A New-to-Me Fabric....Leather

Leather trim was on so many garments when I was snoop shopping a few weeks ago.  What I noticed the most were the jackets and sweaters which had just a touch of leather, at the shoulders, as seam piping or as an insert or panel.  See:

Jil SanderLeather-Trim Wool Cardigan

Akris PuntoFaux Leather-Trimmed Two-Button Blazer

Yves Saint LaurentLeather-Collar Blazer

Elizabeth and JamesRex Leather-Trimmed Blazer

VinceLeather-Trimmed Coat

But the leather scraps that I have in my stash pile resource center are not supple enough to do fine details like those above.  Thank heavens for the wonderful New York City Fashion District and its enticing emporiums.
Michele and I set out on the second Megabus trip of the year on Wednesday morning.  We had combed the on-line listings to find leather specialists and came up with three:  Global Leathers,   Global Leathers  Leather Impact  Leather Impact  and Leather Suede Skins, Inc. Leather, Suede, Skins, Inc.  How did we decide which one to visit?  We got Yelp.  Yes, we did a Yelp search and the raves about Global Leathers led us to the 9th floor and a veritable treasure trove of colorful leathers.  We were welcomed by the charming Leo Gonzalez who made us feel appreciated and important even though we are just beginning to use leather in our fashion creations. He gave us a quick tour, explained the differences in garment leather versus home dec or purse making leather, showed us the huge selection of colors and then pointed out the scrap bins to get us started.  Since my initial plans are to add leather as accent pieces to future creations, I stayed with the scrap bins and found plenty to kickstart my initial efforts.  But Michele is more ambitious and adventurous than I am so she plunged right in and bought a full skin in a gorgeous purple.  

Scraps of dark burgundy, tan and black

About 3 square feet of the most lusciously soft olive green

I know that Global Leathers will be a new favorite.  I'll keep you up to date on how I use these initial pieces and what I have planned for in the future.  If you are in NYC, it's worth the effort to stop on by.  

Happy to have found Global Leathers

The weather was amazingly beautiful on Wednesday and we walked, walked everywhere.  Our theater excursion for the day was up to Lincoln Center to see:

which won the Tony for Best Play in 2011.  Wonderfully done and treat to see.  Now I'll rent the movie and read the book but think of the puppeteers who made me see real live horses on that stage.  

Last, but not least at all, the quilt top is pieced and ready to give to a friend with a long arm.  She won't get to it until after her quilt guild's show in late October so this is as close as Lucky is going to get to it for now.  
Here's hoping you have a new technique or fabric or idea that makes it exciting for you to be sewing.