Leeds Plus Sized Clothes Swap!

Hey one and all. Just a quick post to say that I've confirmed details for the next plus sized clothes swap in Leeds! The next one will be taking place on Sunday 26th August at Wharf Chambers (Wharf Street, Leeds) between 1 and 5pm. It costs just £1 to get in.

Bring along any clothes you have (in reasonable condition) for swapping, and hopefully you'll be able to find some new pieces. As per last time, we'll have sewing machines for skills sharing, a fat positive reading corner and hopefully some zines and baked goods for sale! It probably goes without saying, but we try and keep the space body positive and supportive of all attendees.

If you want to come and are on social media, please RSVP on facebook here to give us an idea of numbers. Even if you can't make it but know anyone that might be interested, please pass the info on as every bit of word of mouth helps to bring more people to the space.

p.s. rad poster to come shortly!

Another quick post about clothes swapping fun. I’m hoping that myself and the other members of the Yorkshire Rad Fat Collective (join ussssss) will be able to organise another swap in August. In order to set a rough date to start thinking about planning it, I created a doodle poll, which checks anyone who is interested in attending’s availability over the month. It takes a few seconds and no registration, so if you’d like to come swapping, let me know which weekends would suit you. We’ll plan it for the weekend where most are available.

Fill it out here.

xx


P.S. I now have a facebook page for this blog! Likes are appreciated (aren't they always?). Find me here. 

Clothes Swap!

Hello one and all! As you probably remember, last year I helped to organise a plus sized clothes swap in Leeds - and now we're putting on another!

This time we're in a different, more central venue in Leeds, Wharf Chambers. As well as the zine and reference corner we had last time, this time we're also bringing our sewing machines along for help with alterations, advice and craft fun. You'll also be able to pick up my zine Make It Work (it's still at the printers, but for those who can't come I'll be posting soon about how you can get a copy). The venue has a cafe service with tea and cake, and we welcome clothing for all gender identities. It's probably obvious to state, but the event is body positive and queer friendly!

There's a facebook event here - you can RSVP there if you're on facebook. There's no need to tell us you're coming, however if you can it will give us an idea of the numbers we're expecting. If you have any questions about the event, you can also either post on the facebook wall, or email me at fattyunbound@gmail.com.

We're running from 1-5, and it's £1 to get in. Bring along any clothes in reasonable condition, and you can swap them for ones you want!

Even if you can't make it, please let anyone who might be interested know about the event - any publicity is much appreciated. Otherwise, hope to see people there for more fun chatter and swapping!

Still wayyyy behind with all of my outfit posts - I still haven't posted about my sales purchases! Here's an outfit I remixed for work before Christmas - the dress is a summer sale purchase, and one of my staple work dresses. I'm not great with tailoring (you might have noticed), mainly because my body completely changes shape when I'm sat down (this move turns most knee length shift dresses into minis! Not good!), so I try and go for smart jersey pieces instead.

Dress, £15, Dorothy Perkins
Cardigan was one I picked up from Rebecca when we met over the summer (summer?! What's that?!), free
Boots, Rocketdog, £50
Necklace, Primark, £2

In other news, I'm super excited about Plus London 2! Claire of Monkey Fatshionista is organising it this year, and it looks great. Brands involved include Domino Dollhouse, One Stop Plus, Simply Be and Anna Scholz, and there's going to be a fashion show, pop up photography studio and a clothes swap (so you know I'm there). Hopefully I'll get my arse into gear and finish my zine in time for it too! It's open to bloggers and friends of bloggers, and you can see the facebook event here and the tumblr here. If you want to attend, drop Claire a line at supermonkey79atgmaildotcom to RSVP. Hope to meet some of you there!

Clothes Swap!

This Saturday was the day of the fat clothes swap I helped organised! It was an awesome day spent with lots of rad fat women, and as per usual, I nearly entirely forgot to document it! We took over a room in a local pub for the event, strung up bunting and fairy lights, as well as having a zine table and some cakes for munching. We also put together a mailing list to try and start more of a local fat acceptance community locally (if you want to be added, just email me). It was well attended and I think we all went home with some warm fat related feelings and some new clothes, which is amazing. We're hoping to hold another one after Christmas, so keep an eye out for more details. In the mean time, here is my not-so-great attempt at documenting the day:

Clothes!

Zines and books:


I took the day as an opportunity to wear a vintage housecoat I picked up in Portland over the summer, which is the stuff of garish colour lovers' dreams. I sewed up the front to make it a dress instead so it could see more daylight!

Dress, $20, vintage store
Belt, old vintage stock
Tights, M&S
Brogues, Primark, £12
Badge, gifted!


And a last close up of the serious business awesome badge that the lovely Donna made for me, which had to come out for the event! Oh, and my new fancy glasses, which are from Lensway if anyone is interested.

K x

CLOTHES SWAPPPP

I can't believe I've forgotten to post this! There's going to be an amaze-balls clothes swap happening in London-town soon - it's an all sizes event organised by the truly wonderful Claire of Monkey Fatshionista on the 10th September. It's going to be held at the Hoop and Grapes in Farringdon, and I am desperately hoping to be there (I've started working Saturdays and still waiting for my rota). In any case, I'm sure there will be some amazing clothes there (especially as Simply Be are donating some bits!). You can find out more information on facebook here or you can go check out Claire's blog for more details.

On another note, I'd love to do something similar in Leeds (where I am now living!), and if anyone fancies helping to organise or forming a badass fatty collective locally then you know where to find me. K x

Big Beach Bums

Hello once again!

I'm sadly still without internet (though my laptop has been repaired at last), so posts around here may be a little thin on the ground for a while. I did, however, want to devote some time to talking about Big Beach Bums, which happened over a week ago now. Of course, I was useless and didn't really take any photographs, so instead I've pinched a few from the lovely Claire and Ragini, who both posted about the day also.

We were a small group of five after a few people dropped out. This actually proved great as it met we could all go around the shops together, and I also really enjoyed being able to get to know everyone much easier! The day was absolutely foul, so sadly we kept our pottering to the shops and later a pub to avoid being swept off our feet on the beach! Oh, the joys of British weather...

Anyway, here are some photographs taken from other posts:

My boyfriend (who lasted all of about half an hour on the vintage front, haha), Rebecca, me, Claire and Nadia after first meeting up.

The cavernous Beyond Retro! We did the bulk of our rummaging here and came up with a good haul including:

this rather spectacularly garish jersey tie dye affair, which I actually could not resist (Belly swirls are the best)

Ragini

After this we headed off and ate some cheap grub at Pompoko, and then hit the bargain rails on Sydney Street (where I scored a lovely plaid 40s-esque dress, and Ragini found a lovely coral trench for £5!), before hitting a coffee shop for some well deserved rest and chattering.

After this we headed to meet up with our other halves in the pub for some more drinks. Overall it was a lovely day, and great to get to hang out with everyone for so long! I only wish I could spend more time with such awesome fats on a more regular basis.

Outfit post to follow shortly!

BIG BEACH BUMS - maps and plans!

Another BBB post for anyone who's interested in attending (see here for the original post for any further information. It's a fat positive meet up, with vintage shopping and hang outs on Brighton beach. Anyone is welcome! Just let me know if you plan to attend by emailing me at fattyunbound@gmail.com).

I've spent the last few weeks researching where to take us on our big day out (this has been a thinly veiled excuse to go vintage shopping a lot), and I've finally got a plan and a map! Hurrah!

The interactive map with all points marked can be viewed here. I've put the itinerary information, along with a screen cap of the map with all of our shopping streets (I've put stars next to the shops I recommend), and some names of recommended eating places, in a PDF file, which can be seen downloaded here from megaupload for all attending.

The itinerary is as follows (please check the map to cross-reference where the locations are!):

11:00 - Meet in Pelham Square, which is a couple of minutes walk from Brighton rail station. It's a nice leaft square with benches, so we can all have a catch up while we wait for the others.

11:30 - We’ll all walk to Beyond Retro as a group to commence the shopping. Beyond Retro is the biggest vintage shop in Brighton - it’s not the cheapest, but it will be a nice large space for us to start rummaging.

12:15-ish: More shopping! Vintage shops in Brighton are pinpointed on the map to the on the following page. Depending on how many of us there are by this point, we can either walk around as a group or alternatively split off into smaller groups.

2:00: Reassemble in Pelham Square to compare finds, catch up with any late arrivals and have another chatter.

2:30-ish: Luncheon! Either bring sandwiches and some nibbles, and we’ll all go for a picnic on the beach, or otherwise there are some recommended eateries further down with the map details. Brighton is a fantastic place to eat, so

3:30: Beach time! We’ll meet in Jubilee Square this time, then wander down to the beach as a whole, where we can party rad fat style to our heart’s content!

As people have trains and whatnot to catch, I’ve left the evening relatively free/unplanned, but for those who are staying late or overnight, maybe we could partake in a drink or two? I know of at least one 241 cocktail deal!

Sunday:

If anyone is in Brighton overnight, I’d wholeheartedly recommend the Brighton Antiques Fair and Car Boot sale which takes place in Brighton Marina car park on Sundays from 7am-1pm. It is easily reached by buses from the train station (any that are going to the Marina), or alternatively you can get the Volks Electric Railway from Brighton pier (this runs every 15 minutes from 10:15) to Brighton Marina. I’ll certainly be going along, so if anyone fancies accompanying let me know!

If anyone would let any further recommendations for things to do locally, let me know! My contact details are included on the PDF (phone, email, twitter), and I'm happy to answer any questions about the day or provide any information which is lacking. Anyone can join at any point of the day - just call or text me if you're arriving later into the day, and I can arrange for you to convene with the group.

So, yes, spread the word, and I'll be seeing you all soon! Huzzah!

Another Big Beach Bums update

So I've been a bit busy of late. I was mentioned to a producer making a show for the BBC on body image by Lauren and Kat. Yesterday we met, and it looks like I'm going to be filmed for the part of the show focusing on body acceptance. The show is going to involve the presenter going round the country speaking to different women with different opinions about their bodies, and I'll be the last one. Speaking to the producer, it seems like they want to get a body positive message across, they're very much behind what this blog (and the many other amazing blogs out there) is about, so I'm excited (and terrified). The chance to get any fat acceptance dialogue on a mainstream television show over here would be amazing, even if it is amidst different messages.

The producer knows about Big Beach Bums through her research, and has stated an interest in coming along to film and speak to us all. As I'm very concerned that the meet up remains a safe space, and that everyone is comfortable with the day, I haven't said yes. I also haven't said no, because I'd like to speak to you all in more detail about it.

The producer said that they would be able to film selectively, so only the people who want to be featured would be (if this is necessary). They're interested in coming to the beach meet up, so we'd be able to shop first, chatter, and then do the filming.

Basically, if anyone, for any reason, doesn't want this, I understand entirely and I won't say yes. I wanted to open up the dialogue because I think it would be interesting to be able to feature our community, but I also want any decision I make to be made with the collective consensus of the group.

So, thoughts anyone? Would anyone like to be featured?

Big Beach Bums - an update!

On the Big Beach Bums front, I have a well needed update! Here's are the blogger attendees that I have so far confirmed:

Rebecca - wearelargepeople.blogspot.com

Claire - amonkeyfatshionista.wordpress.com

Lauren - www.pocketrocketfashion.com

Kat - plussizebeauty07.blogspot.com

Wendy - 52-46-54.blogspot.com/

Meryl - pluseyes.tumblr.com

Mel - melasaurus.tumblr.com

Raigini - www.acuriousfancy.com

Nadia - http://mystylishlife-vintagegirl87.blogspot.com/

Lauren - http://biggerdeal.wordpress.com/

Isha - http://catwoman25.tumblr.com/

and me, of course! These are only people who've said definitely yes, there are still a few maybes and some non-bloggers too (whose names I haven't listed). I reckon we'll have about 30 people in total, with respective friends, partners and relatives. So a nice manageable number, and a fantastic swarm of rad fats to hit Brighton with ;)

If anyone else wants to come, please let me know, either by RSVP-ing on facebook here, or dropping me an email at fattyunbound@gmail.com. I'm collecting numbers just so I have an idea of how many of us there will be, so I can better plan the map. If you have a blog, also let me know the URL and I'll add you to the list.

The itinerary is still being worked on, but will likely involve a chat/catch up, then shops, then lunch, then beach! I'll be putting the final touches to the map over the last weekend in April and first weekend in May, when I have some time off.

If anyone wants to tweet about the event, the hash tag is #BIGBEACHBUMS

Big Beach Bums

On twitter recently, speaking with some of the lovely ladies from Plus London, I’ve been discussing the prospect of another rad fats meet up! There was a lovely amount of momentum after Plus London and it would be great to keep this going and make use of the collective energy created.

So, I am tentatively proposing another meet, this time in Brighton. Quite a few people have asked to come thrifting with me in the future, so my thoughts are as such:

• We could meet up, late morning-ish, for a cup of tea and get to know each other.
• I’ll create a second hand trail through Brighton, which we can follow loosely, and people can join at some point over the day.
• We could then convene for lunch somewhere. My suggestion would likely be to all bring some bits and pieces to have a picnic on the beach with. Otherwise, I’ll make some suggestions for cheap eats in the locality, of which there are many.
• As a follow up, we could all head to the beach! I’m reluctant to plan the day around the beach, because, as everyone knows, it’s a bad idea to plan for good weather! But if it is sunny, we could all finish the day by re-congregating at the beach for some sun, sea and possibly swimming and ice cream! Those who aren’t bothered about shopping would be welcome to join at this point instead, which will be later in the afternoon.
• If it’s not sunny, I’ll make some suggestions for places to head for drinks (I know of at least one place with 241 cocktails, and many a good pub) or more grub.
• Anyone who fancies making a weekend of it, I’ll make some recommendations for other things to do (there’s a pretty mean car boot on a Sunday morning for the more hardcore of us! haha).

The proposed date is 28th May! All I need to do now is garner any idea of who would be interested in coming. It’d also be great to enlist any willing helpers! Mainly I will just need people to spread the word, but it’d also be nice to form a collective who could help with organising, and some brainstorming for the day. So, if anyone wants to join this collective, just drop me an email at fattyunbound@gmail.com and I’ll start an email list up for us to talk on.

I want this to be open to anyone who wants to come - you don’t have to be a blogger. It’ll be a positive and inclusive meet open to both fats (of any age, gender, sexuality, ability) and fat positive allies (so feel free to bring friends, partners, anyone who fancies spending the day with us!). The second hand trail I’ll create will include places to buy masculine and feminine clothing, and are mainly unisex shops. I’ll plan the map with details of the levels of access available.

Obviously I can’t guarantee there’ll be any awesome finds, but we can have fun trying and it’s a great excuse to all hang out together again.

Bloggers, tumblr-ers, social media enthusiasts - please repost these details! I only reach so far into the fat-o-sphere, and need all the help I can get to spread the message about x

So onto the evening fun at Plus London! The evening do over at the Strand Gallery involved lots of champagne, cupcakes, and samples from Anna Scholz, Torrid, ASOS Curve and Yours Clothing amongst others (though I was useless and didn't really take many pictures of the clothes). There was also a pop up studio where my friend Caroline and I had some photographs taken (and I pulled my awkward camera horror face for a professional audience).






Annnnnnd, my sewing project in it's completed state! This was a close call, and only got finished on Thursday evening. It's a rehash of the same pattern I used in the summer to make this dress, by Very Easy Vogue (the number is V8615). With this dress I adapted this neckline to make it a round high neckline instead of a bateau as per the original pattern. My drafting didn't quite work, so I ended up pleated the (slightly baggy) neckline and crafting a bow to take onto it, which in hindsight worked pretty well!

I was terrified that a seam would break on the night or something, but it held up really well! Also, the fabric I used seems pretty crease-proof, so definitely suited for my wardrobe and er, lack of ironing skills. I'll definitely be dressing it down later this week. It was great to flounce about in my petticoat again though.



Dress, handmade using a £4 piece of material from the open market in Brighton (the pattern cost me £8 last summer).
Belt, former vintage stock, £free
Petticoat, Vivien of Holloway, £60
Cardigan, gifted by my lovely friend Caroline who found it at the Big Bum Jumble last August.
Tights, £3, Dorothy Perkins
Shoes, £8 Priceless

And also, Caroline's outfit, which I thought was super cute!

All in all, a lovely day, and it was great to get to meet so many amazing bloggers!

Plus London: daytime

So this weekend I attended the much anticipated Plus London meet. Here's a picture during the day section, after we'd all finished shopping and met up again.

Read all about it, and see much better photographs of the event and the outfits on the tumblr here. I only have a few pics as I'm more than slightly awkward about talking/asking people for pictures of their awesome outfits. But suffice to say, it was amazing to see so many different styles in one place, and despite having never met anyone before (and er, being more than slightly socially awkward), I felt comfortable chatting with you all...

Here's what I wore during the day:
I bought the Beth Ditto high waisted skinnies at the very end of the Evans sale (they had 20% off last week, so I scored them for £8!), and actually haven't really taken them off since! They fit perfectly, and haven't sagged at all over the time I've worn them. I've never found a pair of jeans that fit me well at all (the two pairs I own are jeggings, and aren't hugely comfortable), so now I have them, I'm regretting not buying two pairs!

Jacket, Sabrosa Vintage at etsy, £30
Necklace, £2, Primark
Jeans, Beth Ditto for Evans, £8
Shoes, Priceless, £8
Sequinned belt, £3, Dorothy Perkins