Black Friday fabric shopping

As I alluded to in my previous post, I spent my Black Friday visiting fabric stores. I met up with my sewing girlfriends Cindy (who visited me a couple of months ago) and Leslie for a day of fun.

First stop, Britex in San Francisco.  Britex offered their email subscribers a coupon for 30% off remnants on Black Friday. We got there right after they opened at 10 am and headed straight for the 4th floor. Even though we spent more than an hour there, we didn't buy much, each of us leaving with just one cut of fabric I think. I'm sure it won't surprise you to know that Leslie has a cut of Burberry plaid wool in her shopping bag there...

Next stop, Stonemountain and Daughter in Berkeley. Both photos the cutter took for us were slightly blurry, her arm must have still been quivering from cutting all of our fabric.  I think we were there for 2 hours. We were armed with Black Friday coupons for 20% off regular priced fabrics, plus there was great stuff in the 50% off sale section upstairs.

As you can see, I stuck to basic solids that should stand the test of time (if not in the closet then in the stash). Only the cotton chambray is from Britex, the rest is from Stonemountain.

Purple is one of my favorite colors, but I have hardly any purple clothes, so I made it a point to include some in my shopping cart. The silk/cotton woven is the same type of fabric I used to make BWOF 6-2008-120 (this is even the same color) and BWOF 7-2009-104 . It is truly the most divine fabric to work with.

Stonemountain had an amazing selection of silk jerseys, a few solids and close to 20 different prints, all priced at $20/yard ($16/yard with coupon!). I was very tempted by several of the prints - you know how you carry a bolt around the store with you while you "think about it". Ultimately I stuck with a solid, neutral olive color. At 60" wide, it was a steal.

I was also thrilled to find the "Home Sewing is Easy" print by Alexander Henry. It's based on a vintage sewing booklet (a copy of which I'm lucky to own), and I didn't even know the reproduction fabric existed until Sew Tessuti shared it with us. My plan is to use it as a ironing board cover. But now I'm thinking I first want to upgrade from my 14.5" wide ironing board to something wider (18"+).  Any suggestions?

****************

One more thing - in my previous post, I mentioned that I had found one of the Threads DVDs, Threads Industry Insider Techniques, at my public library. It is well worth watching, I highly recommend it. I can't wait to try out the pattern alteration to create a bulk-free collar. Also, Louise Cutting demonstrates the proper way to use a point turner, which was a real eye-opener for me! I always assumed you were supposed to just shove that little thing in the corner of your newly-turned-out collars (as is shown on the package in the link); Cutting's method is much more sophisticated and less likely to poke straight through and damage your fabric.

There actually is some sewing happening over here...

Not much, but some!

Simplicity 2850

Nothing too exciting, frankly, but can you ever have enough comfy knit tops?  I bought this pattern because I really like the gathered neckband.  It turned out to be very fiddly and time-consuming! I made View C, and the only change I made was to skip the elastic in the sleeve cuffs and finished it with a narrow sleeve band instead. The fabric is rayon lycra jersey from Fabric.com that I bought in June.

I do have to rave about a notion that I used for the first time - SewKeysE by Emma Seabrooke fine fusible knit interfacing. I bought this at Fabric Depot during PR Weekend Portland in May. It's basically fusible tricot that's cut 1.25" wide, used to stabilize knit hems. It fused onto my fabric easily and beautifully. I'm hooked! So much nicer than cutting interfacing strips yourself. I have a roll in black and a roll in white.

In a few hours, I'm boarding a plane to the SF Bay area to celebrate Thanksgiving with the in-laws. I'm bringing this along for the ride:

Threads Industry Insider Techniques

I love the Seattle Public Library!  This is the only Threads DVD I found there, I hope they get in more soon.

On Friday, I have an exciting day planned that involves sewing friends and fabric stores...

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Bright Star

I made plans to go to a movie with a friend this past weekend. She suggested we see Bright Star, which I hadn't heard of before, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Directed by Jane Campion, Bright Star is the story of the poet John Keats and the girl he fell in love with, Fanny Brawne. What may be of particular interest to readers of this blog is that Fanny sews many of her own clothes and, especially at the start of the movie, there are plenty of close-up action shots of delicate hand-stitching.  At their first meeting, Keats learns of her interest in fashion and asks Brawne what she thinks of his clothes; she tells him he would look better in a blue velvet jacket and I thought for sure this meant she would surreptitiously sew one up for him during the course of the movie, but no such luck for him! Anyway, she does many great pieces for herself, including what she claims is the first "triple mushroom collar" in her part of the countryside, seen in both photos here.

Photos from IMDB

If you're up for a period piece with eye candy costumes, a love story, and a tear jerker all rolled into one, this is the film for you!

Queen of the Nile

I spent most of my Halloween Saturday sewing my costume for a party that evening! I decided on Cleopatra several weeks ago, but in typical style waited until the last minute to sew it up.

A Google image search for Cleopatra will show you that most RTW costumes have these common features: a sleeveless white gown, a wide collar, a belt with an embellished flap hanging down at CF, armbands, and a sheer cape.

I used BWOF 3-2005-114 as a starting point for the dress, tracing just the bodice without the sleeves.  I added a waist seam and drew pieces for a long split front skirt.

For supplies, my first stop was the thrift store where I found what would be the main fabrics - a king sized bedsheet ($3) for the dress, and a super wide poly dupioni pinch-pleat drape in a peachy color ($4) for the accessories.

I hit up Joann for cheap gold trims and the sheer cape fabric, which turned out to the most expensive part of the outfit at $10.  I used a zipper, velcro, and elastic from my stash.

The collar and the wristbands close with velcro.

I put elastic in the armbands to help keep them tight and in place on my upper arms.

The sheer cape, edges left raw, was stitched to the CB neck and the armbands.

There are all kinds of issues with this dress that you would only allow on a Halloween costume:
 - the invisible zip is a contrasting hot pink as it's all I had on hand - but is of course covered by the collar and wig
 - all seams are unfinished
 - the curved skirt hem is super wavy

My friend who is a professional makeup artist did my face, which is always a major treat. I'm wearing the Didi lashes by Make Up For Ever.

Tim went as a race car driver and I had a hand in his costume too - I sewed all those patches on!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!