I don’t like to be New York-centric if I can help it, so for those of you who live far from the Big Apple, consider today’s post as inspiration to host a busty clothing swap in your region. Somehow this year was more fun than last, but it was less work and cheaper! I vowed not to go into the red this year, so I only spent money on cups, paper plates and napkins and asked everyone to bring a food or drink to share. Such yummy things they brought! Here are the Peanut Butter Chocolate Hearts that Sweets made.

big bust peanut butter chocolate sandwich cookies

The best thing about Saturday–even better than my new clothes–was meeting amazing Hourglassy readers. Actually, it was kind of intimidating because everyone was so sophisticated, attractive, witty and smart. However, I managed to get past my shyness and strip with the best! Although I had private “dressing rooms” available, no one used them. Instead, we got to admire everyone’s lovely underthings, including Miss Underpinnings’ beautiful Ewa Michalek set and Miss Shapen’s gorgeous Comexim (neither links are to the actual sets they wore).

Not only did we trade clothes, but Leah and Miss Shapen actually brought PinUp Girl, Urkye, BiuBiu and other pieces from their own closets simply for others to try. Next swap I organize, I’m encouraging more sharing like this.

big bust miss shapen and miss underpinnings
Why yes, the blue dress that Miss Underpinnings is trying in the center picture DOES have little white bunnies on it. And the navy dress that Miss Shapen is modeling on the far right? The Luscious Dress from Pinup Girl Clothing. (http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/pc-lusc-ny.html)

It’s impossible to capture everything that happened on Saturday, so here are just a few glimpses.

big bust swap preparation
Taking a break from organizing (and trying not to hoard the best stuff!). That’s my friend Carol on the left. She’s a personal stylist who came to give suggestions to anyone who asked. Of course you know Leah in the middle. She’s wearing her Jessica Simpson dress that she wrote about here: https://hourglassy.com/2011/09/off-the-rack-you-go-girl/ I’m wearing an Ann Taylor Loft top that I found for just $6 at an outlet a few weeks ago.

Everything began in the basement, where swappers dropped their clothes off in exchange for Busty Bucks.

busty bucks
I’m happy to send you the template for this if you decide to host a swap! I considered adding “In snug bands we trust” at the bottom.

Then they took their food upstairs (which of course they could eat while they waited for us to finish organizing), and browsed great pieces by Dirty Dolls Lingerie, Marketa New York, Bijte, and of course, Campbell & Kate. While I’m at it, a giant thank you to those vendors, as well as to Bettie Page Clothing, Magic Corsets and Urkye for the fabulous coupons that they contributed to this year’s “goody envelopes”.

big bust waiting for swap to start
Waiting for the swap to start.

There are a million ways to organize swap clothing. We chose to keep the clothing downstairs, where we put knit tops, sweaters and bottoms in their own bins (aka laundry baskets), and we hung up everything else wherever we could find a good hanging place (on lamps, screens, bookcases, drying racks, etc.; if I weren’t against spending this year, I would have stocked up on $10 garment racks from IKEA). Next year I’ll also stock up on wire hangers because they’re easy to bend to hang wherever you want. We put bras, swimsuits and miscellaneous lingerie in a room upstairs. Both places had plenty of mirrors.

I’ll stop writing now and give you more of what I know you really want: pictures!

If there were a prize for bringing the most clothes, this swapper would win it. She recently lost a ton of weight, so a few of us were the lucky ones to get her former size 16’s. Here she’s modeling her denim dress find. She also has her own brand new blog that I know you’ll want to follow, Upfront and In Brief.

big bust lisa denim dress find

She wasn’t the only blogger to make an appearance (besides those I’ve already mentioned). Thanks to this event, I also discovered Anna’s Tumblr, Fashion It So!

Big Bust Lafayette 148 red dress score
Doesn’t she look amazing in her Lafayette 148 score?

And Diane from Motherhood is Painless, whom I’m hoping to meet for French pastries tomorrow if I can get there before her son’s school day ends.

big bust vintage dress find
How sad I was that Diane scooped up this vintage gem before I could.
big bust danielle dress find
There was a little tug-of-war going on for this dress, but Danielle won.
big bust danielle kerri pose
Danielle came up from Philly in her own BiuBiu top pictured here–everyone at the swap wanted to buy one a result. The swapper on the right came all the way from DC. (And she didn’t keep this red top, even though it looked amazing on her.)
Big Bust Missoni find
This Missoni dress (not from Target) is just one of the items that Catherine took home.
big bust lafayette 148 jacket find
Anna doesn’t usually wear jackets, so this swap was a great opportunity to try something new.
Big Bust Boden Finds
I have ALWAYS been curious about Boden, and thanks to the former size 16, three of us went home with our own Boden dresses.

Finally, it seems appropriate to end with the bag that Miss Shapen arrived with. I want these for our goody bags NEXT year!

big bust zoe bra bag