New Year's Resolutions

One of my sewing resolutions for this year (Learn how to sew with knits and better use my serger) led me to buy this pattern today. The Joann's near work was having a 99cent Simplicity pattern sale, as I discovered when looking for skirt hooks to fix a costume for The 39 Steps. Which of course meant that I had to buy some of these on-sale patterns.

When I got home I picked out fabric from my stash for this pattern, pictured below. It was form one of those pre-cut sales bins at Denver Fabrics, and I got 2 yards of it for $4 per yard. Not really sure what it's made of, but it's pretty and a knit, which is all that I care about for fulfilling this resolution!


I know, I know. New Year's now? It's practically February. So I'm a little late to the game, so sue me.

Visions of pleather all through her head...

This is one of the 3 fabrics that rendered me insomniatic on Thursday night. It is a chocolate brown pleather with flowers and paisley shapes embroidered into it. I purchased this fabric back in 2005 with the intention of making pants. At the time I had pretty much no experience making pants and no free time, which meant I put the fabric in my closet and forgot about it. When digging through my stash for a specific blue upholstery last week, I rediscovered this fabric, and again the desire to make pants immediately seized me. Since I just wore out a pair of well-fitting jeans, I tore them apart to use as a pattern base. I am a little uncertain as the jeans had some stretch to them and this fabric doesn't, but I figure I can add extra seam allowances and hope for the best! I need to remember to buy blue thread for this fabric; all the ones in my stash are entirely too teal.

Shopping Ladies

First things first: I don't want to forget to mention that Bolt is having a big sale this weekend, so if you live in the Portland area and haven't had a chance to check it out yet, this would be a great time to do so. There aren't many smaller fabric stores that can sustain themselves in the midst of Joann's myriad coupons and Big Names like Fabric Depot, but Bolt has some really fun prints that you don't find at either of those places, so I like to support them when I can. Prices aren't amazing, but they aren't outrageous either. I am going to try to go there first thing tomorrow morning, as most of the rest of my weekend is booked solid.

Speaking of Bolt, the last time that I went there I purchased two yards of the fabric at the left. I think it was the color combinations that attracted me to it at first. The yellow and teal/blue are really very bold against the brown-maroon background. The background color is just great in itself, as it is a nice neutral color that isn't used all that often. the scale of the women makes this fabric prefect for me to base some purse series around. I bought this fabric specifically with purses in mind. It's especially great since so many of the women are carrying purses in the print. I also love the great variety of dresses/outfits when you look closely at the fabric, and the fact that there is some skin tone diversity! I could see this as a cute simple skirt as well, just a plain A-line. Erin would probably make a dress out of it, but then again, that's what she does best!

Anyways, I don't know where my receipt is that would show me how much I paid for this per yard, but i'm sure it was about $7 or $8. I believe it is a 100% cotton, 45in wide heavy quilting cotton.

Polka Dots, Part 1

Today's fabric is one that I saw and was totally coveting at Mill End when I stopped in to purchase some new fabric for As It Is In Heaven, the show I am currently working on. This fabric is currently in the upholstery markdowns section, and if you purchase the whole bolt it will be 50% off. At $11 a yard after the discount, and 3.5 yards of it, that would set one back about $40. Which isn't such an stellar deal that it MUST-be-purchased-no-matter-how-much-money-you-don't-have-right-now, but is a good enough deal that I am super tempted to go back and nab it before I regret it for the rest of my life. 3.5 yards is a good amount too: just enough to get one awesome (decently full or long) item out of it, with enough scraps left over for some fun purses. I can think of several coats or dresses I might want to make out of this material. The dots are about 2 inches in diameter, to give you an idea of scale. I absolutely love polka dots. Am crazy about them. I'm usually not a huge fan of neutral colors, but the wavy stripes in this make it AMAZING. As well as the fact that both the right and wrong sides are usable and have their own charm. The majority of the photo is actually the wrong side; you can see a bit of the "right side" on the right of the photo. I forgot to look at the contents of the fabric, but it felt like it was mostly heavy cotton, woven like those picture throw blankets one can purchase (You know what I am talking about, don't you?). Like most Home Decorator fabrics, this is 60 inches wide. Anyways, if I feel rich next week and it is still there, I may just buy it for myself for my birthday. We'll see.