The Confessions of A Fabricaholic

If you've been reading along for any length of time, you know that I LOVE fabric.  To some it's an aspirational goal, to others I'm obviously using my funds wrong and to some people it's a headscratcher. Then to those who love fabric as much as I do, my fabric collection is a lovesong.

I haven't talked about fabric purchases much on the blog lately. Some of it's because I haven't felt like it...though I've still been buying. But it's the end of the year and alongwith recapping my Top 5's (those will be coming up soon), I wanted to talk a little about my fabric collection. Especially since my fabric collection means as much to me as the sewing does. 

In September I shared some new online fabric resources for National Sewing Month. There were several new to me online fabric sites and I have spent time pursuing their sites then purchasing from them. So I thought I would show some of the new pieces that have come to visit Casa de Sewing Fanatico. 

Now I know I work in the midst of the NYC Garment District and I do purchase local too. However, for many of you visiting the District is a special trip, but you can sit at home and thumb through online internet sites. Truthfully, I sit at home and thumb through internet sites too!

So here are a few purchases I've made recently especially after the amazing Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales:

LaFinch Fabrics ~

A Liverpool knit (used in the Rivermont Dress, a dotted chambray for a shirt

and a polyester crepe for a bow-tie blouse)

Blackbird Fabrics ~

A floral rayon poplin and a dark floral sweaterknit

Smugglers Daughter ~

A dark denim cause I'm always buying denim now!

District Fabrics ~

Love the packaging from District Fabric

An embroidered velvet

I have to admit to finding this one on Instagram and purchasing it by calling the store.  They were so helpful and sent it out quickly! I highly recommend following their Instagram account and seeing their lovelies.

Emmaonesock ~

A rayon printed twill

I also bought a few pieces of fabric from Stylemaker Fabrics ~

and 5 yards of white cotton interlock from Organic Cotton Plus. The Stylemaker Fabrics and the cotton interlock were purchased during the Black Friday sale.

There have been a few purchases from Chic Fabrics and Metro Textiles, in the Garment District too, but I've officially made my last fabric purchases for 2017. It's time to stop gathering and to start sewing. I don't know about you but at the beginning of every season, I need to do a gathering or a hunt of fabric for that season. I need to add a few new pieces to the collection to get the creative juices flowing. These pieces may or not be used during this winter season but they do encourage my sewing mojo and inspire me to start new sewing adventures.

So how about you?  Do you need fabric to kickstart your sewing mojo?  Or do you have a lean fabric collection? Maybe you're like me and believe that you should own as much fabric as you are capable of storing? Finally, did you indulge in the Black Friday sales? I know different strokes for different folks but as I said at the beginning of this post I love fabric and it makes me happy!

I may have another outfit post before the Christmas Break but I'm not sure. I am sewing but due to the holidays and everything going on, I may not have a photographer until the New Year. 

As I mentioned above, I will be discussing my Top 5's in another post soon and maybe a wrap-up post of this year and my goals for next year.  

...as always more later! 

Week Three - Cashmerette Patterns Winner and Discount Reminder

I know that I'm late with this post but my day job has been particularly busy this week.  I think the rest of the year is going to be equally as busy...but I digress.  You want to know who won the Cashmerette Patterns...now should I tease you or do this in order! *LOL*

Alright I'm not that mean, contrary to what some have said about me on these interwebs! *LOL* The winner of three PDF Cashmerette Patterns of their choice is:

Barb Gorman

Barb - send me an email (address in bio) and I will give you the code you'll need to download your patterns!

Next up ~ 
Jeri Savoie, you need to contact me by Wednesday, September 27th or I will pull another name to win the HotPatterns PDF pattern.

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Smugglers Daughter Discount ~
The 20% off your total order discount code is in effect until Saturday, September 30th at midnight PST.  Use "FANATIC" when you check out to get the discount.

I wanted to show you an outfit I made using some fabric from Smugglers Daughter last April. I originally showed it with a denim jacket I'd made but this is how I've wore it lately.

I have a few other pieces of fabric from Smugglers Daughter that are waiting to become garments in my wardrobe...hopefully they will show up here soon. I encourage you to go through the website and find a few treasures to come to your house, too!

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There wasn't a pattern giveaway this week because of my work schedule. So I will be offering a new notion, a sewing book and a magnetic pin cushion as the last giveaway next week.

So check back on Sunday for the next fabric discount...and on Monday for the Notions Giveaway!

Happy National Sewing Month!

Week Three - Smuggler's Daughter and a Discount

As we continue to celebrate "National Sewing Month" the next online fabric store that I'm highlighting is Smuggler's Daughter.

A short intro before the Q & A with Susan.  I've been purchasing fabric from Susan's online store for the last three years and I've bought some amazing pieces. To me her selection is curated with a more artistic bend...fabrics that you buy when you want to sew more than a basic garment.  Not to say that she doesn't have some basics in stock but I head to her site when I'm looking for something extraordinary that will kick my garment up a notch or two.

I also had the opportunity to meet Susan at Sew Expo 2016 ~

The Smuggler’s Daughter has one of the most intriguing business names in the fabric world. Its owner, Susan Liane, is quick to tell customers that she is not a smuggler and that her online fabric store is a legal and ethical business operation. She is, however, a smuggler’s daughter. Susan uses this intriguing name for her online fabric store that carries fine fashion fabrics with many distinctive pieces from clothing designers and manufacturers. Here is what she has to say about owning and running this popular online fabric store!

What do you love most about running an online fabric store?
I love the fact that I actually touch every piece of fabric before it is selected and offered for sale at Smugglers Daughter. This is not the case at many large online stores where fabric is drop shipped from other countries. So I suppose that buying is what I love the most, but it can be stressful for any business owner to make good decisions about what will sell – what my customers will ultimately want.

What is the most important thing you've learned from running an online fabric store? 
That I’ve got to give a sewist as much information as possible about the things they feel like they would only learn if they got to touch the fabric. I have to describe the hand and the drape of a fabric and give customers suggestions on what type of garment to sew from a particular piece.

A lacy pleather and a burn out velvet I purchased last December

What is a typical week like?
The Smuggler’s Daughter adds items to the sale section on Mondays, so I start the week off looking for what I can mark down. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I sometimes add blog posts, so I may be sewing or writing on those days. Finally, I add new fabrics on Fridays, so I spend many Thursdays entering information and photos to the site. Of course, we fulfill orders and ship packages every day, and most days I like to survey what the sewing bloggers are saying – a good 
way to keep abreast of events and trends in the sewing world.


Is it important to offer international as well as domestic shipping?
I have had orders from all over the world – Israel, American Samoa, Finland, Russia, Australia and Great Britain so international shipping is an issue. I have been surprised that international shipping costs have not been more daunting to my customers.

Do you offer swatches? 
Yes, just email me at susanliane@smugglersdaughter.com and we will send swatches for free. We do limit swatches to four fabrics at a time and to fabrics that we have at least 8 yards in stock.


Why has online fabric shopping become such an important experience to sewists? 
Garment sewists, in particular, have a difficult time finding high quality fabrics outside of major urban areas. When I lived in San Francisco this never occurred to me, of course. I had more than one great fabric store to choose from. But when I moved to a smaller town, it became very clear that most local fabric stores carry quilting cotton and not much else. If you want to sew clothing for adult women who care about quality and fashion, you will probably have to look for fabric online.

Do you have any social media accounts?
The Smuggler’s Daughter is active on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. If you go to our Facebook page, The Smuggler’s Daughter, and “like it” you will find a code worth $10 off your next order. I love Instagram and plan to get active there soon.

What are your hopes/goals for the future of Smugglers Daughter?
I love the fabric business and I love working with people who sew. Right now I just love the fact that I can succeed by treating customers as I would like to be treated. Someday, we may have a brick and mortar store along with a school, but that is a dream right now.

Now some questions about you and sewing...

Do you sew and what type of garments do you like to sew?
I sew clothing. The quilting bug has never bitten me and I may have sewn two quilts in my life. I love taking a pattern to a place where it may have never been before by altering the design and using unexpected fabrics. Recently I made a vest from a shirt pattern and used three fabrics, one of which was an old dishcloth that I purchased in a junk store. To me, this is art.

Do you have a dedicated sewing room?
The family room in my house is my dedicated sewing room but I do share it with a dog bed for my pooch, Pumpkin.

What type of sewing machine do you use?
I have been sewing on a Bernina for about twenty years. When I first bought it, my brother and I ordered Chinese takeout to eat while we were setting it up and testing it out on my kitchen table. When we opened the fortune cookies, my fortune said “You are Going to Have Some New Clothes.”

The Discount ~
I hope you learned a few new things about Smugglers Daughter and Susan the owner.  Now for the good part, Susan is offering 20% off your total order effective today and good through Saturday, September 30th at midnight PST. Just use the code "FANATIC" on the website to get the discount.

I hope you find some amazing treasures to add to your fabric collection!

Happy National Sewing Month!

I think I left some for you!

My fabric buying has been off the chain!  I don't know if it's because I didn't buy a lot earlier in the year or if the sales have been especially great this fall, but quite a few boxes of goodness have arrived. 

Some of it is my Christmas fabric buying - I always purchase flannel for kid's pjs and some fancy fabric for scarf gifts around this time of year - but there's a whole lot that arrived that's just for me.

I haven't done a fabric post in awhile so let me share some of what's new to the sewing cave.

Now while I know that some people abstain from the Black Friday sales, as someone who has worked in retail and understands how those sales fuel the entire Christmas season for some stores, I happily participate. However, all of my purchases were from small businesses, so there is that!

First up purchases from Fabric Mart ~ 
Yeah, yeah I know. I'm addicted to Fabric Mart and their sales. I have to admit that I don't even remember what the sale was, oh yeah Black Friday! I wanted velvet - so I bought a few pieces - and one more piece of shirting.

Grape velvet, black/brown animal print cotton velveteen 

and blue/white check shirting from Fabric Mart

The gray velvet (2nd from top) is from Chic Fabrics

Next up Michael Levine ~
I saw this amazing denim on their site about a week before the Black Friday sales and waited for the 20% off offer.

As you know I'm currently collecting denim and whenever I find something spectacular I'm purchasing a few yards of it. Three yards of this amazing fabric now lives with me!

The final Black Friday purchase was from The Smuggler's Daughter ~

2 yards of cut out blue/gray pleather & gold/black burn out velvet

Another weakness of mine is unusual pleather fabrics. I have quite a few of them in the collection - usually only a yard or two - because I want to primarily use them as accent pieces. You don't need 5 yards of accents ~ well I don't! *LOL*

So I bought these three pieces from fabric.com ~
After my daughter and I decided we wanted to sew pjs for the grand babies (yes we're sewing together! kinda excited about that!) I pulled out the flannel supply and realized we needed to add a little to it. 

One more Fabric Mart purchase ~
My last purchase the one that I had to get permission from Miss Gaylen to buy was again from Fabric Mart. But I have a really good reason, they are having their pyramid sale and if you buy $100 worth of fabric you get 60% off. That means you only pay $40 for $100 worth of fabric - it was too good to pass up so I bought these ~

Rayon knit for t-shirts for the grandbabies

5 yards of midnight blue denim with spandex for my denim collection

Burnt out olive green velvet for Christmas Scarf gifts

Some discounts ~
As mentioned above The Fabric Mart pyramid sale is going on now. Check it out here. BTW, today - 12.9 - is the last day for the pyramid sale so if you're interested, check it out now!

Also Smuggler's Daughter is offering 30% off all regular priced fabrics until December 31st if you're a member of their email listing. The discount code you need to add at checkout is included in the email.

Conclusion ~
A couple of days ago I wrote on IG that I was done with fabric purchases for 2016 and hopefully that's true...cause there are 23 more days left to December and the Sewing Cave is bursting with fabric!

Thank goodness I will have 11 days off during Christmas with quality time to sew! I'm not making a list this year...I'm going to work from the very long one that I'm presently toting around.

...as always more later!

A Fabric Gift

Y'all know that I love fabric!  I love the possibilities and the journeys that fabric can take you on.  I like owning it.  Manipulating it. Taking it from it's one dimensional form and turning it into something three dimensional.

So when Susan, the proprietor of Smugglers Daughter, contacted me and asked if I would be willing to accept a piece from her new online fabric store, you know my answer was an immediate yes!

I'd heard of Susan's site via Margy, who authors the blog, A Fool For Fabric. She made these amazing "ink splatter" pants using Milly fabric from the site.

Photo courtesy of A Fool for Fabric

Her awesome pants, of course, made me surf on over and preview the wares. Susan has some very pretty pieces and I'd bookmarked the site to return to it later.  Well later occurred sooner than I thought. After going back and forth, because Susan really does have some wonderful pieces, I chose two panels of the Brave Little Parks Cotton Fabric...

Originally I was going to make a dress out of the fabric.  However, when it arrived yesterday, it told me that it wants to be a shirt.  Now I know some of you are thinking what?! But this is the "Year of Basics" for me and I've wanted to make a few button downs to be worn as shirt jackets over dresses and jeans.  This fabric will make a fantastic shirt because it has such interesting details and a wonderfully soft hand.

You can read all about how Susan named her fabric store and how it came to be on the website. It's a cool story so don't leave the site without reading it. And one more thing, if you find something you like...and how can you not?...Susan is offering a one time $10 discount off your order if you like her Facebook page. The code is on the Facebook page for your use. 

I hope you'll surf on over and check her out! We need to support not only our brick and mortar fabric stores but our internet ones too because how else will we fulfill our need to own beautiful fabrics!

...as always more later!