I know I showed my fabric purchases from Expo but being the fabricaholic that I am I wanted to talk a little about them and a few of the other things I purchased but didn't share yesterday.
Let's start at the beginning ~
This is how my fabric arrived today...
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Pendleton Wools ~
The first place that we went was the Pendleton booth. I've lusted after Pendleton wool since Liana first talked about it on her blog. I remember seeing Pendleton wool in the fabric stores when I was a child/teenager. It was the pricier fabric that my Mother wouldn't buy for me. So of course it's on my list of things to own.
It took me a minute to orient myself in the booth because the shelves were filled with cuts instead of bolts. There were a lot of American Indian/Old West type prints but I passed these by because they don't work for my lifestyle. Though of course now I wished I'd bought just one. Ah well, this is what I did buy...
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A 2 yard cut of a turquoise/green/gray/offwhite wool plaid and two 1-yard pieces of a red/black buffalo plaid. Though the pieces were marked there was a 50% discount on the turquoise plaid and a 35% discount on the buffalo plaid. The turquoise will become a version of my TNT dress and the buffalo plaid a pencil skirt. I definitely knew what I wanted these pieces to be when I purchased them.
Marcy Tilton ~
I know that I've spoken of my love of Marcy Tilton's website before. She carries unusual pieces that speak to my creative soul. So after viewing the Butterick/McCall/Vogue Style Show (where I found a few patterns that I didn't already own and now need!) we headed here. I seriously could have purchased half of the fabric in the booth that's how awesome the pieces were that Marcy bought to Expo.
Here's what came home with me...
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These are the only truly spring fabrics I bought. They were so bright and colorful and reminded me of the Seattle spring I was experiencing! So 3 yards of the boldly printed watercolor midweight linen, 1.5 yards of the white stretch lace and 1.5 yards of the vegetable lightweight linen came home with me. Won't these pieces be awesome made into garments this spring/summer?
Vogue Fabrics ~
I've bought some amazing pieces from Vogue Fabrics at other sewing shows. It seems like they raid the warehouse and take the best stuff on the road! My Vogue purchases were basics...
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Even though they've photographed black - the pieces are actually navy. 5 yards of a navy blue wool/rayon blend and 1.5 yards of a navy/white houndstooth cotton blend. These will be used to replace the navy suit pieces I've outgrown. So a skirt from the houndstooth and a jacket and dress from the navy blue.
Pacific Fabrics ~
This is one of the local fabric stores for Seattle and even though my companions could shop there anytime, we still visited their booth. I have several black suits that I can no longer wear...*sigh* and even though I have quite a bit of black fabric in the collection...this piece called my name quite loudly.
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It has a boucle type hand and I believe it's a wool blend. I have a 4 yard piece and want to make a cardigan type jacket with a pencil skirt suit. If there is remaining yardage, I'd like an empire waist type dress using one of my stashed black printed silks for the top of the dress and this fabric for the bottom.
I bought nice pieces, however, most of the purchases were practical. I need to replace garments that no longer fit and that fact governed what I bought.
Trimmings, buttons and tools ~
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5 yards of a 2" wide brown lace, 10 yards of a 1.5" white lace, 5 yards of a black/white houndstooth type ribbon, and a yard of a large daisy lace for little girl dresses (for the grandbabies) was purchased from Trims on Wheels.
The Rayon Bemberg Lining was found in the Dana Marie booth for $7.99 per yard with a 20% off discount. This was an unbelievable buy and I should have bought more than the three colors below but I blanked on what I had on hand in the sewing cave! So just 5 yard pieces of brown, black and ivory were purchased.
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I also stopped at the Clover booth to look at tools. I don't know about anyone else but my Clover tools have become the ones I always turn to. I'm especially in love with the water erasable markers because they actually erase! So I bought two of them. At the Vintage Buttons booth they had bowls of German glass buttons. After picking through the choices, the smoke clear buttons pictured above came home with me.
Finally, I don't know about you but I love keeping the bags that my fabrics come in. Well at least the shopping bags from when I travel and buy fabric, that explains the picture below...
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I'm sure some day my daughters are going to know that I was a little fabric crazy (hehehe!) because of the collection of shopping bags hidden away in a corner of the sewing cave!
The Vogue 7632 skirt is done and I'm trying to decide whether to make the jacket in the pattern or go with another one. I'm also going to do some work on my TNT dress pattern. I've got to get this pattern wearable again. To that end I found the original dress pattern pieces mixed in the folder so I'm going to make up a dress and see how it goes.
Those are my current sewing plans...
![]()
Let's start at the beginning ~
This is how my fabric arrived today...
Pendleton Wools ~
The first place that we went was the Pendleton booth. I've lusted after Pendleton wool since Liana first talked about it on her blog. I remember seeing Pendleton wool in the fabric stores when I was a child/teenager. It was the pricier fabric that my Mother wouldn't buy for me. So of course it's on my list of things to own.
It took me a minute to orient myself in the booth because the shelves were filled with cuts instead of bolts. There were a lot of American Indian/Old West type prints but I passed these by because they don't work for my lifestyle. Though of course now I wished I'd bought just one. Ah well, this is what I did buy...
A 2 yard cut of a turquoise/green/gray/offwhite wool plaid and two 1-yard pieces of a red/black buffalo plaid. Though the pieces were marked there was a 50% discount on the turquoise plaid and a 35% discount on the buffalo plaid. The turquoise will become a version of my TNT dress and the buffalo plaid a pencil skirt. I definitely knew what I wanted these pieces to be when I purchased them.
Marcy Tilton ~
I know that I've spoken of my love of Marcy Tilton's website before. She carries unusual pieces that speak to my creative soul. So after viewing the Butterick/McCall/Vogue Style Show (where I found a few patterns that I didn't already own and now need!) we headed here. I seriously could have purchased half of the fabric in the booth that's how awesome the pieces were that Marcy bought to Expo.
Here's what came home with me...
These are the only truly spring fabrics I bought. They were so bright and colorful and reminded me of the Seattle spring I was experiencing! So 3 yards of the boldly printed watercolor midweight linen, 1.5 yards of the white stretch lace and 1.5 yards of the vegetable lightweight linen came home with me. Won't these pieces be awesome made into garments this spring/summer?
Vogue Fabrics ~
I've bought some amazing pieces from Vogue Fabrics at other sewing shows. It seems like they raid the warehouse and take the best stuff on the road! My Vogue purchases were basics...
Even though they've photographed black - the pieces are actually navy. 5 yards of a navy blue wool/rayon blend and 1.5 yards of a navy/white houndstooth cotton blend. These will be used to replace the navy suit pieces I've outgrown. So a skirt from the houndstooth and a jacket and dress from the navy blue.
Pacific Fabrics ~
This is one of the local fabric stores for Seattle and even though my companions could shop there anytime, we still visited their booth. I have several black suits that I can no longer wear...*sigh* and even though I have quite a bit of black fabric in the collection...this piece called my name quite loudly.
It has a boucle type hand and I believe it's a wool blend. I have a 4 yard piece and want to make a cardigan type jacket with a pencil skirt suit. If there is remaining yardage, I'd like an empire waist type dress using one of my stashed black printed silks for the top of the dress and this fabric for the bottom.
I bought nice pieces, however, most of the purchases were practical. I need to replace garments that no longer fit and that fact governed what I bought.
Trimmings, buttons and tools ~
5 yards of a 2" wide brown lace, 10 yards of a 1.5" white lace, 5 yards of a black/white houndstooth type ribbon, and a yard of a large daisy lace for little girl dresses (for the grandbabies) was purchased from Trims on Wheels.
The Rayon Bemberg Lining was found in the Dana Marie booth for $7.99 per yard with a 20% off discount. This was an unbelievable buy and I should have bought more than the three colors below but I blanked on what I had on hand in the sewing cave! So just 5 yard pieces of brown, black and ivory were purchased.
I also stopped at the Clover booth to look at tools. I don't know about anyone else but my Clover tools have become the ones I always turn to. I'm especially in love with the water erasable markers because they actually erase! So I bought two of them. At the Vintage Buttons booth they had bowls of German glass buttons. After picking through the choices, the smoke clear buttons pictured above came home with me.
Finally, I don't know about you but I love keeping the bags that my fabrics come in. Well at least the shopping bags from when I travel and buy fabric, that explains the picture below...
I'm sure some day my daughters are going to know that I was a little fabric crazy (hehehe!) because of the collection of shopping bags hidden away in a corner of the sewing cave!
The Vogue 7632 skirt is done and I'm trying to decide whether to make the jacket in the pattern or go with another one. I'm also going to do some work on my TNT dress pattern. I've got to get this pattern wearable again. To that end I found the original dress pattern pieces mixed in the folder so I'm going to make up a dress and see how it goes.
Those are my current sewing plans...
