Friends and fellow fatshion babes! I’m really REALLY desperate to let you in on a secret about one of my new favourite Etsy plus size sellers: Hearts and Found. I feel so guilty that i’ve kept it from you this long!

If you follow me on the Insta, you might know that life has been really rough lately. I had some extreme emotional overwhelm and an unhealthy touch of burn-out, and I took an involuntary hiatus from blogging and social media. BUT I’m definitely on the upswing and am psyched to be back.

So, Hearts and Found were suggested to me last year when I wrote a blog post about possible alternatives to shopping with Modcloth, so I added them to the round up. Anyways, that post ended up going like gangbusters and they tracked their shop hits and contacted me, offering to send a couple of dresses of my choosing to say thanks! * gasp *

I was super ecstatic to try Hearts and Found because they seemed SO RAD. And it turns out – they’re every bit as amazing as I’d hoped… and then some! So please indulge me, and let me count the ways.

I call this piece “Hearts and Found; one of my favourite Etsy Plus Size Sellers”…

1. They have super adorable 40’s and 50’s retro vibes going on, in mostly dresses but also skirts and 2 piece play suits/play skirts. ADORBS. I am so here for that.

2. They are made ethically in Vietnam, supporting a local tailor that employs 3 people long term, with fair wages. Also here for that.

3. They make straight to plus size, including CUSTOM MEASUREMENTS. Yep, you read me correctly… custom measurements! And as if that wasn’t cool enough;

4. You can choose your dress silhouette/garment style from a technical drawing AND THEN PICK YOUR FABRIC!!! Etsy plus size done right? I THINK SO!

5. They have an abundance of super cute and constantly changing novelty prints, as well as solid colours, polka dots, ginghams, florals, plaids and Hawaiian prints. Oh and did I mention you can just buy fabric separately if you want to?

6. Most of their styles are around the AU$80-90 mark, which, I know, is not necessarily everyones ideal price point. For me, I find that really reasonable for an ethically handmade dress with custom measurements.

7. In addition to the price point, the dresses themselves are so classic that they can be worn as an everyday dress OR you can dress them up for more of an event. Since I got this dress many months ago, it has become one of my absolute staples, and i’ve often done the old cliché “day to night’ thang. If I had’ve paid for this dress, i’d feel like I’ve already got genuine bang for my buck.

Also you will probably notice they charge around an additional $10 for the dresses that are above an XL. Normally I’m a bit bummed when businesses don’t establish their price point by the aggregate cost of manufacturing across all sizes, but I’m neck-deep in business model research at the moment and i’m starting to understand a bit more about why this can be easier said than done for small indies. I’m guessing since Hearts and Found make to order (and probably the majority of their sales come from straight sizes), it’s harder to determine total revenue of all dress sales across all sizes, therefore easier to make the divide based on the bulk of their sales (ie. in sizes S-XL).

In saying that, i’m hoping that if the plus community embraces and supports them, there might not be such a clear divide anymore? It might eradicate the problem?

If that were to happen, I have no doubt they would pivot on their business model. I really trust and champion Marjorie, and have had nothing but amazing experiences dealing with her.

For example, I sent through my custom measurements and she came back to double check that they were correct because the bust to waist ratio didn’t seem correct to her. I had to chuckle because HAHA YES APPLE PROBLEMS, and although this might have been triggering for some people, she did it in the sweetest way possible and it felt very professional and unjudging. She just wanted to get the dress right.

Nevertheless, I was a little anxious to see how it would turn out, given that their patterns obviously weren’t intended for people with my shape.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks later and my dresses arrived, and the one in this post had some puckering around the bust where there could have been another dart but wasn’t. (Sidenote: I am actually 100% used to this because of my shape and usually put all my own darts in. I had nothing but understanding for the situation and was excitedly flaunting the dress on my IG story (whilst mentioning the bust issue, and tagging in Hearts and Found).

The next morning I woke up to a DM from Marjorie saying thanks heaps for the feedback and that she had altered the pattern for future versions, and her tailors were now aware of the shape difference! How amazing is that? It’s obvious that although they don’t claim to be experts in the nuances of plus sizes and shapes, they are giving it a jolly good crack, and are listening and adapting to feedback from their customers?!

Honestly, i’m so in love with Hearts and Found and am excited to show you my other dress and spread the love! I’m also anticipating a serious growth in my collection of Hearts and Found pieces, and I think my next dress is going to be either the “Francesca” in “Tahiti Tiki”, or the “Doris” in “Franks a Lot”!

Are you interested in giving Hearts and Found a go? If so, what’s caught your eye??

 

OUTFIT DETAILS

JACKET: Thrifted a few years ago for this blog post, and is now my go-to and fav coat of all time!
DRESS: Haven’t you been reading?! Hearts and Found on Etsy.
WIRE HEADBAND: Australian hand-maker According to Alana. Her store seems to be on a little hiatus but you can follow her IG account right here.
EARRINGS: over here I got these super cheap – they have 8 colours to choose from!
SUNNIES: I can’t find the pink ones anymore, but there are blue and black!
SHOES: I got these cuties (and the socks) in a Japanese store called Spinns, but the real kicker (hehe) is the detachable wings that I also purchased in Japan! You can find heaps of cheapies on Etsy and eBay. I highly recommend one in every colour! *wink wink* (Shoes & wings originally seen in this post) 

Photos taken by Samopust, and edited/colour balanced by meee!

This dress was gifted, but I’m always 1000% honest in my opinions… a positive review CANNOT be bought. If I say I love something, I really truly love it. Ditto for the opposite. *cat hiss* h