Breakthrough Moment

So yesterday I had a really busy day and it was 4 o'clock before I realized that I had not eaten all day and I was starving. I was at a subway station and facing 45 minutes on the subway before a 15 minute walk home.

I stopped at the Gateway shop at Warden station and bought, horror of horrors, an orange juice and a bag of potato chips (hey, when you keep strictly kosher and can not eat dairy there are not a whole lot of healthy subway station options).

Being a fat girl and not wanting anyone to decide to randomly tell me how awful I was for eating, especially junk food, in public I shoved the stuff into my purse.

I got on the subway (ok, Warden Station has to be the only place in the city where you need to go UP 2 flights of steps to get to the subway) and tried to open things as quietly as possible so no one would notice. Eating out of my purse.

I kept looking around as if waiting to see who would "catch" me.

Want to know something? No one was looking at me at all! No one cared what the hell anyone else was doing. We were all caught up in staring out into space and trying not to make eye contact with anyone.

Believe it or not I am not the centre of everyones world. I know! Who would have thunk it? No one, and I mean NO ONE was looking at me and thinking how awful I was. In fact no one was looking at me at all!

What a rush.

So if I combine this with the shmuck who insulted me at the Eaton's Centre a few months ago, we learn that apparently only lonely losers with nothing better to do go around staring at strangers and trying to figure out how to insult them.

Good afternoon Ladies and Jellyspoons

I come before you to stand behind you
And tell you something I know nothing about

Next Thursday,which is Good Friday,
there will be a Mothers meeting,for Fathers only.

Wear your best clothes if you haven't any,
and if you can come, please stay at home.

Admission's free pay at the door.
Take a seat and sit on the floor.

And now back to your regularly scheduled program.

Plussize clothing Swap

Tentatively

Feb 24, say, 7? My place. Right near Lawrence West subway station. Please email a reply to swap@phony-art.com so I can create an invite list.

Toronto plus-size clothing swap?

Would anyone be interested?

Some of my own past work. Mostly available on Etsy in my shop.

SALE!

I got an email from maximum woman this morning about their "Come and get it" sale. Sales rack with tops for $10, bottoms for $15, and dresses for 50% off! There are also daily door crashers on their sale page. Winter jackets are also on sale.

For free shipping on online orders over $160 (before taxes) use coupon code FREE
Join their mailing list for a coupon for a free on sale top with in store purchase over $75.

Sale on from now until Valentines day.

Look! Look! It's me!

http://thisisitcreations.blogspot.com

How cool is this! I get to to be on someone else's blog!

Ok, I know, I know. I should not look to other people for my own vlaue, but this is neat!

Ssssshhhhh... It's a secret

It looks like I am going to be joining a new fat focused web portal for online shopping as a seller. I will post way more information once their site is closer to being up and running, but in the meantime, um,

COOL! :)

Wowsers! DIY formalwear

Raise your hand if you are above a size 10 and have ever had trouble finding the perfect formal dress. Do I see every single reader raising their hand emphatically and jumping up and down screaming "Me! Me! Me!"

Well have found an awesome solution.

Coco Myles Formal Wear is a DIY formalwear site for the non sewers amongst us. They have a selection of tops and bottoms in a number of styles, add-ons including everything bows to shawls to beading, a selection of fabrics, and best of all everything comes in every size from 2 to 32! The price difference in the larger sizes is so minimal (roughly $20) that you know it is just the cost of extra fabric.

They also include this caveat in their FAQ

"If you need a dress larger than size 32, or smaller than a size 2, then we can create it for you."

Yes ladies, they are willing to work with you to create a dress that will make you feel like a princess! They can do everything from a little black dress to celebrity look-a-likes straight from the red carpet.

I just sat and played with their dress maker thingy for half an hour in awe.

Their size chart and "how to measure" page are well laid out and easy to use. They even provide a printable measuring tape in case you do not have one.

They are also willing to shorten/lengthen their dresses for $10... less than I would pay my local seamstress.

Plus sized dresses ran around the $150 mark, but the most expensive one that I could put together was still under $220 (including assumed shortening as I am short). Well within one I would expect to pay for a custom dress... heck, within what I would expect to pay for a formal off the rack dress!

So shipping is what it really comes down to. I have to say that this is where the plan falls apart a little. $40 for shipping is a little steep. On the other hand, when you work it in to the price of the dress it is still not entirely unreasonable. They also have shipping deals if you are buying more than one item (say dresses for a bridal party, all available from one site, in matching fabrics, in every size).

A little of my own recent work. Plus sized rings

I don't know about everyone else, but finding fin and fashionable rings in larger sizes seems to be next to impossible! Rings are actually one of the first pieces of jewelery I made because I pretty much gave up on ever finding anything reasonable priced.

Please do not misunderstand me. I know that I can always have a ring resized to a larger size (and in fact do it frequently for my customers), but they always look like "regular" rings sized up, and not like they were designed to look right at their current size.

My rings are available custom made to a size 15. I actually use larger size stone, and create my patterns with graduated sized cutwork so my pieces never look like "little rings made bigger" and instead look balanced and harmonious.

Top right is sterling silver and amethyst. The centre stone is 10mm across and a gorgeous dark purple colour with no visible flaws. Bottom left is a hammered sterling silver band with a 5mm dark green emerald and no additional embellishments. It has a very rustic, almost viking-like look to it and never fails to get noticed. These items are no longer available in my etsy store, but can be remade to order in any size imaginable.