Saturday, August 17, 2013

Inspiration Saturday: A pre-emptive stash for sewing

I feel like I've been keeping something from all of you for the past week, living a kind of lie by omission because I didn't tell you.  It's hard to find that balance in blogging between preparing posts ahead of time and feeling like they are updates from a few days ago to everything on the fly and barely haven't time to type something up.  So despite the fact that this happened last weekend, you're only reading about it now.  Sorry.

Anywho, so last week I was randomly browsing some Ravelry forums and came upon a post informing the 'multicraftual' that some Austin fabric stores were having a Shop Hop over the weekend.  Intrigued, I clicked on the provided link, and that was the beginning of the end.  It was similar to the yarn crawl, but with six fabric stores in the Austin area over the course of the weekend, with discounts to be taken advantage of and prizes to be won.  I immediately pointed my mom to the same site, and our plans for the weekend were set.

Here's where I should admit that before the hop I didn't consider myself to be a sewer.  I did a little hand-sewing as part of a math class in middle school (ah, the joys of finding ways to teach math with a substitute teacher), but otherwise I've relied on my mother to help me make simple drawstring project bags for knitting and the like.  It was one of those 'I'd like to do that sometime' crafts.

After last weekend, the time is now.  Because I have gone from having practically no fabric to having a full-on stash.  The tote bag that came with the 'passport' for the hop is full and heavy with the cutest prints that are destined for various projects.  I've already shown them off to some coworkers in this week's klatch, so now I'll do a little of that here, though I haven't taken pictures of everything.  I know I need to do that, but right now planning projects, knitting my cardigan and spinning yarn are winning over getting the camera out.

So for now, just a few teasers from those fabrics that you can find online.  Bunny's Designs was the store I was most excited about, because of this description:
Austin's largest selection of Japanese imported fabrics, notions, and toys! We have kawaii, traditional, modern and vintage prints from Cosmo Textiles, Kokka, Lecien, Echino, Yuwa and many more. Normally, we're online sales only, but during the Shop Hop you can visit our Japanese Wonderland in person! 
How could I resist?  Short answer: I couldn't.  Longer answer: we stopped in twice on Saturday because I couldn't resist so much.  If you don't want to resist either, some of the fabrics I bought are still available in her Etsy store.  Like this print, which I bought in four different colorways:


Is colorways the correct term?  I'm new here, I only know that it's adorable and reminds me of Tokyo.  I am still very much missing that awesome city, so any reminders make me happy.

Also cute, this time from Form & Fabric, another store that is usually online-only, was this pillow panel from Laurie Wisbrun:


You can also get this from the designer on Etsy as a kit.  How could I not get fabric that called back to knitting?  Love that llama!

And finally (for now), I have grand plans for 16 fat quarters I bought from Remnants Fiber Culture.  They are all from Jay McCarroll's Center City line.  Jay will always have a place in my heart as the winner of the first season of 'Project Runway', but I really do love this fabric in its own right, and it's going to make the most awesome quilt.  The line is divided into three themes: Uptown, Midtown, and Downtown, which are basically different colorways of eight patterns.  I have 16 of them, with at least one from each.  A few beauty shots from Jay's site:





I'm so excited to start this quilt, I've done a lot of calculations and doodles on graph paper to start the planning.  The next step is going to be cutting out the squares.  Well, actually, rectangles, I'm going to lay them out like subway tiles to continue on the urban theme of the fabrics themselves.  Did I mention I was excited?

Okay, so I think I've already more than made up for the delay in this groundbreaking news with this essay of a post.  I promise to let you know when I make progress in this new-to-me craft beyond just stashing the pretties.

For more inspiration, go to Woolen Diversions.

1 comment:

  1. Oh wow, that's a lot of fabric! Sewing is also on my 'someday' list, but I think it's all the ironing that will continue to put that off. I ADORE that llama print.

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