Sweet Home Chicago

Wow, what a trip! 

Before going, I wasn't 100% sure if I would like NYC - I'm a gal who (despite a love of architecture) generally prefers the country.  But I LOVED it!  What a varied and vibrant city!  I will say this though - having experienced Manhattan for a week made me feel like I live in a small town again!  Not a bad feeling to have!

My trip was made all the better by a whole lot of bloggy get-togethers and some very nice fabric acquisitions.  It took me a while to narrow my pictures down, but even so, this is going to be a mega-post.   Let's take things chronologically.  For the sake of brevity, I'm only mentioning the bloggy stuff!

Saturday:
I attended the Workroom Social Pop-Up Party!  I met so many lovely people, some of whom I "knew" and some who were new to me.  You can find a lot of great pictures on Jennifer's blog here.  They even had a table with nail art going on!  Gah!

I wore the Scout Tee I'd made the week before.  I felt sparkly and glamorous, but HOT!  It was hot in the venue, and my tee was very heavy with 2 layers of fabric.  Plus, I'm an old lady ;-)

Sunday:
I finally got to meet Shar!  She and her family drove in to the city from their home about 2 hours away to spend part of the day with me.  What an honor!  Of course, we used the occasion to model our brand-spanking-new Robson coats.  Shar's was SO new it didn't even have buttons on it yet, LOL!  But look how gorgeous it is!  It made me wish I'd also chosen a floral instead of a solid, although I do love mine too.

We got some funny looks from the concierge when we modeled our contrasting bias tape:

I'm also wearing a new, unblogged Hemlock tee that I made literally days before the trip.  I love my cream floral one so much, and always wished I had a similar black one.  So when I found the fabric at JoAnn's, I snapped it up.  And I'm so glad I did.

Shar presented me with a beautiful and generous gift of fabric:  two and a half yards of this amazing stretch sateen she'd ordered from Mood!

I keep going back and forth between making a floral blazer, or a dress.  Or another coat?  Gah!  Can't decide!  In the meanwhile, I just keep stroking it:

Monday:
Evelyn was able to take a day off and we spent the entire day together, chatting away while she showed me her city.  We started out walking the length of the High Line park - so lovely:

Had a fantastic lunch, and then worked our way back north and into Central Park.  It was a gorgeous day - we really lucked out!

Tuesday & Wednesday:
Hubby was between meetings, so we explored the city together.  I took a LOT of pictures, but I'll spare you :-)

Thursday:
A rainy day, but brightened because I spent it with Sonja!   This lady knows the Garment District, so she took me around to some of her favorite shops.  We started out at Mood.  I was completely unprepared for how huge and overwhelming this place is!  I came with some ideas of what I wanted, but couldn't find what I had in mind.  So I "settled" for this beautiful piece of silk twill, which will likely become an Archer:

After that, I had the presence of mind to ask her if any of the shops carry Liberty, so she took me off to B & J.   This was my favorite of the fabric stores I visited, and not just because they sell Liberty!  It was smaller, quieter, and less of a sensory overload because everything is nicely organized.

I was astounded at the wide selection of Liberty they had in stock.  This is just a small part of the bolts:

The fabrics are cut from these bolts, but they have a very nice system of hanging samples which make it a lot easier to look through all the different prints.

I ended up with two cuts of Tana Lawn, each enough for a shirt:

Friday:
At the party on Saturday, I met Carolyn and we chatted for a while.  We ended up connecting later in the week and decided to have a lunch date on Friday.   It was so nice to talk to her one on one, in a quieter venue!

On my way there, I stopped by B & J again - I just couldn't get a particular fabric out of my mind.  So I ended up buying this as well:

This is also Liberty; it's listed as "textured cotton print."  You can't really see the texture from the right side, but you can from the wrong side:

I really see this as a dress - an Emery if my muslin works out - so I bought 3 yards of it.

Hubby had a fair number of meetings in the evenings, so I took advantage of my alone time and knit up a pair of socks with the yarn I bought last month in Toronto!  You can't tell, because my camera can't handle it, but the colors are NEON!  Such a cool yarn.

So that was my week!  I had such a great trip, and as I said, it was made all the better by getting to hang out in real life with so many of my bloggy friends.  Isn't the internet swell?  These are all people I never would have met otherwise, but I'm so thankful they're in my life!

I got a present!!

I got a surprise present!  Yay!

A few weeks ago, Ginger sent me a note asking if I'd like the leftover fabric from her recent two-piece cocktail dress.  Of course I would - it's gorgeous!  So generous of her to offer it to me - but then, that's Ginger:  one of the most generous gals in the sewing community!

Well, imagine my surprise a week or two later when I received a largish box from her.  When I opened it up, I found not one, but THREE pieces of amazing fabric!!  And they're all PINK!

First up, a very large piece of the fabric Ginger used for her dress.  Would it be terrible of me to make something similar?  With the understanding, of course, that my midriff remain completely covered at all times ;-)

Then, almost two yards of cotton Swiss dot in bright pink.  This replaces the poly blend Swiss dot I used for a shirt last year and ended up putting in the donation pile after wearing it for two hours, because it made me so sweaty.  Maybe it's time for a redo with my beloved Archer pattern?

Finally - and most mind-blowing of all:  a yard of honest-to-goodness Vlisco in ochre, cream, black and hot pink -- with BIRDS!  Gah!!!

You can see that the Swiss dot and Vlisco go together perfectly, so I'm having lots of fun daydreaming about what they will become.  Two separate pieces, or one garment? Only time will tell!

Thanks again, Ginger, for such an amazing gift!

Celery

Well hello there!  I've been back from my trip for a few days, and slowly getting back into my routine and catching up with things that need to be done.  I'm hoping to write a proper post about my SUPER fun time in Toronto with a whole bunch of very lovely ladies, but today I want to talk about something that's weighing on me.  Consider this "True Confessions, Sewist Style."

So you know how you'll be on a diet and everything's going great.  You're controlling your urges and trimming down.  And then all of a sudden, you have a week-long cookie, ice cream and candy binge.  And then you have to spend the next month eating nothing but celery.

Well, whatever the fabric equivalent of celery is, that's what I will be consuming for the foreseeable future.  I now "owe" myself 2 fabric purchases, for which I'll have to create 8 garments from stash.  Ouch!

It all started pretty innocently.  I had one purchase credit available. (I've got a little tally in the right sidebar to keep myself honest.)  I decided that aside from a Robson Trench, which I've already started, the one thing I must have this spring is a floral bomber like all the cool girls.  And to up the coolness ante, I decided it must be silk charmeuse.  So I spent some time browsing all the websites I could think of, trying to find something that fit with the idea in my head.

I didn't find anything bomber-worthy, but I did stumble across this beautiful silk georgette, and I fell hard.

After a few days, I couldn't stop thinking how it would make such a great Nicola dress.  So I decided to table the bomber idea for a while and use my available purchase to buy this.

Of course, the next day, when I went to JoAnn's to pick up the notions for my Robson, my eye fell upon a fabric that was exactly what I had in mind for the bomber!

Even though it's polyester charmeuse instead of silk, the colors and style are exactly what I wanted.   At $6 a yard, it's a lot more economical too, and I won't have to worry so much about messing it up.  So I went ahead and broke my diet.  Not even sorry!

Of course, the following day, I found out that a fabric I'd been wanting from Hawthorne Threads had come back in stock.  This is the Robert Kaufmann small herringbone chambray, and it tends to sell out quickly.  Since I'd missed out on it last time they had it, I figured - in for a penny, in for a pound - and I broke my diet again!  I've been planning a denim or chambray dress for spring, and this is the fabric I wanted to use.  So, still not sorry!

And then there are the Roaming Charges (Andrea - that's a little joke for you!  For the rest of you:  I got totally freaked out by the idea of incurring massive roaming charges in Canada because I forgot I was in a foreign country!)

Incredibly, although Andrea took me around to all the fabric stores in the garment district in Toronto, I only purchased one piece of fabric.   This is a 60" piece of 60" wide silky soft polyester georgette, which I bought to use as a huge scarf - so really it wouldn't even qualify as a fabric purchase, right?  But it doesn't count anyway, because I gave myself a travel allowance of 4 pieces of fabric per trip.  Sadly, I also made that allowance non-transferable, so it doesn't help me out of my sticky situation! 

How cool is that?!

And then there's the very generous and lovely gift Andrea gave me.  Look:

 Gah!  I can't even believe it!  It's the one with the jewels!  So, so beautiful!  Thanks again, Andrea!

So, I'm five pieces of fabric heavier than I was a week ago, but I'm going to try very hard to be good from now on.  For some reason, I always feel compelled to tattle on myself.  No one would have known if I'd kept my mouth shut, and then you guys would all think I'm a great role model.  But that's just not how I roll!

SF Day 1, part 2: Britex 1

First off, let me just admit that I was surprised to hear all the San Franciscans say "Brite-ex" -- in my mind I've always been pronouncing it as "Brit-ex!"

So, after Stef and I parted ways, I wandered back toward my hotel.  Luckily for me, Britex was right along the way.  Hubby and I had accidentally discovered its location the night before when we were looking for a quick dinner.  The sweetie even offered to stop in with me then and there, but I was kind and spared him, knowing I'd have opportunities to return on my own in the coming days.

The first thing that struck me when I walked in the door was the very high ceilings on the first floor!  Then I looked down and saw roll after roll of beautiful silk prints on the tables, and tall shelves full of bolts lining the walls.  (Sadly, photography is prohibited within the sacred walls of Britex.)  A little overwhelming, especially as I was tired from the trip out and a full morning. 

After about two minutes of looking at some of the silks on the table, I started to feel stressed.  I'm the kind of person who, when I do shop, can't bear to shop in department stores or at places like TJ Maxx or Marshalls (as much as I'd love to - my BFF is always finding the greatest stuff in those stores!).  It's just too many choices; I get overwhelmed and can't focus. 

So I decided to employ my usual shopping strategy, which is to scan all the tables and shelves to see if anything pops out at me, rather than try to look at all the offerings. And having taken a gander at some of the price tags on the silks, I decided to start with the remnants room up top.

After I've done the complete round on my walk-through, I step away for a little bit and then see what filters to the top of my mind.   On this occasion, I did that by going to the notions department.  I'd forgotton to bring along a tape measure with the socks I planned to knit!  In addition to the tape measure, I picked up this nifty little gadget:

I'd often wished for something like this but had never seen one in any other fabric store.  I find my seam gauge isn't very accurate for measurements like 3/8" - the little slider just won't stay put.   This nice little tool will get used a lot, I'm sure.

All the while I was in the notions department, I kept remembering a piece of fabric I'd seen in the remnants.  So I headed back upstairs to purchase it:

This is a nice, wide piece of cotton/lycra sateen with enough width to make a dress.  I'm envisioning some kind of dress with a fitted bodice and slightly full skirt.  However, I'm not allowing myself to start on it until I've done some more reading on fitting and have figured out what I need to do up top.  So for now, it's stash!

I noticed this fabric because of the color combination, but when I pulled it out I was just as delighted by the print.  It's a horizontal wavy stripe pattern that reminds me of bamboo.

Here's a zoomed out look to show how the stripes are arranged:

I'm really happy with this purchase, and even happier that it didn't break the bank!  I've heard so many people say that Britex is quite expensive, but I'd convinced myself the prices would be similar to those I pay at the "fancy" fabric store near my home.  Wrong!  I really had a few moments of sticker shock!  And I won't be complaining about the prices at Fishman's any more!

Once I'd purchased my fabric, I was pooped.  So I headed back to my hotel for an early night.  I needed to rest up for the adventure the following day!

And as the title implies, I did go back to Britex on another day when I found myself with a spare hour.  But since I'm a crazy blog lady who likes to keep things chronological, I won't be sharing that for a few days :-)

I met Eileen!

I had my third blogger meet-up yesterday!  I got to meet the lovely Eileen of Eileen's Basement.  She was in town for a work seminar, but forced herself to stay an extra day to do a little fabric shopping, tee hee hee!

I've been reading Eileen's blog for quite a while, and she and I have corresponded a bit as well over the last several months, so she wasn't completely unknown to me before yesterday.  So it was great to finally meet her in the flesh.  She is a truly lovely and very interesting person, and I had a great time spending the day with her.  The fact that we were indulging our inner fabric geeks was icing on the cake!

She came over to my house early and we headed off to Starbuck's first, to fortify ourselves with coffee.  (Also, the fabric store wasn't open yet!)  Our first stop was Fishman's Fabrics. 

Now, Fishman's is my LFS* - it's so near my house that I could walk there if I wished.  But I don't often shop there!  I went several times when I first moved here, and while they had some lovely fabrics, it wasn't very well organized and the prices were somewhat higher than I'd hoped for.  About a year later, they started a massive re-organization and things were even harder to find.  So Vogue became my default fabric shop, and I really only ever went into Fishman's for buttons to put on sweaters.

Oh. My. Word.  I did not know what I was missing!  The shop is so well-organized and well-lit now, and they have a vast array of gorgeous fabrics - the sort I've been reading about but have never actually put my hands on.  Yes, the prices are higher than Vogue, often by quite a bit.  But these fabrics are something special, truly quality materials.  I had expected to pop in and maybe spend a half hour before moving on, but we spent at least an hour and a half drooling and exclaiming and pawing at fabric.  I also remembered to ask one of the employees to take our picture:

Notice how we can't take our hands off the fabric.

Of course, for the rest of the day I got so involved in chatting away with Eileen that I forgot to take any more pictures!

After we left Fishman's, we took the scenic route north to Evanston along Lake Shore Drive.  Our first order of business was lunch, although we got slightly distracted by a thrift shop along the way!  And as we were heading to the "big Vogue" after lunch, we found another antique shop, this one with loads of antique buttons.  Eileen knows a lot more about antiques than I do, so it was fun to see what she was drawn to.

Of course, we spent a couple more hours in Vogue, and Eileen was able to find a lot of the fabrics on her list, as well as a few extras.  It will be great to watch her sew these up over the next several months; Eileen is a more advanced seamstress than I am, and I learned a lot just by talking with her and watching her shop for fabric and notions.  She's got several vintage patterns she's planning on working up, so if you're into vintage sewing, do check out her blog.

My one purchase for the day was a pair of applique scissors.  I had just read about them in Gertie's new book, so when I saw them at Vogue for ten dollars, I snapped them up!

However, I also got a present.  Look at this gorgeous hank of sock yarn Eileen brought me from the wool festival she'd been to the weekend before:

I think this is going to have to become come cable-y socks.

So, all in all a lovely day spent with a new friend.  Isn't the internet grand?


*Local Fabric Shop

Fabric Favorites

I'm really in love with two of the fabrics in my quilt.  Look:

It's the Three Little Kittens!  Here they can be seen both with and without their mittens, crying, washing and eating pie.  Such sweet little naughty kittens!

And my other favorite:

Gosh I love this.  I love it so much, I spent a fair amount of time online yesterday trying to find some more - to no avail of course.  Wouldn't this make a fantastic little retro blouse?  Sadly, the design is not printed perfectly on grain, so it's probably better I couldn't find any!

Dangerous

I'm talking about Vogue Fabrics in Chicago, IL.

I went in yesterday to get this:

embroidered cotton

Isn't that cute?  I had seen it the other day when I was at Vogue getting the zipper for my third Ginger skirt.  I decided to try out the new (free download!) Sorbetto Top pattern from Colette.  It's dotted swiss, one of my favorite fabrics:

Well, by the time I walked out, I had this:

Oops!

Look at these lovelies!  I just couldn't resist!

Cotton voile!  I LOVE voile!  This might become another Sorbetto,
or I might try copying the pattern of a top I bought from
Boden years ago and love.

More cotton voile!  How could I not bring this
adorable print home?!

Heavier cotton with 4% lycra.
border print!  I'm a total sucker for
border prints!  This will become a skirt.
Because I don't have enough skirts.

More embroidered cotton, gauze this time.
My camera wouldn't capture it, but this is a
bright tangerine orange.  And you know how
happy that makes me!  This will be a
Sorbetto too.

I did show some restraint though - there were a few other fabrics I wanted but passed on.  For now.  The best part?  I got all this, plus a zipper for the skirt, for $34!  And that's including our exorbitant Chicago sales tax!  Yay!

Fabric Fun

I wandered into one of my local fabric shops the other day (I'm lucky to have 3 very near by) looking for buttons for my Jewel sweater, and saw an adorable silk panel hanging as a display, along with a sign advertising each panel for $2.99.  Well, how could I resist?  This is a super cute floral print on silk, designed by Anna Sui.

Black, green and red tulips on a white ground, bordered in black with large white daisies, on a gingham-like plain weave.  Each panel is 45" square, so it makes a nice, large scarf.

It's so sheer, you can see the texture of my duvet through it!

I'd originally thought I would do a rolled hem, as demonstrated in this tutorial at Colette Patterns.  I've done this a couple times before (with silk from the same fabric shop!) and while it's rather tedious, it does give a very nice result.  But once I got it home, I decided that the print is so simple and informal, I ended up doing a frayed edge instead.

I'm so happy with this scarf, and am daydreaming about what to wear it with!