PR Weekend - The Recap

I know there are variations on this photo on many blogs and Patternreview; Meg was kind enough to take a handful of cameras and keep us all in place until every photo was taken.  I think she now knows what it's like to herd cats, because we kept hearing the siren song of the fabric and starting to creep out of the frame.

Kenneth King - courtesy of Lisette

My train got into Penn Station at 8:10 a.m. on Friday.  I came up from Philadelphia with Mimi, who could only stay for Friday.  We got to the hotel in about 15 minutes and immediately ran into familiar faces.  Much squealing ensued (how is it we can still all revert to 13 that easily?) and I took my bag upstairs to the room.  Back down again, I threw back a coffee and we went shopping, which I've covered in my previous post.

After shopping, I went back to the hotel and put my feet up for a while.  Even though we hadn't walked that far, or carried that much (I love Kashi for shipping my fabric), I'd been up since 5:30 a.m. and was wiped.

One of the PR Weekend events most people were looking forward to was the Simplicity Patterns tour.  I have to say, I wasn't one of them.  I don't know why; I'm not anti-Simplicity, I just didn't feel up to it and I was conserving my energy for one of the true highlights of the weekend, which was the Schiaparelli / Prada exhibit at the Met.

Lunch at Crisp - photo by Bonnie, by way of Lisette

It's not the Alexander McQueen exhibit from last year, but other than that comparison, I have nothing negative to say.  I also realized I like Prada more than I thought, and I just adore Schiaparelli.  Sometimes it was hard to tell which was the vintage piece and which was the new; her things were so timeless.  Out of time, maybe.  Amazing pieces, though not as many as I would have liked.  I didn't get the book, but mainly because I didn't want to have to carry it.

Afterward, the seven of us (me, Elizabeth, Claudine, Connie, Lisette, Jeanette and Andrea) went to dinner and then gelato.  Thank you, Elizabeth, for finding a place that would take us all in and feed us.  And for pointing us toward gelato.

Pattern Exchange - courtesy of Kyle

Which is only topped by wine.  Our hotel had a lovely outdoor patio which our group commandeered every evening to sit and talk and drink wine.  I'm still surprised no one complained, but we really weren't out there that late; we were too tired.

Saturday was workshop day.  We managed to find a NYC cab driver who couldn't find Pace University, so we were a few minutes late, but thankfully Kenneth King can pack enough information and entertainment into a morning that I don't feel like we missed too much.  That man is amazing.  He did a "greatest hits" slideshow and talked about how he started his career, how he puts his pieces together, and generally got us all inspired.  Sometimes it's not what he tells us that gets me; he just puts my brain in a place where it starts spinning all on its own, and I know for certain I still haven't processed everything he told us.

Annoying the neighbors - courtesy of Kyle

Before lunch, we hit the pattern exchange.  I was good.  I brought about 25 patterns and only took home 10.  I wasn't planning on bring home any, but it's better than 25.  I guess.

After lunch (which was at Crisp, and was falafel, one of my favorites, followed by macaroons at Financier), we listened to Diana Rupp.  Though she's about as different as you can get from Kenneth King, parts of her story were remarkably similar.  I missed the last part of the presentation because a few of us wandered off at the break, walked down to the South Street Seaport and then went back to the hotel to change for dinner.

Dinner was at Tony DiNapolis up in Times Square. Great family style presentation and the space to take on 100 howling sewists who not only ate and drank like champs but also made speeches, took pictures, handed out prizes and loudly sang happy birthday to someone across the room.  Afterward we walked back to the hotel, stopping to drool over M&J Trims' window, and we ended the evening on the patio.  Again.

What, no night hours?  Photo courtesy of Kyle

Things start to break up on Sunday morning.  After breakfast, Lisette and Liz and I walked down the street to a flea market.  We each found a a few goodies (because obviously we didn't have enough souvenirs), and then we all headed our separate ways.

I love going to NY, and I'm always happy to get home.  The city starts to wear on me, the size, the noise, the people.  Add an extra 100 people and it's a little overwhelming, but in a good way.  I got home, kissed Mario, kissed the cats, unpacked my fabric and took a well-deserved nap.

Pattern Review Weekend - The Fabrics

I can't talk about a PR Weekend without talking about fabric.  It's as essential as the friendships that are made and the friends who are re-encountered year after year, having aged not a bit, but whose wardrobes have expanded exponentially.

Since I had just been to NYC recently (remember the trip with Mario, when I wasn't going to buy any fabric and Kashi basically knocked me over the head and when I woke up there was a UPS box on my doorstep full of goodies?), I didn't plan on buying much.

Except for a few specific things.

You see, I had a few gift certificates.  Yes, a few.  Back at Christmastime, two of the lawyers I work with gave me gift certificates to Mood, always welcome because the stuff I generally fall for in Mood isn't the stuff I can afford, so other people's money is always welcome.

Also, at Secretary's Day or Administrative Professionals Day or whatever PC term we want to use these days for throwing a gift at the person who cleans up your messes all year long, Andrea convinced my lawyers to chip in for a gift certificate to Metro Textiles.  I'm only sorry I couldn't convince her bosses to do something that imaginative.

So I had other people's money to spend.  And on Friday, I chose to start out - where else - at Metro Textiles because I wanted to hit up Kashi while he was fresh and before the store turned into a total trash heap.  There were about 10 of us there right after he opened, and I think we did him proud.  I know I did.

I got 7 fabrics from Kashi, most of them 2 yard cuts.  The prize, at least to me, is the fabric at the top right.  The underside is fleecy, but the top feels almost like a close-cropped fake fur, and the leather texture is printed.  It's soft and cuddly and drapy and strange.  I love it.  It was the most expensive piece, and it's going to take up a crapload of space in the workroom, so I'd better decide what jacket it wants to be soon.

Other than that, I went knit happy, as I always do at Metro.  The second photo, left, is two knits, different prints but exactly the same colors.  I couldn't resist, and I'd love to find a way to mix the two that wouldn't make people dizzy.

Third, my loud purchase of the weekend.  I loved the orange/brown tones of the print, but the solid was the perfect contrast orange, so I had to have that as well.  I also had to have the wonderful faux tie-dye stripe, if that's what you call it.  Blues and greens and browns and ivory.  Mine.  Lastly, I got two yards of a black cable sweater knit, and four yards of a wonderful soft heathered gray knit that I intend to use for around-the-house clothes.  (My lounging clothes are just . . . beyond awful.  My flannels have lost their fluff, my sweatshirts have holes, and face it, sometimes I'd like to still look decent when I'm at home).

From there, we went to Mood, where Meg was a very gracious hostess and turned us loose on the store like a bunch of ravening wolves.  Having money to spend, do you know I wandered that entire store - three floors - and couldn't find something I wanted.  Or something I wanted enough to make me turn away from the other fabrics I considered.  Finally I went downstairs to their lowest level, where the leathers live, picked out a gorgeous supple olive green lambskin, and plunked the roll on the table. The Mood guy asked how many skins I wanted, and I said, "$125 worth."  Except then I saw the Persian lamb and had to have one of the honey-colored skins for a collar, so I scaled back on the green.  There's enough of it, that's all I care about.  And it's a less "sticky" color than pictured; it didn't photograph well with the flash.

After Mood, we broke for lunch.  After hitting Metro and Mood that quickly, and that hard, it's a wonder we weren't broken.  But after a restorative glass of wine and some fish and chips, we were off again.

I've lost track of the order here, but I know we hit up Pacific Trims, my favorite trim store in the Garment District.  I know there are others, and I've purchased from them, but there's something that keeps me coming back to Pacific.  But this time, all I got were two lengths of chain for two upcoming (eventually) jackets.

I haven't been to Paron's since they moved.  It's bizarre - it looks like they picked up the old store, gave it a good shake, changed the light bulbs and put it back down.  It doesn't have the narrow side Annex anymore, but there are a good selection of half price fabrics in the back  Of course I did not find a half price fabric.

One of the things I had been looking for at Mood was a moss or olive green boucle.  For yet another jacket.  At least count, I have three boucles which are still awaiting jackethood.  But I needed another.  And Mood didn't have the exact thing I pictured, which is how I ended up with leather.  Oh, the hardship.

But Paron's, they had the exact stinking green fabric that I wanted at Mood.  I waffled.  I showed it to every PR woman in the store, and everyone, everyone, said I should buy it.

Isn't it nice when your friends validate the choice you've already made?  So I bought 2 yards.  And in real light, without camera flash, it's beautiful with the Mood leather.  If I wore leather skirts, I would step back from the green leather jacket idea and make a leather skirt.  I'm still vaguely considering it; I just need to find a "me" skirt that would look good in leather.

Which means both boucle and leather will go into the stash, to marinate for however long it will take.  Maybe I'll take down one of those other boucles; I can hear them talking up there, on the high shelf.  They're plotting an avalanche, and I'm afraid the new one will just jump right in and help them.

So that's PR Weekend fabric.  There will be a full Weekend recap, but my camera died as soon as I walked into the workshops on Saturday, so I'm still waiting on a few photos from others, and I'm still digesting some of what I heard that day .

Moral of the story: if you have the opportunity to attend a PR Weekend, be it in your area or across the country, DO IT.  You'll get so much more from it than it could ever cost.

Clothes for small people

One last PR Weekend related post, and that's the end.  I promise.

Unless I think of something else.

This dress was made (and mentioned) several months ago, but I didn't want to post it until I'd handed it over to the recipient - Deepika - which I did at our Friday evening dinner at the Berghoff.

Here's the dress for the official Patternreview baby, based on Burda 9680, and made from a combination of Amy Butler remnants, a brown-and-white spotted man's shirt, lots of white eyelet ruffles and a handful of rosebuds. 

I was going for cute, and I think I succeeded.  Any cuter, and it might make your teeth hurt.

The best compliment I got on a garment during all of PR Weekend was on this - someone looked at it and said, "If I didn't know you'd made it, I'd know.  It looks like something you'd make." 

Which it does.  I hadn't really thought about my baby clothes being as me as my own clothes.

PR Weekend Inspiration

Anyone who has ever attended a PR Weekend has come home filled with inspiration - inspiration brougth on by the enthusiasm of the other sewists they meet, the fabrics they've met and purchased and petted, the projects planned and discussed, and the garments worn by others, and in the case of the Chicago weekend, also brought along as examples by designer, Angela Wolf, during her Saturday presentation. 

While she talked about couture sewing, fashion trends, custom jeans and fabric dyeing techniques, Angela was kind enough to hand out a selection of garments she'd made - Chanel-style jackets, dyed and beaded silks tops, her beaded wedding jacket and more. 

If looking is good, manhandling and photography is even better.  Looking at her jackets finally convinced me that the next Chanel jacket I make has to have the classic quilted lining, which I've always avoided doing. The jackets were so beautiful, substantial yet completely light, and draped almost like a cardigan. 

There were interesting trims, and a use for spray adhesive even I had never thought of.

She also talked about chains, and their ability to provide weight to garment hems.  I used a chain on the hem of my Chanel jacket, but I like her method better, and the weight of chain that she used.  She also used it in the hems of skirts to make them hang properly, which had never occurred to me.  Look at the photo at left, with narrow silver chain sewn along the entire hem, including the slit.  Brilliant.

As a self-taught sewist, Angela has made up her own rules and it was refreshing to have a presentation by a successful designer who doesn't seem to have a list of dos and don'ts that are more important than using your creativity and figuring out what works for you.

As far as inspiration provided by other sewists, there's the amazing ruffled skirt worn by Jaeng (and coveted by Elizabeth) and Claudine's green silk quilted dress.  It's absolutely amazing, and my picture comes nowhere near doing it justice.  Check out her blog for more details; I can't even describe it adequately other than to say if there was one sewist's closet that I could transfer to my house, it would be hers.  (Of course all the clothes would have to drastically change size, but it's my fantasy.)

Another winner was Amy's Burda 6/08 #108 dress.  Isn't it cute?  Isn't she cute?  That dress was actually on my to-sew list back in 2008.  I'm not sure why it slipped down the list, but it's moving back up again just as soon as I decide on a fabric to use for it.

I still haven't come down from my PR Weekend high.  I've been doing a lot more sewing lately, and while the projects have been fairly simple, due to my level of busy-ness and other stuff still going on, but at least I'm sewing.  As life calms down and my time expands, my projects will adjust accordingly.  Expect to see another Chanel jacket one of these days, several notches above the last one.

And all thanks to the inspiration provided by a rainy weekend in Chicago.  Thanks, ladies!

PR Weekend Chicago



The Bean

I'm home.  I'm still exhausted, my voice is coming and going due to having talked enough for 3 weeks instead of 3 days, and I had a fabulous time.

PR Weekend in 3 words: friends, fabric and . . . fog.  Chicago had the most inconsistent weather I've ever experienced.  I spent most of the trip shivering and with wet feet, and had to buy a fleece throw for my bed in the dorms, but I had a great time nonetheless and had 3 of the best women for roommates, Connie, Touran and Andrea. 



Lace trimmed jacket

 There's something to be said for sharing space with like-minded women who shower efficiently, don't spend hours in front of the mirror and are ready and raring to go for coffee in the morning when I am.

My plane got in late on Friday so I missed the first half of the shopping day at Vogue Fabrics.  Not a hardship, as it turned out - there were plenty more fabrics at Fishman's, the other Vogue and a small shop called New Rainbow where I found a great cotton print for a summer skirt.  And Andrea picked up a knit for me at Vogue to make up for my missing out - and to keep me from stealing her identical fabric in a different color.  She knows me well.

My roommates

Instead of shopping on Friday a.m., I walked down to the lake and nursed a large coffee.  After dealing with airport delays, security lines (and too many people who just won't calm down and walk through the damn scanner already), having my deodorant confiscated as being 1/4 oz. over the legal limit of dangerous liquids, a trio of howling babies, turbulence and a late arrival, sitting down by the water, listening to the gulls, watching the boats and the joggers, was just what I needed.  I had a leisurely lunch on my own and met up with everyone at Fishman's in the afternoon.

This was the biggest PR Weekend ever - over 100 attendees.  This was both good and bad - I got to meet people I'd never met, and wanted to, but I also didn't get to spend enough time with others who I know and wanted to talk to (sorry, Sherril!).  



View from the room

 Saturday dawned bright and dreary.  Friday's chilly, then warm, then chilly weather turned, well, chillier.  We all went to breakfast and then back to the conference center for the first part of Angela Wolf's presentation.  I admit, I was a little iffy at first about being in the same room all day, listening to the same person - it didn't matter who, or what she was talking about; I was in a new place and wanted to explore.  But the first half of the presentation was so interesting, and Angela was so inspiring to listen to, that I started to reconsider abandoning her for the Art Institute and the Bean.  She's self-taught, so she has no "rules" that you have to follow; she's figured out her way of doing things for herself and listening to her talk about how she learned to deal with silks (by abusing them in the washer and dryer - why not?) and how to make Chanel jackets really had me wanting to run home to my machine.

We broke for lunch, and a few of us walked up to another fabric store on Wabash Avenue for a quickie purchase.  I got 2 yards of wool there, and when we came out, it was colder, and raining pretty hard.  We sprinted back to the University Center, had lunch there (one free daily meal with registration) and traipsed back downstairs. 



Angela Wolf's jacket

 The Art Institute was defeated by a deadly combination of inspiration and bad weather.  The afternoon session was more about fabric dyeing, which I have to say doesn't interest me that much, but there was enough other information tossed in, and enough questions asked, that I didn't regret attending at all.  After that was over, and before dinner, I retreated upstairs to read for an hour and warm my feet in my fleece blanket.

The last group dinner was downstairs in the conference center again.  We had salad and pizza and cake, and there was an absolute swarm at the pattern swap counter.  I thought I had pretty sharp elbows, but these ladies are professionals. 



How cool is this?

 On Sunday, Deepika was being honored with a proclamation for her work with Patternreview by the lieutenant governor of Illinois, Sheila Simon, herself a sewist.  I wanted to go, but the flight schedule wasn't cooperative - I'd booked my flights before the Sunday activity was announced, and airlines are remarkably cranky (and expensive) about last-minute changes of plan.  Bah.  But a good time was had by all, Deepika was honored for what she's done (and deserves every bit of it), and I got home in one piece with my fabric, tired but happy.

This was supposed to be a really short post with a "more later" at the bottom, but apparently I can't stop even when I'm tired. 

I'll stop now.  More later.  Probably.

Better late than never

PR Weekend took place back on May 14 - 16, but we were missing one Very Important Person.

Problem solved, as you can see.

Deepika arrived in Philadelphia Friday evening for a belated visit, in the middle of the worst heat wave we've had yet this summer, and we've had a few. We stayed up with wine and chocolate for a while, but we wanted to get an early start on Saturday.

The next day, we went for breakfast, me, Deepika and a very patient man, and then hit a couple of porch sales in the neighborhood, the farmer's market and the monthly flea market. After that, we headed downtown and passed a few crucial tourist sites, like the site of PR Weekend and the restaurant where we had our group dinner.

There were plans to meet up with the rest of the PR Weekend planning committee at 1:00 p.m. - Andrea, Elaine, Annette, Mimi and Lee - but we had some time to kill first so we wandered around Old City, browsed the Headhouse craft fair, and had an encounter with a very welcome fountain.

I don't want to think about the incriminating photos she has of me!

We had a great lunch at Alyan's on 4th Street - falafel and hummus and french fries with onions and peppers (and thought of you, Trena!) and then hit Fabric Row.

I didn't think much could put me off fabric shopping, but near 100 degree heat is almost enough to do it. Thankfully all the stores had AC, so we didn't melt. It was close, though.

A good time was definitely had by all, though I've certainly done more fabric damage on 4th Street than I did yesterday. All I ended up buying was a zipper at PA Fabric Outlet and 2 yards of gray pinstripe at Verte Couture so I can try to replicate the pinstriped skirt I posted about recently.

Deepika found her fabric (that's a disciplined woman - she buys one fabric per trip!) and Andrea did a little damage in the name of sheath dresses yet to be. Mimi got some fabric for a bathing suit coverup, and Annette disappeared off down the block and came back smiling, with a bag. Lee got some lovely fabric that I'm looking forward to seeing made up. Elaine couldn't stay long, so she escaped empty-handed (I think).

In search of cool air, we stopped into a few different stores, and I ended up buying a totally kickass pair of shoes at Bus Stop which will absolutely require a new dress to do them justice.

Before we headed toward home, Deepika, Andrea and I walked up South Street toward the Magic Gardens, which is a fabulous tile and mirror mosaic-covered building and garden space created by Philadelphian Isaiah Zagar. It's much more magical in person; some things just don't translate in photos.

By that point, all the cool had drained from our systems and we were melting again. Home we went, to stand in front of the AC and get changed for dinner.

Mario and I took Deepika to our all-time favorite restaurant, La Locanda del Ghiottone (roughly translated: Place of the Gluttons), a BYOB at 3rd and Cherry Streets. I've been going there for about 15 years, but you don't need to be a regular to feel like family. After feeding us wonderful Italian food, the waiter dropped off a plate with a tiramisu and a cannoli on it. We dug in, and the other waiter, Joe, came past. "That's not enough," he said, and put down another plate, with another slab of tiramisu and a fruit crepe.

I'm proud to say, we cleaned our plates.

In an attempt to walk off dinner, we headed for Penn's Landing, where we encountered a concert and sat out under the full moon and listened to music for a while. When the music ended, we headed home again, and sat up and talked late into the night.

Unfortunately, the weekend ended too soon and Deepika flew home this afternoon, but I think we were able to give her a taste of what PR Weekend Philadelphia was like, and have a great time in the process.

Come back soon, Deepika!

**Edited to add a few photos supplied by Deepika.

And then there's the fabric (PR Weekend Pt. 3)

As promised, here are the pretties accumulated during PR Weekend.

I'm surprised - I'm not sure if it's my semi-regular exposure to these stores, or the fact that I was trying to ride herd on everyone and make sure no one got lost, but I really under-shopped. At least for me.

First photo on the left, fabrics I did not purchase. From left to right, a lovely plaid donated by Andrea, an embroidered border print from the official fabric swap, and a black and pink plaid that I've been coveting, which was a hostess gift from Elizabeth.

Maybe I should host people more often. (She gave me wine, too, just in case fabric wasn't enough).

Next photo on the right, some of the loot from London Textiles: a rayon-blend print in all my favorite colors, a gray stretch stripe, and a dark gray (though it looks brown in the photo), wool and lycra blend that has announced its intentions to be a skirt.

Who am I to argue with the fabric?

Third photo, left, more fabrics from London: an orange flowered sweater knit (some of you may remember that I bought the green colorway of this sweater knit last year; I loved it enough that I bought it twice); a rayon brocade that is intended for craft show goodness next December, and a lovely black and white boucle with a nice self-fringe that wants to be something yummy. We'll see what kind of yum - it's not a big piece.

All I bought on 4th Street was a double-sided blue and brown home dec fabric, last photo below on the left. I'm seriously thinking it might want to be the new Amy Butler rain jacket pattern, possibly sans hood. I want something where I can just show off both sides of the fabric, and the nicely bound seams inside - I even got matching seam binding at PA Fabric Outlet. It better match; I stood in line for 40 minutes for it, though I had Dixie and Lisette to talk to, so it went pretty quickly.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't count lining as fabric. It's a notion, something I need to finish something made out of fabric. That's my justification and I'm sticking to it.

So at Jomar, all I got were these 3 lining fabrics - a fabulous resort print, a gray and black stripe and a brown - green - orangey one that looks more or less like what's washing up on the shores of Louisiana. Much better as a jacket lining than an oil spill.

Oh, right, the leather. I actually found leather in one of the remnant boxes at London. I didn't even know they sold leather!

It's not a huge piece, probably just big enough for a bag or a vest (and for some reason I'm thinking vest, even though I've never done leather-as-clothing before. It's nicely distressed, and it's even thinner to sew than the lambskin that I'm used to. Thinner, but a bit more crisp. I'm looking forward to sewing with it, whatever it's going to be.


And that is that for Patternreview Weekend 2010 (at least until Montreal, which I will not be attending due to lack of funds and energy).

Back to the real world, and real sewing. I've actually picked up a project I started back in March, and kept putting down. Now that it's too warm to wear a boiled wool jacket, don't you know it's the one project I want to work on?

I'm at the trim stage, so I should have something to show you all soon.

Overload (PR Weekend Pt. 2)

Despite the stress of planning PR Weekend, and the occasional nail-biting moment as it all went off (almost) without a hitch, I had an absolute blast.

Of course, since, last time I checked, I am no longer 21, it also kicked my ass. I was still tired on Tuesday. I mean, really.

Friday morning started off at the hotel conference space, handing out name tags, Patternreview tote bags with goodies inside, and getting acquainted.

Then Kenneth King arrived and the fun started.

Sewing is such a solitary activity - the most I've ever manged before was one friend coming over for a two-machine play date - so sitting in a room with 40-odd other women (note I didn't say 40 odd women), sewing, was really an experience. And when you add in our instructor, it was truly memorable.

I think I learned as much from listening to him talk and looking at the fabulous garments he brought to show us as I did during the actual workshop. I'll admit I wasn't too stoked on the idea of embellishment because I fully admit to being embellishment challenged, but I'm always willing to learn something new, you never know when you might need such skill and it's Kenneth-Freaking-King. How often do you get that?

I really enjoyed one jacket that he brought. Not only did he bring the finished jacket, but he brought the pattern pieces and a full explanation of how it got from inside his head to the work of art he held out for us to see. "It comes out through my hands," he told us. He doesn't draw. Isn't that comforting?

After that, a group of us went for lunch, and then off to the museum, covered in yesterday's post. We left the museum separately. Some walked, some took the bus, some did a combination. I walked back to the hotel in relatively new sandals, which I'm proud to admit didn't hurt for the first 2 or so miles.

Dinner that night was at Pietro's. They put on a great Italian family-style spread for us - 2 different appetizers, 2 salads, rigatoni, chicken parm, bowls of angelhair pasta and, possibly best of all, trays of cannoli and tiramisu.

Despite a fairly dire weather forecast, the skies didn't open until we got inside the restaurant, and trust me, the sound of 50 women getting acquainted could deafen thunder!
As we were about to leave, it started raining again, so we had an impromptu fashion show where each table got up in turn and introduced what they were wearing (by pattern name and number, most of the time, while the rest of us tried to memorize, scribbled lists or input numbers into their phones).

Needless to say, my pattern list grew ridiculously just that evening.

Saturday was retail therapy day. We got on our big yellow schoolbus before 10:00, and went to Fabric Row, otherwise known as 4th Street. Most stores heeded the warning and had extra staff on, but PA Fabric Outlet, pictured here on the left, did not. Lines stretched to the back of the store, taking at least 40 minutes for me to buy some seam binding that matched a fabric I bought earlier at Jack B's. (The fabric post is tomorrow, if I can get it together.

After lunch on our own, we went to London Textiles in Cherry Hill, NJ. LT is a wholesale business open to the public if you can find them. It wasn't easy, and eventually we were flagged down by an employee at the side of the road, but I think we more than made it worth their while. The sight of that many women up-ended in bins was great. And they had some amazing remnants, a few of which came home with me.

Finally, and by that point almost excessively, we went to Jomar. I personally didn't think they were up to their usual standard, but you couldn't tell that from the long lines winding through the store. Jomar was prepared, though - they had 3 or 4 people cutting, and the line moved quickly.

Back to the hotel at last, sprawled in the big comfy lobby chairs, I realized that I had a fridge full of leftovers at home from Friday night's dinner. I gathered up a few friends (Connie, Lisette, Touran and Lee), and we went off home to drink wine and eat leftover pasta and cannoli, and on the healthy side, a little salad from my back yard. It was a perfect end to a great weekend as we decompressed around the table, talking about our purchases and our plans for them.

Sewing friends are a wonderful addition to my life. I'm happy this weekend I got to add so many more of them.

Photo credits (since I forgot to take any) to Lee, Connie and Noile. If I snagged your photo and didn't credit you, let me know.

Right in my own back yard (PR Weekend Pt. 1)

Can someone tell me how I never managed to get up to the Perelman Museum (part of the Philadelphia Art Museum) before I went there with the group for PR Weekend?

And who came up with this study room concept, and why didn't I know about that either?

Let me start at the beginning. Well, not actually - the beginning would be Kenneth King's embellishment workshop, which I fully intend to talk about out of order in my next post. For now, the museum.

There was a perfectly adequate couture exhibit, and on another day, I would have been really excited about it - there were some beautiful pieces from Badgley Mischka, Carolina Herrera, Zac Posen, and an outfit from Marc Jacobs that was so not right that I really liked it.

But the study room was something else entirely. The showing they gave us was called "Great Designers" and it was a selection pulled from their ginormous collection of pieces by, well, great designers.

The first thing they showed us was this gown from worth, with two bodices, one for day and one for evening. The explanation was that gowns like this were so expensive, it gave the owner the ability to wear it more often and get more bang for her buck.

This gown had plenty of bang. The floral trim on those flounces was embroidered and attached afterward, which at least made me feel a little better for the half-blind seamstresses who probably stitched it somewhere by totally inadequate light.

I love the color combination - the gold, the green, the burgundy velvet underside. Best of all, they opened the bodices up on the table for us to see the construction - boning, waist stays, serious discomfort but who cares if you can wear this thing?

There was a beautiful pleated Fortuny gown that looked like death in my photographs so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was gorgeous. I think Fortuny is one of those things that just needs a body in it. Most of these dresses I was perfectly happy to see flat on the table; that I would have preferred on a mannequin.

Schiaparelli is one of my favorite designers, and they had the most amazing embroidered velvet jacket. Embroidered, mind you, with vegetables. The buttons are also vegetables.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the concept of bound buttonholes in velvet. Yeah, right.

There was a beautiful Chanel coat that I didn't get any photos of because I got a call from the fire museum regarding those long-awaited buttons (yes, they're mine now!) and so I saw it come out, and I saw it go away, and that was really all I saw. Can you see the pout?

And then there was this dress. I was so interested in the back - the closure, the interior - that I completely forgot to take a photo of the front. Doesn't that figure?

I'd love to see the kind of fit you get with this - not only does it zip, but there's a panel that conceals the zipper, and it fastens with alternating hooks and eyes and baby snaps.

Obviously someone had a lady's maid - or a man with really good hand-eye coordination. They're not good at undoing hooks as a rule; let's think about doing up that many, and then throwing in the curve ball of snaps.

One of my favorite dresses of the day (though by far the least attractive or wearable in my eyes) is this yellow and white one. Can someone who was there remind me - was it YSL? That's what's sticking in my mind, but I was so blown away by all those horsehair-edged ruffles, I can't remember.

Held up by Ingrid, you can see it's actually a funky-looking dress, and not in a good way. But flat on the table, you can really see the beauty of the work in this. The photos (and I took quite a few, this is just one of them) show the architectural quality of the edges.

Coming down off my la-di-da, they also kind of reminded me of Pringles potato chips, coming out of the tube in their perfect little chip shapes. Can you see it?

There were a few other pieces in there, but not all the pictures came out that well. We weren't allowed to use flash in the study room, and the black lace dress came out muddy, though it was beautiful in person.

I had no idea what to expect from this visit to the museum, and they went beyond any expectation I could have had. I have to contact them again and find out just how large a group you need to visit the study room, and then I may have to hijack a few people (I think I know some locals who wouldn't mind) and pay another visit.