Fabric, Fabric, Part 2

Ah, how to describe the anticipation and excitement of a day trip to Fabric Mart for one of their retail store sales.  Two of my dear American Sewing Guild friends came to stay the night at my house so we could run up to Fabric Mart and then take the local bus into NYC the next morning.  And I have a local friend, Carel, who is getting ready to retire or reduce her work hours and is mildly interested in returning to sewing after many decades.  She herself is a gracious, soft-spoken woman and I invited her along to see if this sewing thing is something she really wants to do.  Fashion has changed over the decades and sewing your own clothing today may not be the most economical use of your time if you can easily buy RTW.  Sewing "simple" garments like knit tops or pants takes finding the right fabrics, patterns, fitting, etc. and while I love all of the process it is definitely different than sewing in my 20s.  
Off we went, gabbing a mile a minute, stopping for a Pennsylvania Dutch lunch at the Oregon Dairy, a local restaurant, grocery store, petting zoo, ice cream parlor.   Oregon Dairy
Since two of the four of us had never been to Fabric Mart I was trying to lower their expectations about the selection and ambiance of the place.  When we walked in the door Sharon was at the cutting counter and she immediately changed the entire tenor of our visit.  Yes, the upstairs store sale round tables were a little picked over but guess what, there were rolls of fabric in the basement (the basement, I've never been in the basement!) and the warehouse that were on sale for either $3 or $5 (the silks) a yard.  Wish I had taken a picture of our happy faces as we scrambled downstairs and pulled out rolls, ooohing and ahhhing all over the place.  Thank you, Sharon, thank you Fabric Mart, you made our day.  I was merely going to be the tour guide on this trip and instead I came back with these wonderful finds: (sorry, no pictures of people on a buying frenzy, I was too distracted to whip out my camera)
The ity knits:

the stretch wovens for skirts and sheath dresses:

Ity knit and stretch woven combo:

 Stretch linen:

 Silks:

A fun and delightful trip, although I believe we wore Carel out with the high decibel sewing diva excitement.  Oregon Dairy ice cream on the way home made it a perfect day.

Next day it was the Megabus trip to NYC.  Cloudy weather to begin but never any real rain on us as we trekked all through the garment district.  One of our favorite stops was B&J Fabrics B&J  Wonderful selection in a light filled room.  While we were there an assistant from "Tahari" (omg, Elie Tahari Elie Tahari we were almost squealing) came in to "memo" some fabrics.  Just to give you a fashion heads up, he borrowed some deep pastel lilac and yellow and off white laces.   And while I was waiting for Michele and Debbie to get their fabrics cut I saw a familiar face enter the store.  Not only familiar but she was kind, gracious and let us take a photo....yes, the fabulous Kenley Collins  Kenley Collins from Project Runway.

After a little more shopping we headed to the theater. I had run up to the TKTs booth first thing that morning and scored our first choice...
which is playing a limited engagement this summer.  Funny, light, full of well-known actors, the perfect summer froth.  We played stage door groupies at the end of the matinee and got autographs from our two favorites, 

Jessica Hecht

Jim Parsons

Long day and frightening fast bus ride back to Baltimore but soooo much fun.  I may not be able to do trips like this for all my life so I am grateful to get to have a record of friendship and fun.  Hope June has fun in store for you, also.