Fabric Shopping

It was a rainy day but that didn't deter me from the long walk with the girls. Fortunately, it was just a slight drizzle which later became a nasty rain, but I was in the car when it started to really rain.

I had company for my fabric shopping expedition. I got a call from Ronda who was looking for something to do and so we both headed off to Hamilton to look for fabrics.

We picked up some more vinyl - you can never have enough vinyl. I've got quite a variety of colors now so whatever we need, between the two of us we have it.

Then it was on to shopping for skirt fabric.

We popped into European Textiles. Actually, they have two locations just a few doors away from each other on Ottawa Street, in Hamilton. One location is the home dec store, where we got the marine vinyl. The other store is fashion fabrics and quilting. YES - they have a LOT of quality, name-brand quilting fabrics, including a good assortment of batiks. I had a list and I didn't deviate from my list.

After my little chat about the lack of color in people's garments, I couldn't buy black, although there are NOT a lot of other color choices. I didn't know what kind of fabric I wanted so I looked around. They don't have a huge selection as I'm sure there isn't a huge market for this kind of fabric. Who makes their clothes anymore???

I did manage to find this. The color is totally off in this photo. It's RED. Bright red. It's a linen look polyester. 100% polyester! Yeah!!! No prepping on that fabric before I cut into it, but the lining does need to be prewashed. I bought the good stuff by Bemberg.

Fabric for Skirt number one

I know - I couldn't help myself. Did you see the caption on that photo? Numer one? That implies there's a number two. Wait for it. After we paid for our purchases at the second location of European Textiles, we headed off to Fabricland. Oh - I did get the thread and zipper to go with the skirt. And I'm learning about all kinds of other fabrics - power mesh, stretchy mesh, and other great products. But you have to wait to see if I bought any of that stuff.

Fabricland was having a sale. A one day sale because the weather was so bad for the sale they had last week. I noticed that they had some pretty aggressive competitive pricing going on. It's about time and there's no need for these crazy prices. Have a look.

Fabricland also had Bemberg lining in the store. The original price - $33. I paid less than $10 at European Textiles. BUT notice the competitive pricing sticker. I bought lining at Fabricland for the second skirt. Why make one when you can make two?

Competitive pricing on Bemberg lining

I noticed that sewing machine needles were also very competitively priced.

Competitive pricing on sewing machine needles

There was no additional savings (for members) on these items. HEY - I'm good with that. I don't need the 50% off if the price is right in the first place. And the competitive pricing is way better than 50% off. Hopefully, they are listening to their customers and we'll see more of this competitive pricing.

I found a nice wool blend - actually, it's not wool, but it looks like woold. It's viscose and polyester or something like that. But it was a nice suiting type, wool look fabric so I bought some to make a second skirt. HEY - when we teach at store events, I NEED something that makes me look more professional. And I do have access to embroidery machines so my intention is to embroider on at least ONE of the skirts. The color is hard to tell in this photo, but it's a darker grey. I know - I wanted color, but the choices were limited.

Fabric for the second skirt

Hmm - maybe we need a trip to Mood Fabrics in New York?? Wouldn't that be the most amazing thing ever? How far away is New York? It's driveable. Hey, Quilt Posse road trip group? New York???  I've so many road trips that I'd like to take - well, I just can't do them all.

Here are all the accessories that I also purchased. Zippers, thread, tracing paper, and pattern tracing paper to trace out the correct pattern size I need from the multi-size pattern.

Accessories for the skirts

I need to kick it up a notch in the sewing department as I have a few pieces of fabric now that were bought to make specific garments and I don't want to build a fabric stash of garment fabrics.

We also popped into Nova Sewing Center which is a haven for threads, trims, and zippers. I just love their zippers. I couldn't resist buying this heavy-duty zipper (it's a short one) to make a zippered pouch. I know that Shelly would be able to tell me the number of this zipper. Apparently, zippers have numbers based on their size. I have no clue. I should educate myself one day and have a sample of each - just so I know. Nova is getting a facelift to the front of the store so it's the one with the big construction out front. OH -- did some quick research on zippers - no time to dwell on that today, but zippers are cool.

Heavy-duty zipper

I did get some sewing done and some quilting accomplished. One more quilt is quilted and needs to be trimmed later this week. It's BRIGHT and it's PINK. Hey Shelly - what do you think??? This one is one that we made on our community projects sewing days. It was a kit that we made up with odds and ends of fabric pieces. It's going to be donated to Quilts of Valour once the binding gets sewn on.

Community projects quilt - done

OK  - so what is happening to my cookies? They are totally broken. Well, it's NOT a mystery. I seem to drop the darn package every time I take it out of the cupboard. No wonder they're broken. I'm surprised they're not totally mushed by now. The pieces seem to get smaller each day.

Broken cookies

Today is my day off from the gym. Oh, what a feeling to not have to get up and out the door before the crack of dawn. But that doesn't mean, I've been slacking off. I have deadlines to meet and I was downstairs already this morning and have the embroidery machine (Husqvarna Viking DESIGNER EPIC 2) fired up and stitching out a project.

I quickly zipped through an audiobook yesterday which I didn't like. I'm not even going to tell you the name as I do not recommend it. The storyline was so disjointed - it was weird and it had been recommended to me by someone. But I can't imagine anyone liking this book. OK - I know - you want to know the name of the book - The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore by Kim Fu. What was the point of this book? Read the reviews on Goodreads first and then make up your mind, but I wouldn't bother.

It's another Sit n Sew day today! Yeah! I've got a lot of work to do while the others are sewing - my work is sewing and embroidering so I'll be there working with them. I can't wait!

I also heard an advertisement for the Toronto location of Len's Mill store. It's now called Len's Designer Fabric Store. Apparently, it's been revamped and is the HEADQUARTERS for all kinds of fabrics and crafts. I wonder how different the product mix is? It was only that store location that was mentioned. I should check it out one day. Holy - just had a peek at the website and there are HUGE changes. I think this location ONLY sells fabric. Nothing else. Then there's always Designer Textiles downtown Toronto (WAIT - I just found out they closed in 2018!!!!)  and Ann's Fabric Shop in Hamilton as well  - at least for garment sewing.

Here's something I've been meaning to post - check out the latest QUILTsocial downloadable quilt magazine for FREE. It's free until the end of this month so you don't have a lot of time. Always great fun to see what's new if you don't follow the daily blog posts. Check it out!!!

On that note, I'd better get myself organized for the day.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!