First up, I have to say A Fabric Place is pretty much heaven. The owner of my dinky local store, when I told him where I was going, said, "Oh, I know how you shop, you'll never find anything there. It's all high-end stuff." Maybe I don't shop like that in his store because he mostly stocks fleece and icky polyester with the occasional stunning remnant. I buy thread at his store.
So having proved him wrong within minutes of walking in, I fell in love with some buttons. And not the cheap variety, either. Turns out that these were $3.50 for the big ones and $2.00 for the small. I decided that I didn't care; these will look fantastic on a jacket. I got four big (for the front) and four small (for the cuffs). In the end, they cost as much as lunch. I probably could have gotten away with one for each cuff, but it was a holiday and I didn't want to skimp and regret it later. The buttons are resting on 3yards of leaf-patterned fabric that I debated buying until Michael's nephew told me it was $1 per yard, cheaper than muslin and I'd be crazy not to buy it. He was right.
Next was an end-of-roll boucle in olive, gold and rust (I'm not sticking to my colors at all, am I?) made for CHANEL. That trumped DVF in my books, and I'm not generally a label whore. But it was fluffy and soft and gorgeous, and even though there's not too much of it, I'll manage some kind of cute little jacket. Photographed with its lining, bought at the same time.
My big purchase of the day was this embroidered velvet. It grabbed me when I briefly stuck my head into one of the "expensive fabric" rooms, and I kept coming back to look at it. The price on the roll was $150 per yard. I don't actually know how I had the nerve to pick it up and drag it to the cutting table and say, "How much?"
The nephew actually fondled the fabric too. "It's Versace," he said, almost worshipfully, "that's why it's so expensive. How much did you want?"
How much is it?" "How much do you want?" This went on for a while, until I finally said, "$50. How much can I get for $50?" And he said, "3/4 of a yard." Sold. Gasp. I spent $50 for less than a yard of fabric. How come I feel both dizzy and ecstatic?
So now I have 3/4 yard (60" wide, at least) of ridiculously, excessively, gorgeously embroidered VERSACE velvet. Whatever pattern I choose is going to be muslined out the yingyang before I cut into this. Though it's already looking a little worn from being petted so often, and the photo doesn't do it justice at all.
What a responsibility.