fabric jaunt

On Sunday I taught a class for the NSW smockers guild. We did Mountmellick embroidery – they do things other than smocking! – and had a lovely time. It seemed they particularly enjoyed realising that the things they were learning in the class could be applied to other styles of embroidery. Of course! 🙂

Because I worked on Sunday I kindly granted myself the day off yesterday. I needed to purchase a range of fabric for my CIAM patternmaking course, for me and The Reader, who is also doing the class.

We each have to make a jacket, some pants and a skirt. We’ve already each done our skirts, so that just leaves the jacket and pants.

I bought some fabric for my jacket when I was in Hobart last October, and it has been sitting there ever since, waiting for me to come up with a jacket design. Over the last few months my teacher has been at me to design my jacket, and I really have been thinking lots about it, but the design just wasn’t coming. So on Saturday, I sat down and just drew the design that had been percolating in my brain for the last few months. Sometimes these things just take time! Getting the design itself out of my head happened very quickly though, and my teacher was really pleased to see it on paper as now I could start drafting it. Before the next class I have to make my toile.

So I decided that yesterday was going to be a fabric-buying jaunt. I decided to go to The Remnant Warehouse at Alexandria, and also Tessuti at Chatswood. I had a feeling that my sister might be interested in coming with me, so we arranged to go together, with my cute little niece who simply calls me Her. “Where is Her?” It is better than That One, which was what she previously called me. My niece was extremely excited about going on the train to get there, so that was her excitement for the day!

I purchased denim for The Reader’s pants as she wants to make jeans (received an enthusiastic, “That’s just what I was after!” – excellent!); calico for my toile; lining for my jacket though I now wish I’d bought a different, higher quality one (oh well); some lycra for The Gymnast’s next leotard (she keeps growing!); and some fabric for my pants.

I did look out for coating fabric as The Reader is going to make a winter coat instead of a tailored jacket, but it really isn’t the right season for that, so it was a bit difficult. I get some samples of some lovely wool coating at Tessuti, but the prices were not quite what I was hoping to pay for a coat that my still-growing daughter will grow out of. (At least it can be passed on to The Gymnast later.) We will probably end up using it, as it is lovely, and just hope she wears it so much that she really gets her money’s worth out of it! However I need her to draft the pattern so that I know how much fabric to purchase. Given the price, I’m only buying exactly what we need!

I bought some lovely, good quality shoulder pads for my jacket and The Reader’s coat – really good prices at The Remnant Warehouse. They are nothing like the horrible foam things I remember using in clothes I made in the eighties!

And probably the most important thing I purchased was a pair of scissors for cutting fabric. My “good scissors” have been missing for a month. I know they’re probably just buried somewhere, but I have looked and looked without success. I bought cheap scissors, trusting that as soon as I purchased new ones, the old ones would turn up! (I hope it works!)

I love The Remnant Warehouse, especially for its great selection of lycra, and its large selection of dressmaking fabrics at good prices. They do also have patchwork fabrics, but I don’t generally have a need for them. Tessuti I love for higher end fabrics. They have lots of drool-worthy material, but the higher quality is the reflected in the prices!

All in all, it was an extremely successful day. The only problem is that today I have to get back to work and I can’t just get started on using what I bought!