Saturday, March 29, 2008

New York, New York

I did something new and unusual yesterday. I went to New York with a fabric shopping list. I've done that before, but it never came out of my pocket. But this time, thanks to the fabric fast which has really made me look at the fabrics in my stash, I was prepared with a list of things that weren't in my stash.

Well, I I saw, I shopped, and amazingly enough, not only could I carry it all home, with the help of my trusty shopping sherpa (thanks to Trena for the name), most of it was actaally what I went looking for.

First stop, Mood. Normally I could live without going there - too pricy, too many fabrics that I'll never use - but I had a $50 gift certificate from Christmas, so off we went. I ended up with this gorgeous green, black and gold metallic stripe. It's a bit more crisp than shirt weight, and absolutely beautiful. It's probably going to be a blouse or a light jacket from BWOF, I have to go through my back issues. For some bizarre reason, it was already cut in 1 1/4 yard increments, so I bought two of them.

Also from Mood, this striped denim. I made a pair of jeans last year, and I was happy with them at the time. However, my skills have evolved since then and I am less than happy now with the jeans. This is more what I had in mind.

Mood is a strange store. Someone had swatched off the end of the roll of denim, and before they cut my yardage, they completely evened out the fabric so that -- sewing gods forbid! -- I didn't get any extra fabric for my money. Still, it came in at $58 total, only $8 over the gift certificate. Now that's how I like to shop at Mood.

After that, we went to Paron's. Or rather, I went to Paron's, and my sherpa went to Mid City Comics down the block. Perfect. They always have stuff I want. And they did. First, this tan/brown/white stripe that will be just perfect for a summer dress. It has a nice drape, and it was in the Annex, so only $6 per yard. I was looking for a chocolate brown RPL to make pants, but chocolate isn't a spring color and no one had anything I liked, so I settled for this tan instead. It's a little less yellow than the photo, and will do very nicely for spring pants.

I also picked up a few yards of white cotton poplin with a little stretch -- how do I not have any white cotton shirting? -- and 5 yards of brown lining fabric, which was in the $2 bin. Lining doesn't count as fabric buying, and they always have decent colors in the discount bin. Buying it in bulk saves me having to run out when I need lining, and risk finding something else I have to have (but not really).

But my best purchase of the day was 2 1/2 yards of Liberty paisley printed cotton for only $12 per yard! The bolt was lying on the cutting table at Paron's, and I picked it up and was talking to it and the man who was writing up my order said, "It's the end of the roll. You can have it for half price." At that point I hadn't even realized it was Liberty, and when I realized how much it was, and how little it was going to cost, I couldn't resist. He measured it out, and even though it went a little past the 2 1/2 yard mark, he said it was 2 yards. So I have a Liberty print summer dress in the making for only $24! I'm happy about that.

7 comments:

CraftRage said...

Woo hoo! I LOVE that green & gold metallic. I can't wait to see what you decide to make out of it!

Dana said...

Wow, what a deal on the Liberty print! And it's such a pretty fabric too.

Elaray said...

Quite a productive trip, I'd say! I'm going to have to start planning my next trip to NY.

Kat said...

I'm totally envious! I agree with you on Mood, and as for Paron's, any trip to NYC is no trip at all if I can't get there. I need to ask my sister to go there and pick up some black wool for me.

C. Dishmont said...

You didn't visit Kashi!?! Come on back!

Meg said...

I was following in your footsteps! In NYC on Saturday at Mood. Regarding how they cut off the bolt, I think that may be an individual salesperson thing, at least I hope it is. The woman who cut some silk for me that had been swatched gave me about 1/4 extra. And I think the men who cut upstairs are nicer too.

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

Wow! A good shopping day! You got some really kewl pieces and you just never know what you are going to find at Parons!