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Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Fabric, Trim & Buttons from Expo

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...


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...



25 comments:

  1. I went to the Expo twice, chatted it up with Linda Lee and Katrina Walker, and tried to have a conversation with a certain tattooed author-blogger who wouldn't give me the time of day. I bought some Pendleton woolen cuts, too. And more feet. Keep up the great blog!

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    1. Let's just hope that she was really busy and didn't mean to be that way! I saw her later at Marcy Tilton's booth and she was charming to both me and my friends. It was a really long day for her!

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  2. This expo sounds like some big names attended and that you had a good time.

    Hope you didn't have any disappointing meetings with celebrity sewers that Michael Thiesen mentions.

    To get this much fabric is amazing. I've been to exhibitions and come away empty handed. I'm looking forward to seeing these fabrics brought to life!

    What are your favourite sewing tools? I agree, Clover do have some clever gadgets.

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    1. Like I said above, I did run into her and she was charming to me and my friends! I'm sure that sitting at the table signing books got to be challenging and she didn't mean to offend anyone.

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    2. Oh and favorite sewing tools - absolute hands down is my 6" seam gauge, I have loads and loads of them stashed around the sewing cave.

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  3. I found all the sewing personalities to be very gracious at Expo . The classes I ook were very inspiring . I had a conversation with a young woman at the McCalls booth. I told her it would be nice to have more mature models & figure models in the fashion show. She took my info & seemed very I terested :)
    Thanks Carolyn for all your inspiration - can't wait to see your future posts !!

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    1. MaryEllen - I agree everyone was courteous, kind and willing to take photos if you asked. I also agree about the fashion show models. I said the same thing to my companions - that it would have been nice to see the garments on some real size women - although the designer pieces come in smaller sizes so there's nothing they can do about that!

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    2. One thing I love about SewExpo is that it is still small enough to make meeting folks and making connections pretty simple. It's still mostly quilting, but there's enough dressmaking folks who really are interested in talking and sharing. I wish I lived within striking distance of the NY fabric stores, but I am grateful I am a 30 minute drive from Sew Expo. Glad we had the nice weather for you!

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  4. Carolyn I will be attending the Sewing/Quilt Expo in Atlanta next Saturday. Will you please specific items I should purchase at the expo and the vendor's I should visit? I did make a note about the Rayon Bemberg Lining, Clover products, and the Vogue booth.
    Thanks - Kellie
    http://www.sewingexpo.com/AtlantaGA/Shopping.aspx


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    1. Kellie - my advice would be to see what you need to complete the next couple of garments, and look for those supplies.

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  5. I have long had a thing for Pendleton wool! One of my favorite gifts I received when I graduated from high school was a Pendleton blanket, and that blanket has been all over the states and to some of the islands too!
    That floral linen from MT is divine! Can't wait to see it made up.

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    1. Alicia - isn't Pendleton divine!? That floral piece is so special that I'm going to have to find a wonderful garment to make with it, for sure!

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  6. Nice to hear you had such a pleasant visit to our PNW. Yeah, blue skies and lots of sun in spring... but we still get frosty nights! Very little snow this winter...pretty wet and mild.

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  7. Great looking fabrics. I saw in a decorating magazine where they framed the shopping bags - it was quite fun. Here you go
    http://breakingcurfew.blogspot.com/2012/07/yea-or-nay-framing-shopping-bags.html

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  8. For a long time it seemed like the Tiltons only bought fabric in black, grey and brown. It been great seeing so many colors lately. Can't wait to see what you make up.

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  9. It looks like you had an amazing time! Hopefully I will get to go one year!!

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  10. Very nice haul! I didn't know about the Clover markers. Need to find some! There was a Threads article some years back about construction order to make it easier to take in garments. I'm sorry I don't know the issue. I have bags from fabric I bought in India. They are very cool bags and another souvenir of our trip.

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  11. Great finds. I lived a short ride from Dorr Mill in New Hampshire where they used to make Pendleton woolens. Talk about drool worthy! I know the love.

    Love all that you brought back. I see some great clothes and blogposts coming up!

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  12. Beautiful treasures to remember Expo by. And Pendleton wool, always lovely. We have a fair share of it in our fabric stash. It sews and wears so well.

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  13. I'm so excited to see your Pendleton pencil skirt! I have been secretly hoping to travel to the Pacific Northwest one day if only to go to the Pendleton outlet! :D

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  14. It looks like you had a fantastic time. I absolutely love the linen fabrics, looking forward to seeing what you make with them :)

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  15. It looks like you had a fantastic time. I absolutely love the linen fabrics, looking forward to seeing what you make with them :)

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  16. I was also thrown off by the cuts of fabric in the Pendleton booth. Fortunately I live near the store, and after seeing your buffalo plaid, I'm going to get some for myself! I can't wait to see your skirt!!!

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  17. Found the botanical! It's gooseberry! http://www.hartsfabric.com/digitally-printed-linen-gooseberry-79883.html

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