Inspiration
Pattern magazine bonanza
10 July 2008, 12:23I’ve suddenly become inundated with pattern magazines, which is an excellent position to be in, especially since the Big 4’s recent offerings have been dull, dull, dull (really, how many times can they restyle the exact same sack dress?).
First up is the Italian pattern magazine La Mia Boutique, given to me by the lovely Anwen, who’s soon going to guide me around a few London fabric shops I haven’t been to yet! She’s clearly a very good lady to know!
This is the May 2008 issue, and there are dresses galore in it. I really like the navy blue dress with the extra cowl layer on the bodice, and the spotted dress with the interesting scoop bust detail (click on the big photos to see the technical drawing). The last dress is a Plus, but I just love the bust detail and the curved skirt seams. I know La Mia Boutique patterns run way smaller than the other magazines, but I’d still have to grade that down quite a bit to make this worth my while (don’t get any ideas, Mom!).
Next up is a Spanish Burda magazine, bought by James’s parents for me while they were holidaying in Spain a few weeks ago. I sent them away with instructions to buy as many Patroneses (Patronii?) as possible, but they felt bad since they could only find two and so bought me this as well. I’ve seen German and Dutch editions of BWOF before and found them to be identical to the English version apart from the text and an odd page here and there, but the Spanish version is like a different magazine entirely! Luckily I can show you how it compares to the regular English edition of Burda World of Fashion (BWOF) magazine, since I already have the June 2008 issue to directly compare it against.
The first dead giveaway is that they’ve chosen a different pattern for the cover photo!
Here’s an example of the Spanish (top) vs English (bottom) layouts. They use the same photoshoots, but the layout of the magazine is completely different, and like La Mia Boutique and KnipMode, they show the technical drawing right alongside the photos! Argh, I’ve been wishing the English version did this for years!!
They’ve also retained the special “focus on fabric” feature that English BWOF used to have, this time focusing on how to sew with nylon.
And here’s a comparison of the instructions for #109, which I made earlier. They seem to have roughly the same wordcount between the two, so it’s not like we’re missing out of full instructions or anything!
The big addition in the Spanish version (and, I believe, the German version) is the designer premium download pattern, which I got very excited about until I realised it was a pay-for download pattern. So they get an extra pattern, but there’s no interviews with the exclusive design or childrenswear designers like I really enjoy in the English version.
I was happy to see the pesto recipes appear in the English June BWOF, but now I feel shortchanged to see our Spanish sisters get a ton of chocolate recipes!! Oh, and “Burda sudoku”, hahah!
Luckily, James’s parents were able to grab me one issue of Patrones magazine, which is really difficult to get ahold of outside Spain, but contains an amazing array of designer patterns. I’ve very excited to say I’ve just made a new online friend in Spain so I may be getting a steady supply to show you all through a harmonious “Patrones for penguins“ exchange! Heehee!
This is issue #269, a special vacation issue with loads of summery holiday clothes!
These are a few of the ones that really jumped out at me from this issue (in the third photo it’s the small Mango dress I prefer over the cover issue dress), but for me, the real star here is the formal Prada dress!
I’m not a big label slave or anything, but I do absolutely adore Prada and this dress is just stunning. I’ve included the technical drawing and layout here so you can see how the pieces fit together and just how much is on the bias! Sooo lovely! I shall now be on a mission to buy reams of crepe gorgette and throw that dress a party…
In “July is Knit Month!” news, my frankenpattern dress is neeeeeearly done but I’ve had to stall it this week to do a big rush project in time for Saturday. Which actually doesn’t involve any knits. And isn’t for me, or for James. All will be revealed in due course, and hopefully along with the frankendress (not nearly as scary as it sounds!)
Tags: bwof, la-mia-boutique, magazine, patronesComment [6]
London haberdashery shopping
5 July 2008, 11:19Since we can’t really afford to take a proper holiday this year, what with the boat renovations and wedding to save for, I’ve opted to take a few days off here and there to just spend at home or around town. My first “holiday at home” day I took on Thursday, starting with a decadent breakfast at The Chop House (which I walk past every single day and drool over) and then moving on to pick up a bunch of haberdashery supplies at the stores around town that are normally best visited (or only open) during the work week.
I did really well, starting at McCulloch & Wallis around 10, and finishing up at Borovick around 1, with a quick jaunt around Uni Qlo‘s sales (navy chinos and a white cotton/cashmere jumper for less than a tenner total!) and a pit stop at the Japan Centre thrown in there, too. The shops were nearly empty and at some points, there were more staff than customers. It was a revelation that shopping can actually be fun if you go on a midweek morning, as it’s usually the 9th circle of hell in that area on the weekends…
Here’s most of my habby haul, starting in the upper left corner, when I stocked up on overlocker thread at Kleins and got 10 rolls for a fiver in various neutral blending colours. There’s also some miscellaneous rolls of Gutermann thread from MacCulolch & Wallis and a bottle of fray check in there (to keep those overlocker tails from running amok) which I picked up at John Lewis. Their haberdashery department grows more and more pathetic each time I go there, and it just makes me depressed to go in there these days when McCulloch & Wallis are 100 feet away and ten thousand shades of fabulous. I was delighted to see that McCulloch & Wallis are stocking Gutermann thread again, with Coats Duo shoved in a tiny corner, ha! I can only imagine the protests we customers put up after the Coats Duo cartel worked its way through town a few months ago..
I also picked up a few tailoring bits for my winter coat, starting with shoulder pads at MacCulloch & Wallis, who had a huge basket full of about ten different kinds, all priced at £2-5 per pair. Compare those to the bog standard foam ones you find at at John Lewis and elsewhere for the same price and it’s just no competition!
I also bought some sleevehead from Kleins which they sell by the metre, with four shades of white, black, and grey. I had thought at one point I’d need to import some or just improvise somehow, so this was a very happy discovery.
Kleins also had a huge range of elastic by the metre, including plushback (lingerie) elastic, swimwear stuff, and corded, but I restrained myself and just got some clear plastic elastic to use in knitwear shoulders. I also managed to rummage around and find some foldover elastic (FOE)! It was the only roll, in in teal only, but just finding any in UK shops is like golddust!
Continuing on through Soho, past all the uber-expensive silk shops (£50 a meter for silk charmeuse? gag!) and it was needle wonderland at Borovick Fabrics on Berwick Street, my personal favourite shop for fabric around there due to their super friendly staff and substantially less astronomical prices. The left and the right packs shown above were £2.85 each and Borovick had the widest range of machine needles I’d seen all day. The centre pack of needles were the only twin ones in stock at Kleins and were similarly priced (but no variety of standard vs ballpoint vs stretch).
This should hopefully leave me well stocked for the foreseeable future (bar an odd zipper here and there), leaving future holiday days left to sewing in my pajamas… Bliss!
As inspired by Lindsay T’s map of the NYC garment district, I’ve placed all these stores in their own map so you can plan your day out in London. I’ll be adding to it as I discover more shops (and get the approximate locations of my favourite Walthamstow market stalls!) and striving to improve it in at least some of the ways she has!
Tags: coat, shoppingComment [5]
Shopping Time
24 June 2008, 16:11 First of all thank you to each and every one for you for all the congratulations on our engagement! I should be getting the measurements and detail photographs for my Granny's 1949 wedding dress in a month or so and I'll share them then...Meanwhile, I actually made a big purchase earlier last week, before I got the ring!
Yes, it's a Bernina 800DL serger/overlocker! I have been lusting over this exact model for well over 9 months now, waiting for a still-delayed bonus, when I saw one come up on eBay for £100 cheaper than the cheapest retail price here in the UK. It was being sold by a lovely sewer who was selling her overlocker and coverstitch machines since she upgraded to a combined machine, and she kept ALL the original packaging and accessories - even the Bernina-branded needles!!
I haven't had a chance to do more than devour the user's manual yet because my thread only arrived today (see below), but I am so excited! I actually bought two serger books a month or so ago just so I could learn what all the stitches did well before I ever ordered a machine, not knowing one would fall into my lap so soon...
I also had a bunch of magazines all arrive at once - the June and July issues of KnipMode magazine, and the June issue of Burda WOF. The June KnipMode has a one-piece swimsuit to die for, and the June BWOF has some fantastic teeshirts, but there wasn't much that jumped out at me in the July KnipMode on first glance...
Since I needed to buy some overlocking thread, I decided to stock up on a few other bits while I was on Jaycotts site and had my card out. I've been meaning to get some pressing tools for ages now, but they're difficult to find in shops so I finally broke down and got a sleeve roll and tailors ham to help shape the wool for my upcoming coat.
When James saw these together on the table he did a very Homer Simpson-esque "mmmm ham roll!" !
I also got my buttons for my winter coat - 8 big ones for the double breasted bib, and 2 smaller ones for the sleeve cuffs. I'm absolutely in love with the textured design of these, even if they are just plastic.
And finally, I ordered 4 spools of black and 4 spools of white overlocking thread and 2 spools of black woolly nylon (for my upcoming sports gear), but due to an order mixup, I didn't get half of that until today (I must say, Jaycotts were brilliant at fixing their mistake!). I also picked up the zippers I needed for various upcoming summer projects, and a replacement rotary cutter blade (not pictured).
And the last thing in that box is a retractable makeup brush that I got for free in Boots when I succumbed to a particularly lovely shade of bronze nail varnish. Stacy had recommended I get a better cleaning brush for my overlocker, so I figured this would do perfectly!
And in BWOF tulip skirt news, I inserted the (rather too beige) invisible zipper and attached the waistband this morning. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not 100% happy with either job. I don't think I can be bothered to rip out the zipper to use a different one, though, so I may just decide to live with it and get on with the coat muslin and the overlocker learning... Tags: machine, magazine, shopping
Comment [3]
Mister and Missus Fehr Trade
20 June 2008, 11:02
James proposed last night!
We actually picked out the ring back in February when we were in Dublin. It’s hard to see in the photo (taken this morning while I sewed up the waistband to my tulip skirt!), but the ring is a silver band with inset gems: 3 emeralds and then a diamond and followed by 3 more emeralds. It is precisely what I wanted, and I adore it but even moreso the man who gave it to me on one knee last night while one of our favourite performers sang “Love Me Tender” a capella.
We’re looking to marry at Bletchley Park sometime next fall in order to give my American friends and family enough time to budget for a transatlantic flight. I’ve been offered my grandmother’s 1940s wedding gown but I need to look at it again to see if it’s suitable or whether I’ll be sewing up one of my own.
And funnily enough, this actually wasn’t the big shopping I mentioned in yesterday’s post!
Tags:Comment [26]
Outdoor acquisitions (and a Spoonflower bonus!)
11 June 2008, 15:48Since I was buying the microfleece for my coat interlining anyway, I took advantage of the rest of Pennine Outdoor‘s range of outdoor and sports fabrics to replenish my fabric stash. No, really! Even though I bought a veritable orgy of fabric in the States last August, I’ve actually only got about three cuts of that lot left, and I’ve been very restrained in the last year and only bought a few pieces here and there.
So first up is the sports stuff! I want to try my hand at making my own running trousers, since I’m having trouble finding non-capri, bootcut wicking trousers in the shops these days, so I picked up two metres of this black Meryl wicking lycra:
It’s super stretchy and is shinier on one side than the other, and frankly, looks exactly like the Nike and Adidas wicking stuff I buy in shops for £30 per trouser, so fingers crossed it’ll do the job!
Pardon the blurry photo above, but this is a metre of maroon wicking polyester teeshirting. I’m happy to report that it’s not some cheap and nasty poly knit, but is actually the same tiny ever-so-slightly open weave stuff that all my race shirts are made of! Pennine only have it in limited colours, but if this is half as nice as the shirts I’ve already got made out of this stuff, I will be a very happy runner indeed, even if I’ll be forever after only seen in maroon, navy, sky blue or silver grey!
I also picked up some lycra edging tape thinking that it might be the elusive fold over elastic (FOE), but at 25mm (1 inch) I’m pretty sure this is too wide for most non-sports applications. Still, it’s got the special ridge running down the centre and I reckon it’ll be great for the edging on a running vest with the above poly teeshirting, and perhaps also for edging fleece and swimsuits…
I was ecstatic to finally find a UK supplier of nice cotton interlock (double knit) so I feel I was pretty restrained in only buying 3 metres of black, and one metre each of sapphire and lilac. The colours are much nicer than in the photo, and this is gorgeously soft, really high quality stuff. I’ve had lesser-quality knits in the past, so I can really appreciate the good stuff when I feel it now, and I have a feeling I’ll be going back for more colours awfully soon…
And finally, I bought a bunch of bottle green sweatshirting and matching ribbing to make myself a hoodie of epic proportions, because I have never seen either stocked anywhere in the UK and I got a bit giddy! So giddy that I bought a separating zipper in a totally unsuitable colour, oops.
In other, very exciting fabric news – I got my first Spoonflower swatch!!
I asked my illustrator friend Lorna if she had any scrap doodles she could throw my way to play with, so I took her darling cat sketches and coloured and repeated and smudged them to practice my tiling skills in Photoshop and see how everything worked.
The background mint green colour showed up more like beige when I uploaded it to the site, so I emailed Spoonflower and helped them do some beta testing to eventually determine that it’s just a display issue and that the fabric prints out true to my original LAB colour in real life. And it does! So if you’re worried that the colours look a little off on the preview on the website – have no fear, for the colours on your fabric will be fine!
The kittens look so perfect, and the print quality is awesome, even when I squint and get my nose right up to the fabric. I think I might throw it in the washer and really abuse it and see how it stands up. My only complaint is that the cotton is a little of the thin side, and you can see in the above photo that the Spoonflower cloth business card I’ve got underneath is vaguely visible through my swatch. I don’t think it’s enough to be a problem with modesty, but if you’ve got a light-coloured print you wouldn’t want anything really dark behind it.
I think I might be addicted now, though, so I think it’s wise if I design a few more fabrics before placing my order so I can save on international shipping… Anyone have any requests?
Tags: knit, shoppingComment [3]
A fine tightrope
24 April 2008, 13:17A few months ago I was devastated to find that all the big London haberdashery shops suddenly stopped carrying Gutermann thread and switched to Coats Duo. I’ve had awful experiences with the cheap and nasty Coats & Clark thread they sell in the States and it wasn’t a good sign that Coats Duo is the same price as Gutermann, but for less length on a spool. Questionable quality for high prices? No thanks, I’ll stick to Gutermann, which has never ever once failed me. It’s quality stuff and I appreciate quality after having sewn with terrible thread – life’s too short for random breakages, inconsistent thicknesses, and frayed edges.
So I was very interested to hear from my friend Alex that the haberdashery shops by him in Cheltenham still stock Gutermann, and since he’s coming to visit us this weekend anyway for one of our charity dinners, I sent him off with a shopping list.
He grabbed me some fantastically huge spools of white, beige, navy, and gold (I’m still well stocked on black after Dublin, and we’ve worked out a swap where I’m paying him in a case of Alphonso mangoes (if you don’t start salivating at the mere mention of these, then you’ve obviously never tasted them!!).
Most disturbing, however, is that he pointed out to me actually how much thread I’ve got: “That’s 4.5km of thread. Enough to cross the Thames at the point of the moorings seven times. “ I reckon this haul of neutrals should last me until the end of the year. Or we could blow it all and make a fantastic tightrope to Wapping!
If you ever find yourself in Cheltenham, make sure to stop by Sue’s Crafts on the high street, where he was able to pick up all this thread for me (and it appears they stock general craft supplies in addition to sewing stuff, too). And straight from the local’s mouth, here’s a few other diversions in Cheltenham to occupy you after you’ve gorged on craft supplies:
“There’s quite a few little useful shops like that, such as the tiny little watchmakers in Tivoli who said he’d look at my digital callipers for me, and accepts payments for watch batteries on the honor system. We have a local co-op which is really well-stocked and friendly, and on Bath Road we have the Natural Foods supermarket. Sells organic meat and dairy, not just veggies and hemp tampons. Very good – and open 8-8, 7 days a week.
A good Red Cross charity bookshop – at least three times as deep as it is wide, some flashy cookwear shops, one decent local DIY shop, Burger Star (the best by far) who do american-style burgers you’d actually want to eat… “
Oh also, a heads up for any Londoners or visitors – the Borders on Charing Cross Road have officially stopped stocking Burda WOF now (I suspected since Feb though. pooh.) So now your stockist choices in that area are RD Franks or Oxford News… Hopefully my subscription will kick in next month and I won’t have to worry any more.
My only sewing purchase this week (apart from the thread bartering) was the March, April, and May issues of KnipMode magazine from Naaipatronen.nl, which should give me plenty of Spring and summer eye candy to work through, since it appears that we might actually get Spring weather this weekend!
Tags: magazine, shoppingComment [7]
No small feet
4 April 2008, 12:08I was planning on next sewing up a long-sleeved linen shirt for James using BurdaStyle’s Jakob pattern, but having read through Shirtmaking: Developing Skills for Fine Sewing by David Page Coffin, I soon realised that all my previously sewn shirts were terribly amateur and that I’d learned SO MUCH in just reading the first ten pages that I’d no longer be able to go back to my own ignorant ways after eating from the tree of knowledge.
One of the things Coffin said is absolutely necessary is a felling foot for your sewing machine, which I don’t have. These seem to be a rare item for non-Pfaff machines in the UK, so I’ve had to buy one off American eBay (along with a rolled hem foot from the same seller, which Coffin also recommends).
Before I bought the feet, I had a quick rifle through my sewing machine feet box first to see if I already had them and just didn’t know what they were. When I got my sewing machine from my sister-in-law, she threw in a little plastic box full of feet and spare bobbin casings and screwdrivers and all sort of random pieces that she thought went with the machine. Some I’ve been able to identify, but others are still a mystery, so I’m hoping some of you will be able to help me out…
The A Team – the feet I use all the time! From left to right: the standard foot, the adjustable zipper foot, and the walking foot
First Division – which only see occasional use. From left to right: the invisible zipper foot, the roller foot, the button foot, and the clear standard foot
The “I Might Use Them Someday?” Feet – From left to right: The darning/embroidery foot, the blind hem foot, and ??? (I have no idea – anyone know what this is for?)
Please Help Me Identify Pile – these are some bits that don’t look like feet but were included in the box. Does anyone have any idea what these parts do? I’d be very grateful, and who knows, I might have a fantastic gem hidden in here that could save me lots of time in the future!
So while I wait for the felling and rolled hem feet to arrive, I’m finally putting an old length of IKEA table runner fabric to good use, and making a quick Patrones skirt and a new shopping bag…
Attention old sewing machine owners! Krista is compiling a list of reviews of old sewing machines to help out beginning sewers who may find machines on eBay or freecycle or flea markets and not know whether it’s a good machine or not. I’ll be adding my retro beauty to the list, and you can add yours by emailing her using the link on the site.
Edit: Thank you to everyone who helped out! Read some of the conclusions and see an action photo here!
Tags: machine, menswearComment [10]
La Mia Boutique
3 April 2008, 11:53I had an optician’s appointment which brought me into the center of town last evening, so I took the opportunity to see if Borders or Oxford News had the April issue of Burda World Of Fashion magazine yet. It turned out I was a bit too early, but Oxford News did have one copy of the Italian pattern magazine La Mia Boutique left, and since it’s one of the few pattern magazines I haven’t tried yet, I couldn’t say no!
I’ve already compared Burda WOF vs KnipMode vs Patrones magazines so I thought I’d give you a peek of La Mia Boutique, since there’s not much information online about it, and I can’t even find an official site anywhere!
Here’s the cover of the April 2008 issue. The cover price is about the same in euros as KnipMode or BWOF, though the pound markup makes it a bit dearer for me!
You can see from the April 08 technical drawings (part one) and April 08 technical drawings (part two) that this contains about 40 patterns, and about ten of those are plus patterns. For some reason their plus size numbers are lower than the regular size numbers, which confused me into thinking they were petites at first, as BWOF uses low numbers to size their petites.
Here’s the La Mia Boutique’s size chart so you can have a look and see where you fall. When compared against KnipMode and Burda WOF’s measurements, you can see that (at least for regular women’s sizes) the bust measurements (“Seno”) are similar for the same sizes in the other magazines, but the waist (“Vita”) and hip (“Bacino”) are several centimeters smaller. So even though I’m a very standard size 42 in BWOF and KnipMode, I’ll be sewing up a 46 or 48 in La Mia Boutique!
La Mia Boutique seems to be geared toward beginners (at least if you speak Italian!), and they have a full three pages of beginner’s sewing techniques laid out with diagrams, so if you come across a tricky part in a particular pattern’s instructions, you can refer back to the beginning. I found it interesting that what we call a “French seam”, they call an “English seam”! And they actually give instructions for a hand-picked zipper, which I consider to be more couture than beginner!
Like in BWOF and KnipMode, all the pattern instructions are in a central, newsprint section with the pattern sheets folded at the very center. The pattern sheets themselves seem to be of a slightly heavier weight than BWOF, KnipMode, or Patrones, and come on bleached paper rather than newsprint, with little line drawings of the matching patterns around the edges.
Not knowing Italian, I can’t vouch for how well written the instructions are, but they seem to cover about the same page amount as KnipMode or BWOF, and also contain the layout diagrams and yardage information, as you’d expect.
Truth be told, there was really only one pattern in this issue that really grabbed me – the dress on the left below. I like the opening, that the portion above the waist is buttoned normally, but below the waist it’s just pleated, with a few buttons below the divide carrying on with the appearance of a placket. I’m seeing this made up in two different linens (as I’ve got a lot of colours in my stash!) as a nice casual summer dress.
Bosco approved of my photoshoot, but decided he wasn’t in it enough and so made quick work of that. Either that or he was trying to tell me which one to make, I’m not sure!
The other thing that sets La Mia Boutique apart is that they contain a few general women’s articles, with a makeup section, recipe and nutritional section, and even a horoscope at the back, which I believe BWOF used to do until a few years ago. I really wish I knew enough Italian to see if the horoscopes were sewing-related!!
In other news, I’d like to send a big thank you to Stacy Sews for sending me CraftStylish’s Quick Stuff to Sew magazine. It was the only one of the *Stylish range I didn’t have, and without being able to flip through it pre-purchase, I was afraid it’d be a disappointment like the Gifts and Embellishment issues. I’m very happy to say I was wrong, and that there’s actually some really great projects in it, so hurrah!
I also had a peek through the current issue of Prima magazine (a UK women’s magazine that happens to have one pattern in each issue that you can ring up and be sent for free) while at Border’s, and this month’s pattern is actually really nice. I find their patterns to be quite hit & miss – sometimes really stylish and great, but other times quite dowdy and horrible. Anyway, this month’s is a cute shift dress pattern with a back gathered yoke and an interesting drapey neckline. I was tempted to just write down the phone number in store, but I felt kinda bad doing that, so I’ll probably go pick it up later in the week.
The only sewing I got up to this weekend was attaching two shower curtains together (and this time not as a dress!), and doing general prep work on James’s shirt. I now know I’ll need to delay that a little bit, but more on that later…
Tags: la-mia-boutique, magazine, shoppingComment [4]
How to trace a pattern
29 March 2008, 19:36I often see other sewers complain about tracing patterns from magazines like Burda World of Fashion, Knip Mode, or Patrones, and I thought I’d share my method for tracing patterns. I don’t have a big window, and carbon paper is just way too messy for me, so I’ve gradually come up with this method and it’s quick and easy enough that I trace out all my patterns this way – even the tissue envelope patterns.
Step 1 – Gather your materials
You’ll need a big roll of paper – I buy a big roll of (usually brown) craft paper from Staples, but you can also use rolls from the post office or doctor’s surgery paper or anything else similar. You’ll also need a serrated tracing wheel (found in haberdashery shops), a marker pen, a pair of scissors, and a few weighty objects to keep the layers from slipping around (not shown).
Step 2 – Roll out your paper
Find a nice big carpeted space and roll out your paper. You may need to weight it down to keep it from curling up.
Step 3 – Lay out your pattern
Lay your pattern sheet on top of your paper, making sure it doesn’t go off the edge or overlaps a previously traced piece. Place some weighty objects on the pattern sheet, making sure it doesn’t obstruct the pattern piece lines.
Step 4 – Trace with the serrated wheel
Using your tracing wheel, follow along the pattern sheet lines, making sure to also trace all pattern notches and darts.
Step 5 – Compare against the original
Remove the weights and compare your tracing with the original. Your traced pattern will be shown with a series of bumps (and possibly tiny holes, depending on the pressure you used!) on all the lines.
Step 6 – Write info and highlight notches
Use your marker pen to write down the piece number, piece description, pattern number, size, grainlines, and any other relevant info. Also highlight any notches, dots, or special instructions. I like to mark any fold lines with a big obvious arrow and remind myself to add seam allowances if the pattern calls for it!
Step 7 – Cut out
Use your scissors to cut out the piece. Repeat for all the pieces in your pattern.
Here’s all seven pieces from this top traced out, which took me about 15-20 minutes to do.
And in other news, since we’ve been spring cleaning today and I can’t go any further on James’s shirt until I pre-wash the fabric, I decided to attack my “big scraps” box (these are bits that are less than a yard, but too big to chunk into my “tiny scraps” bag for rags or soapnuts bags).
I was pretty ruthless and unless I could come up with a specific use for the fabric length in the box, it got added to a bag to give to a guy in my office who makes very creative refashions. I think he’ll be pleased with his haul:
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Dublin fabric stores
29 February 2008, 12:57I had a fantastic time in Dublin last week and managed to spend a lot of money at all of the fabric stores in town. So if you’re looking for fabric stores in Dublin to visit sometime, here’s a quick guide to take along…
Hickey Fabrics at 5 Henry Street
This one looked a bit corporate from the website, but I was pleasantly surprised by the shop itself! It’s set on three levels, with the ground floor mostly being curtain and upholstery fabrics, the first floor being bridal fabrics, and the basement being fashion fabrics and haberdashery. I mostly stayed downstairs, and I was really impressed by the mix of really nice quality fabrics – lots of standard corduroys, denim, knits, satins, fleeces, and anything else you could think of. I got an absolute steal on a length of 100% silk charmeuse – it was originally €42, marked down to €10!! There were a handful of other silk prints marked down, too, but I fell in love with this navy, silver, gold, and teal print. There was only one Spring/Summer pattern I had any interest in, Burda 7783, so I bought that and found the most wonderful grey linen/lurex blend to make it in! I also snagged a one metre remnant of teal satin, and had a sweep through the haberdashery before finally stocking up on Gutermann thread. All the London stores decided to inexplicably switch to Coat’s Duo overnight, which is more expensive for less length and makes me shudder at the memory of the quality of the American Coat’s and Clark thread. So I bought huge spools of all the neutrals in the hope they’ll last me a while.
I was really pleased to see the receipt when I checked out – they have all the fiber content and washing instructions embedded in their stock inventory so whenever you buy anything it tells you all that information right on your receipt! Even though my remnant just had a number scrawled on it, all its info came up like magic when I checked out. It’s the first time I’d ever seen anything like this, and I really wish every fabric store did it (though Fabric Select’s receipt on the right is really sweet in its own way!).
Fabric Select at 181 Purnell Street (Mon-Sat 9:30-5:30)
This shop was an unexpected joy – we just stumbled across is as we were walking down the street, and it was a fabulous shop to browse in. It’s only a small shop on two levels, but it’s absolutely packed from floor to ceiling with bolts, often so many it was difficult to squeeze yourself in! They had a huge range of knits and satins and a whole stack of beautiful tweeds, and also had the full range of Buttericks, McCalls, and Vogues downstairs. When I enquired about haberdashery, the owner told me she just didn’t have room to stock them and joked that it was all just her private stash!
The colours are a bit off in the following photo, but I got a beautiful periwinkle ribbed cotton knit, and a burgundy and black striped lining fabric that is identical to the lining in James’s favourite suit, and we were so excited we couldn’t pass it up. There were quite a few fabrics I recognised from other places so I think they must get quite a few end rolls from major stores.
The Woollen Mills on Liffey Street Lower by the Ha’penny Bridge (Mon-Fri 9:30-5:30, Sat 9:30-6)
I had a hard time finding the website for this, as I kept getting sites for some tacky souvenir shops with a similar name, but we ended up stumbling across this shop, too (and I heartily recommend the Winding Stair restaurant above the bookshop of the same name which is right next door to this shop!!). The main ground floor of the shop is chock full of haberdashery, stocking a massive range of zippers and Gutermann thread, and very reasonable reels of lace (so I picked up some black lace for my Jean Paul Gaultier skirt). They also stocked a bunch of embroidery floss and kits and a small range of knitting and crochet supplies, and the area by the main street was full of handmade sweaters and hats. I only made a cursory sweep upstairs to the smaller fabrics room, but they seemed to have an odd mishmash of good quality tweeds and scary costuming fabrics, and a bunch of designer lining fabrics thrown in. If I were local I’m sure I could pop in and find bargains, but nothing particularly grabbed me on that day.
Not all of my haberdashery was from the Woollen Mills, but between it at Hickeys I got a good haul, and enough supplies to make three pairs of jeans in my future.
Murphy Sheehy on Castle Market by the Powerscourt Centre
I pretty much had everything I needed by the time I found Murphy Sheehy, but I had a good browse through the shop anyway! The ground floor is filled with rolls and rolls of curtain and upholstery fabrics, and upstairs had some very unusual but very high quality fashion fabrics and tweeds. Quite a few rolls I held up and thought “wow, that’s so striking!” but couldn’t actually imagine what I’d ever make it into, so perhaps they get end-rolls from special designer commissions or something! I didn’t end up buying anything, but half the fun is in having a good nose through everything…
There was another shop I found on the internet in my pre-departure internet sweep, Studio 54 by the Blackrock DART station, but we didn’t have a chance to visit it as we were staying out on the opposite end of town.
Since we took the train and ferry to Dublin, I got quite a lot of hand sewing done during the journey, though not quite as much as I’d planned for! The big task was covering all the exposed seam allowances on my silky secretary blouse with binding I made from white lining fabric, which took probably about 5-6 hours all told. Never, ever again will I think the words “no, I don’t really need to do french seams on silk charmeuse…” UGH.
I also finished the hem on my Jean Paul Gaultier skirt (from the Jan 08 Patrones magazine) and wore it to a family birthday party while I was there, but I’m not 100% happy with the way the side seams are sitting and I want to add some black lace to the hem and waist facing before I deem it complete.
I also did miscellaneous mending on some of James’s clothes and generally did all the bits I’d rather not do in my evenings at home so I consider it to have been a successful journey! The cape‘s recipient absolutely loved it and wore it all around the house (I got a lucky break as he was already a huge Darth Vader, Spiderman, and Superman fan!), too.
The only problem now is that with all these beautiful new fabrics and supplies, I really don’t know whether I should go with my previous plans or just dive face-first and giddy into my new purchases!
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