth is so damn important to me, I can't even describe it. My entire birth plan has been created as one giant defensive tactic to avoid unnecessary intervention. I started having nagging doubts in the back of my head... we're only going to do this once, what if I regret having a hospital birth? Tons of women say that home birth is worth the investment, every time - that the peace of mind that comes from knowing you don't have to struggle tooth and nail to get your choices respected is worth the debt you'll incur if you don't have out-of-hospital coverage.

Well... enter Meg the doula earlier this week. Meg is a friend of Angie's, from herbalism classes and we went to have some social time with her to see what she might suggest for the little transverse baby. We were talking through some of my birth plan choices and I specifically brought up tearing and being stitched up after tearing. I asked Meg if she thought the midwifes at St. Joe's would let me decline stitches for 1st or 2nd degree tearing and it sort of all came crashing down around me that yes, in all likelihood, I may just have spent hours giving birth and even if I achieve the natural birth that's important to me, I may still be fighting for things to be done my way when I'm exhausted and emotionally wiped out. Meg works with a midwifery practice here in Minneapolis that has had excellent luck getting insurance reimbursement on home births and suggested we meet.

At first I wasn't sure. On the way home from Meg's, I told Angie that maybe I should put my energy into making peace with a hospital birth instead of spending these final weeks chasing down a home birth pipe dream. Kollin and I briefly talked about things when I got home, but it was late and I was tired. Still, I fell asleep thinking that it was better to try and make peace with the options of least resistance. Well, when 6 a.m. rolled around, I found myself in a partial wake/sleep stage and I was having the most lovely dream/dream state that was our living room. The lights were soft, the Yule tree was twinkling in the corner, there was quiet conversation and I was surrounded by loving friends (not a limit of 2 due to H1N1) and chosen family in the birthing tub. We brought our little girl into the world at home, surrounded by home, family and love.

I knew this 11th hour dream wasn't going to die a quiet death at that point. As soon as reasonable people would be awake, I called Meg and we started making arrangements to meet the home birth midwives of Trillium Midwifery. I really, really want this to work out. I don't want to give birth and then always wish I would have done it differently.

So, all in all, I'm feeling less stressed about everything, including baby's position. Even if she stays transverse, she'll likely move down once labor starts. If I'm not participating in a hospital-based practice, I don't have to worry about fighting off interventions I don't want and I can focus on letting birth happen to me instead of making my birth a battle for what I want and need.

This weekend will be the last of the nesting - we're picking up the wardrobe tonight so that the office can get the last organization it needs before moving all her cutie patootie stuff into it. We're dyeing diapers on Sunday, woot! Then she can come any time.

I found some awesome close to knee high boots at walmart for $40! They are flat, fake leather, have a roundish toe, and have three buckles up the back of the boot with lots of extra material under them. They fit my 18 inch calves with room to spare and the great part is they're adjustable! They look pretty water resistant too. They come in a smooth beige colour or a really cool looking distressed leather look in black. I would have totally got the black ones if I didn't already bite the bullet and order some from Torrid (which I am now regretting...). They have a pretty good boot selection with some options for us larger-calfed folk, I'd at least go check it out if you're a Walmart friendly person.

( I tried half heartedly to take a picture... )

I live in southern Texas, so there isn't much of a need for real jackets. I'm moving to Austin in January, though, so I'm going to need a medium-weight winter jacket. I'm thinking a peacoat.

Problem is, I'm at least 6' tall, and jackets that I order always end up too short--in the body, but especially in the sleeves. Are there any other tall fats who can suggest either online or brick-and-mortar stores? For reference, I'm a size 22-24.

Many thanks!