Friday, June 24, 2011

Diary Bits on a Friday evening in June

This is just a mishmash of things I've been thinking this week...since I've run out of new clothes to share!

1.  I've really been on a floral/print kick lately!  You would think that I don't work for a professional place with a pretty strict dresscode!

2.  I went to the garment district on Tuesday to buy bias binding...I got this instead:


Yeah, I know...more fabric!  But at least I only bought this one piece (2.5 yds/45" wide ~ cotton pique with a touch of lycra) from Parons.  And oh yeah, I did get the bias binding.

3. Which of course brings me to the second version of B5620...I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it.  When I read Jo Ann's comment about a seam down the front I got pretty excited and thought that might be a good idea...but once I got home a skirt seemed like a good idea too.  So I have no idea what I'm doing with this fabric.  Yeah...that's the way I'm thinking of it now...as fabric.

Liberty of Londan

4.  The introductory price that fabric.com has on their Liberty of London fabrics expires July 6th.  I know there's been some discussion on why you would purchase these and why they are so expensive...I mean besides the fact that they are exported from London.  This is the description from the fabric.com website:

"This Tana Lawn is finely woven, light weight and ultra soft, which makes it perfect for flirty blouses, dresses, lingerie, tunics, tops and more."
 
I would have to agree.  This is some of the softest, nicest cotton that I've ever worked with and I'm not really a cotton dress wearer.  Plus there is the fact that Liberty of London is one of those fabrics I've always wanted to own and use.  I've already placed my order for the last two pieces that I was going back and forth over.  I just wanted you to know that the price is going up to $32.98 per yard on July 7th!  Oh and you can't use a coupon with it now...*sigh*...but there is free shipping for orders over $35 in the U.S.

5.  Not to leave my beloved Fabric Mart out of the fabric goodness news.  Did you know that they marked all the trendy fabrics 50% off?!  Seriously, they did!  I don't know how much is left...but surf on over and see what might want to come home with you cause I'm leaving this sale alone...*LOL*

6.  Can you really talk about fabric and not talk about patterns...McCalls released their autumn patterns (Really? They released fall patterns in June during the first days of summer!?!) there were a few cute ones but I kept thinking what the heck happened with the Vogue patterns?  I was sure that new Vogue patterns would emerge from the back rooms at Vogue this week, so I was a little blindsided when autumn McCalls patterns showed up instead!  Seriously, am I that off in the rotation!?!

7.  Can't find a June Burda anywhere in the city.  And my newsstand guy is telling me that he's having some issues with GLP and deliveries!  GLP if you're listening can you release the chokehold on the issues...I ain't ever gonna subscribe and you're missing out on all the visiting sewists to the garment district during the summer!!!

8.  I started working on the jacket of the jacket/dress combo.  You would think that I picked something dowdy and pro-fessional to work with right?  You would be wrong.  Like I said earlier, I've been in a floral state of mind...so here's a sneak peek at the jacket...

Gawd, that pattern matching isn't looking that great.
Gonna have to work on that!

Finally...

9.  Thanks for the interesting comments & discussion on "The Other Side" post.  It was nice to get a variety of opinions about the Connie Crawford patterns.  I also want to thank everyone for expressing their opinions and for being very civil about it.  I truly appreciate it!  But if anyone has a picture to share of their success with this or any of the CC Butterick patterns...please feel free to leave a link to a picture in the comments.  There are quite a few of us that would like to see it and applaud you on your success!

It's the weekend!  Thank goodness!  So I will probably work on the jacket/dress combo and hopefully have something to share before the weekend is ovah!

...as always, more later!

16 comments:

  1. ooohhhh...good to know about the Liberty of London prints...I don't own any but would love to try some out!

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  2. I share your love for Liberty fabrics . . . they are truly scrumptious. I've been to the Liberty store in London, and the fabrics are rather pricey even there (which has helped me resist coming home with a suitcase-load of them). I've still got some lovely Liberty wool challis in my stash that I acquired over ten years ago, I really need to do something with those pieces!

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  3. It's not only Stateside that there are issues with the June Burda. It's like the Holy Grail here in the UK too. More than a little crazy as I'm another seamstress who will never subscribe to Burda because they're more than a little hit and miss.

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  4. Hmmmm, I've been really good about not purchasing fabric but I'm quite tempted to try the Liberty fabric.

    I was surprised the McCall's fall offerings showed up before Vogue also. And even though its officially summer, I could easily be sewing and wearing those fall fashions right now!

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  5. Thanks for the heads-up on the fabric.com sales - it looks like a few trendy 50% off fabrics might make me leap to buying fabric on-line. Not sure I'm liking any of the Liberty ones, even at their introductory price. Is the love for Liberty of London in the patterns (design/color), the fabric (feel/quality) or something else? I'm just asking, as based on the photos, I'm just not feeling the love for most of them. I do have a couple of vintage silk scarves that I like though.

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  6. A little information about buying fabrics in, and from, the UK-they have a tax called the VAT, which, when I lived in the UK (2001-2007) was around 30% (I think-I'm sure Evie can correct me on this one, and I welcome it!), give or take. This tax is on EVERYTHING, and the merchant HAS to pay it for everything they sell, they cannot exempt the US buyers from it simply because we don't have it here. In any case, everything is more expensive in the UK and Europe-fuel was aleady $10 a gallon when we moved back to the US (facoring in the exchange rate, multiplying from liters to gallons), and that's just the tip of the iceberg. The cost of living is breathtaking. Factor in export and shipping costs, and the price they're charging for these delicious feeling fabrics really is fair.

    Sorry, I just felt the need to throw that in there! LOL!

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  7. Your post totally made me pull the trigger on ordering some Liberty fabric. I tried a few different coupon codes from retailmenot.com, and I did manage to find one that worked. So, two fabulous pieces of Liberty lawn are on their way to me now!

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  8. Do you want a June Burda? I'm pretty sure I can find them at my usual magazine stall in Toronto. Of course, our postal service is on strike, so I have no idea when I can send it to you, but I'm happy to grab one for you if you want.

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  9. Carolyn, please email me before your order the Liberty prints. I've got a code that I think you can use to get a bit of a discount on them.
    shmcpa (at) yahoo

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  10. Paron's doesn't have the June Burda?

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  11. Liberty of London's Tana Lawn has to be the best quality I have ever fondled. That is the best way of describing it. I still have some, and I still bring it out just to touch it from time to time. I bought it at Liberty's in London. Best souvenir ever!

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  12. Liberty cottons are THE best. I am British by birth and sewed Liberty cottons for quite a few years before I moved to the USA. They are expensive in the UK but they last forever and are a dream to sew and to wear. Sadly, they are even more expensive in the USA but I still think they are worth the money.

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  13. I could look for a Burda for you. My local shop sells them for $10 and 'usually' has extras at the end of the month. I'm in Canada, too but hubby works for Purolator - he says it would cost him about $5-6 dollars to send it to NY.

    Let me know.
    lonelysecretary1 @ hotmail dot com

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  14. That floral jacket looks so pretty - can't wait to see it finished!

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  15. Thanks for the info on the liberty of london sale. I also found a coupon that will work, so I think I may be ordering a piece. I made a vintage dress in one of their prints a couple of months ago,and fell in love with the fabric (but not so much the price). So its great to find out about a sale.

    thanks again.

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  16. Thanks for all this Carolyn. Now I have to go pattern cruising!Hope your weekend is nicer than mine. ( Raining cats and dogs!!)

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