Sunday, January 15, 2017

A Pledge Broken...

...so I'm gonna dust myself off, confess my stumble, and move on making today the first day of my new pledge.

Here is my confession ~
I broke my fabric pledge. I had sewing friends scheduled to come to town this weekend and we were going to spend the weekend together fabric shopping in the garment district. However, this is not what broke my vow. I can shop the garment district and not buy since I now work in the midst of the district, I don't feel any pressure to buy. 

What made me break my vow is that Chic Fabrics posted to Instagram that they were closing at the end of January because they lost their lease. I didn't partake in the Paron's closing sale because I felt I should have done more to support them but I'm in Chic Fabrics at least once a month. So pledge broken.

Let me back up and tell you how I spent two wonderful days and one night with an amazing group of women. Cennetta and I had been speaking about her coming to NYC in January for a couple of months. Airfares and hotel costs are the cheapest to NYC during the months of January through March so we planned for the MLK weekend. 

During that time a few other sewists joined in but we ended up with a small group of four ~

Friday Evening ~
I get off work at 5pm and almost everyone was arriving in NYC after 8pm so I took myself to see Hidden Figures.  If you haven't seen this movie, please see it as soon as you can because it is AMAZING. The story it tells about these three women is awesome and the 60s fashions are all fantastic. I will be seeing this movie again because it was just that good!


Katherine G. Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan 
and the actresses who portrayed them.

A church scene with the women dressed in their Sunday Finest

The black computing staff at NASA

After the movie, I met up with Gaylen (Gmariesews, CarriageCornerB&B) and Andrea (knitknac) for dinner while we waited for Cennetta's (Mahogany Stylist) plane to arrive. I had the best dinner, dessert and conversation with these women.

Saturday in the Garment Center ~
Cennetta is one of the Mood Sewing Network Bloggers but she'd never been to the Mood Store in NYC. She purchases her fabric from the Mood website. Because of that we made Mood our first stop where we spent a good portion of our time.

Cennetta with Eric, Owner of Mood Fabrics

Here is what I bought at Mood with a lot of enabling from my fellow sewists ~
L to R - Lt. Blue Tencel Denim, Paisley Print Cotton Stretch Twill
Roberto Cavello Denim w/Lycra that three of us purchased

Our next stops were SIL Threads, Spandex House and Pacific Trimmings. After that we took a quick break at Pret A Manger to rest and regroup. While there it started to snow, so in the snow we headed over to Chic Fabrics, our last stop of the day.

Here is what I bought at Chic Fabrics ~

L to R - a white pique ponte, a printed stretch jersey
and a border print ponte in black, red, grey and white

We talked to the owner about his situation and future plans. Of course, the Landlord has raised the rent, but an offer was made to make the space smaller and let him stay. If it's not accepted, he will move all of his stock out at the end of the month to a warehouse and look for another space in the district. Though after speaking with both him and Eric at Mood Fabrics, the rents that are being charged in the district are rising at alarming rates. We may see other fabric store closures in the future.

In the snow we trudged back to the hotel to wait for our dinner reservations at Rosa Mexicano. I have no pic of this although Sheila (sheila-ctz) and Olgalyn (O! Jolly! Crafting Fashions) both joined us for dinner. This is because while Rosa Mexicano has great Mexican food, the lighting is not conducive to taking photos. When we hit the street, it was still snowing, cold and dark. Yeah we were making it to the subway back to the hotel.

A few selfies that I got from Andrea ~

Andrea and Sheila

Gaylen and Andrea

Gaylen and I headed out after that. She graciously drove me home before heading back to the Inn. It was a wonderful couple of days. There were so many great conversations, a lot of fabric buying and quality time with fellow sewing sistahs who love our craft as much as I do ~ even though there was a lot of knitting going on! *LOL*

I'm headed back to my sewing machine since our offices are closed for MLK Day tomorrow. I have to finish up the cardigans that I started weeks ago.

...as always more later!


46 comments:

  1. For a good cause... I've bought from Chic. They have the best price for stretch silk charmeuse and silk organza. I'll be sorry to see them go. I've been buying in the district for years, lots of years and there are a lot of stores I miss.

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  2. Fabric shopping with sewing friends should not be part of any pledge, they are wonderful enables and you just don't want to disappoint them by not playing along! Well that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

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    1. Sharon - so much of my fabric purchasing is impulse purchasing in the middle of the night, my commute to work or when I'm bored. I think I'm really trying to eliminate those purchases. I don't do as many group fabric shopping trips as I use to so I don't want to be a Debbie Downer while everyone is having fun. I just try to limit how many pieces I buy. I think I did good only bringing 6 pieces from 2 shops home.

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  3. What a lovely post! Friends and fabric stores make a great mix. Happy times!

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  4. I'm so glad you got together with Cennetta! She is a dear. I'm going to see "Hidden Figures" this week and I can't wait. Fashion aside I love the NASA history. I worked with Goddard Space Center back in the 80s.

    Now let me rant for a bit. That Chic Fabrics is closing makes me absolutely cry. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com/articles/property-taxes-in-new-york-city-skyrocket-1484271761 - you may need a subscription to read it, if so, I'm sorry, but you can get the gist from the first few sentences). I talked with the owners in September. They told me their rent TRIPLED on January 1 of last year. They were barely hanging on, and that's the same with so many stores and garmentos in the district. It is devastating what the landlords and the city are doing to the tenants. In 3 years there won't be a Garment District if things continue as they are.

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    1. Anne - I'm starting to think the same thing! Either the stores will have to leave the street level store fronts and go up or give in. I also think we as sewists need to do our part to promote them or they just won't be there anymore.

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  5. Looks like you ladies had a wonderful time together.

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  6. We saw "Hidden Figures" this afternoon and I wept. What a treat to hear about your weekend of fabric bonding. Love me some Garment District; good thing I live 3000 miles away!

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    1. I laughed out loud, silently wept at parts and cheered at the end. I've only been at the movie theatre one other time when the audience cheered and clapped and that was when Jennifer Holiday, sang I'm Not Going. It was an amazing movie and I will see it again.

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  7. What a wonderful time you have had, with all your fellow sewists; so happy for you as I love doing this too. That Roberto Cavello fabric is TDF! I think I will love Hidden Figures too, and plan to suggest it as a group outing with my Sewing Sisters. Great post!

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    1. Patricia - I only bought the Cavello after much prodding from the group. One member of the group actually paired it with fabric in my collection to suggest uses and why I should buy it. I was helpless when presented with that point of view! *LOL*

      Definitely see Hidden Figures! Definitely!

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  8. Carolyn, I echo your sentiments about Hidden Figures, a story that needed to be told. The acting was incredible, and the fashions were yummy! :-)

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    1. Cathryn - it was an amazing movie wasn't it?! I want to stop people on the streets and tell them to go see it! *LOL*

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  9. This is a good reason to break a fabric pledge. =)

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    1. Lynette - I had such a good time and felt no guilt at all! Even when I got it all home and it's still sitting on the cutting table because I have no place to put it! *LOL*

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  10. I need lots of emojis here, as I have such mixed feelings from this post! I'm so happy that you had such a great get together, so sad to see Chic (and other places in the Garment District) close, loving (and drooling over) that Cavallo denim (it's not on the Mood site), and am so jealous of all of it. :) I rarely go to the movies, but may have to make an exception for this one! (And, if I know you, that regretful feeling was expressed with a wink. ;) )

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    1. Shams - I have to admit that I am one of the first people to take the garment district for granted. It's ALWAYS been there. Yes, it's changed but this is one of the first times I believe that it might go away. I totally blame Bloomberg for this because he took away the special designation the garment district had which allowed landlords to charge hideous amounts of money and is driving the smaller entrepreneur out of the district. Seriously do we need another Chipolte or Pret a Manger in the district?

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  11. Ummmm, gotta admit, I never thought for a sec you'd be able to make that pledge stick, but it was a valiant attempt. Fabrics are our friends!

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    1. Jackie - when I made the pledge I meant it. I think I need to refine it so that it's not so cut and dried. As I said before, I need to cut out those extraneous fabric purchases - when I'm buying because I'm bored, etc.

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  12. What...a weekend with fellow sewists visiting fabric shops and NOT being tempted to purchase fabric? Not one of your readers could resist and break your pledge. LOL Karen

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    1. Karen - especially since several of my readers were with me right?! It was an amazing weekend though!

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  13. I am swooning--a few of your pieces had me mesmerized--then I had to shake it off and get back to my own fabric fast. I don't blame you for breaking your fast-beautiful fabric is seductive. (Pssst--just sew it up right away--then your collection can't give you the side-eye when you try to squeeze it in--lol).

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    1. Robin - LOL at the sew it up right away. I will honestly say that will never happen. It will need to wait it's turn in the collection for inspiration.

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  14. What a weekend! Hidden Figures is really good and so inspiring!

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  15. You look like you had so much fun!! I look forward to watching Hidden Figures. It is definitely on my list of stellar movies to see.

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    1. Vanessa - I had a ball! You should definitely see the movie!

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  16. When you laid out those fabric shopping rules, I nearly wrote a tongue-in-cheek post taking bets on how long you'd last. And boy howdy, the temptation sure appeared quickly. But who can avoid sentimental shopping when a favorite fabric store is closing? Nobody we know! Your choices are lovely and will bring you joy when you're drooling over them on your shelves, when youre making them up, when they're in your closet, and when you wear them. Win-win-win-win. Nuts to the rules, this is mental health food. Enjoy every moment of your craft, and if new fabric helps you do that, go for it. Cindy (Creative Hormone Rush)

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    1. Cindy - I know what you're saying I shouldn't have written such a hard & fast rule. There should have been exceptions to the rule. My fast is on every day, I should buy some fabric situations. Those I'm trying hard to avoid. My fabric collection came to be from more of those type of situations than fabric shopping with friends. I need to publish a revision of my pledge.

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    2. Carolyn - Agreed! Add an exception for that perfect shade of blue, red, or whatever you love and crave that only comes up about once a decade because you MUST splurge and score all you can on the spot. And for a favorite type of fabric or lining that's devilishly hard to find. I'd be williing forego all brownies and cupcakes for a full five years if I could score a bolt of brilliant cerulean blue in a nifty fabric with a nice feel to it. And did, the last time I found it (bought the entire bolt that is, didn't give up treats at the time).

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  17. The book Hidden FIgures begins during World War II and the formation of the West Computers. Interesting to read and find out more about these inspiring women.

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    1. Mary - I want to read the book now especially after seeing the movie!

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  18. Thanks for sharing this visit with us! I am sure it was a great time.

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    1. Linda - I need to do more of these this year. They are energizing and allow me to connect with my art form from another experienced sewist's point of view.

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  19. Your weekend sounds wonderful. You are forgiven having broken your pledge. The fabric looks terrific and I cannot wait to see what you create. SO glad you saw "Hidden Figures;" I have recommended it to everyone I know and for the second straight week, it topped the American box office, so it's clear that this important story is resonating with many, many people.

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    1. AJW, thank you for understanding! I'm with you I want everyone to see this wonderful movie!

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  20. Wow! When you fall off the wagon, you fall OFF the wagon!

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  21. Hey Carolyn! What a great post! I was smiling the entire time, reading this. What a beautiful weekend you ladies had. I was dying laughing when, in the beginning, you said you were gonna just get up and dust yourself off. LOL! I had a vision of you doing just that with a smile on your face. Hahaha! I love how you ladies shopped, took a break, and shopped some more. That's a great sew sister day out. I saw another sew sister post about how she gets together monthly with other sewers in her town. I want to do this so bad. I need to start something. Thanks for sharing your weekend with us.

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    1. Anita - I honestly haven't done it much lately but I'm going to rethink that and try to see my sewing friends more often. It really was a wonderful weekend because it recharged me and made me anxious to get back to my sewing machine.

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  22. As always, great dinner and conversation!

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    1. O., it's always good to see you and I loved the new top, too!

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  23. Carolyn, went to see Hidden Figures and It was one of the best movies I have seen. I laughed, cried, got mad, and cheered. I am marching Saturday in Seattles Womens March and will be thinking of those women and how we cannot let their determination, courage, and drive be lost. So glad the reason you broke your pledge was for love of friends, and sewing businesses (more wonderful people). I am drooling over the tencel denim!!!!

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  24. I wouldn't have been able to maintain that type of pledge admit so much fun either. Hard to believe all the rent issues are also affecting Mood. SMH...It's going to be a sad day to not be able to come to NYC for what it is know for, by so many.

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  25. I'd say you broke your pledge for some really great fabric.

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  26. How did I miss this? I was reading blogs last night and knitting. Anyway - all 4 of us bought that fabulous floral denim! I had the best time. Thanks again for inviting me. Gaylen

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  27. love, love your new blog header!!! Karen

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