Sewing Supplies Haul

It's that time again! I've made it a tradition to go to the 4th of July sale at The Sewing Studio in Maitland every year, and this year was no different! This time I went with my mom, my sister, and our co-worker who only recently got into sewing and she is completely addicted. It was so fun to expose her to this little bit of heaven of a shop and watch her go wild, lol. I fully meant to take some photos inside, but I was so busy running around that I didn't remember until we were in the car. Oops. So, you will have to live with what I came away with instead :)

As far as the fabric goes, I went in with some very specific items on my list and I am happy to say I came away with several of them :)

• 3 yards of Michael Miller "Don't let the bird do the dishes" cotton
• 2 yards of royal blue Imperial Batiste (for my Russian Doll Dress copy)
• 1 yard of black Cotton Broadcloth
• 1 yard of Waverly teal and green paisley cotton
• 3 yards of a mystery rayon in a funky geometric print
• 3 yards of navy blue Imperial Batiste

I fully plan on making a dress out of the crazy bird material, lol. I've seen a few others around the web use it and I think it's adorable. The royal blue batiste will be for my copy of the Russian Doll Dress. I had never seen anything about this until Sewing Dolly Clacket when Sewing Pies made hers and I instantly fell in love. I already have a yard of Little Kukla by Robert Kaufman that I snagged from Fabric.com and this batiste will go wonderfully for the bodice and hem. I just have to pick a bodice style :) The black broadcloth and the geometric rayon were also purchased to be a dress. I think the geometric print would be a bit to crazy on its own, so I plan on making a waistband with the black - depending on the pattern I go with I may need more, so I bought a full yard. The Waverly print was just too pretty and super on sale, so I got a yard and I'll figure that out later, lol. The navy blue batiste is for McCall's 6503. I'll be making the button top with no ruffle - just like the illustration shows.

I had "cute knits" on my list to try out some t-shirt making, and I was honestly surprised at how many they had to choose from this time. The Sewing Studio sells garment factory remnants in their sale annex and it was full of knits this time around - score!

• 2 yards blue and white check medium weight knit
• 1.6 yard remnant emerald green heavy weight knit (like ponte but stretchier)
• 2 yards blue floral t-shirt knit
• 2 yards blue with pink cherries t-shirt knit
• 6 yards white stretch lace border

All of these were bought with with t-shirts in mind, though different shapes and styles of them. The ponte-like stuff will probably be a Parisian Top, while the others will probably be some variation of the Renfrew. I really want to try making a gathered sleeve like some rtw shirts I love. I've been looking for the stretch lace since last 4th of July, but I never came across it in the store until this trip. They had quite a few colors, but not black (boo), so I just got 6 yards of the white. I plan on using this to make modesty inserts for some of my lower cut shirts.

And of course no Sewing Studio trip is complete without visiting the notions wall of loveliness :) Here is what I snagged:

• 4 yards white poly horsehair braid
• view-thru pressing cloth
• seam ripper
• black and white elastic thread 
• 3 colors of jeans top-stitching thread
• silicone thimbles
• covered button kit, glass head pins
• top-stitching needles

I've been very curious to try out horsehair braid on a dress hem, so I got just enough to test it out. It comes in plenty of colors, so I hope it works well :) The elastic thread is actually for knitting sweaters (I needed red, but they didn't have it, so I got these two). The thimbles fit my thumb and pointer finger so I'm hoping it will assist in my hand sewing on my animal making. The top-stitching thread was already clearanced and then an additional 40% off, so I grabbed some to try out. I've been meaning to make a denim skirt, so now i have a choice for the thread. The rest are just random notions that are handy to have, so I always grab some at these sales.

I also had buttons on the brain when I was planning my trip initially. Of course when I arrived, I was so overwhelmed by all the fantastic fabrics and whatnot that I had to rush through my button buying. I still managed to get some really cute ones that I am happy with :) They have such a huge selection - seriously so much bigger than a box store.

• 8 aqua/green buttons with carved leaves
• 9 mock-wood
• 6 textured navy blue
• 8 gold and black old-school clocks

How cool are those clocks! And the green with the leaves were gorgeous - it was hard to photograph them, so I added in the close-up. I honestly wish I had bought more buttons, so I need to make sure and hit that area first next time so I'm not so rushed.

After we finished up at The Sewing Studio, we went to a few other shops and finally ended our day at Joann's. This has also turned into a bit of a tradition because they have had their thread half price for the past few years. So, I stocked up :)

• 1 skein Everyday Soft Worsted in Baby Yellow
• 12 spools of thread (various colors and sizes)
• 1 spool red elastic thread
• 8 owl buttons
• 6 white rose carved buttons

They has red elastic thread! Yay :) So now I'm good with elastics for a while, lol. I planned out what fabrics I needed threads for the night before we went and I cut little swatches of them so I could match the thread - this worked amazingly well. I will absolutely be doing this in the future and I highly recommend it. It was so much easier than carrying around my whole yardage. The yarn was just super clearanced (and I love this yarn), and I looked at those buttons a month or so ago but didn't buy them. Now I have owl buttons! lol I know they are designed for baby clothes, but I don't care. I can see them on a sweater in the future :)

And when you have fabric on the brain while there are plenty of sales going on, it's hard to get out of that mode. When I got home that day, I realized that I forgot to pick up any white ribbed knit, so I turned to Fabric.com. This is dangerous when they are running a big 4th of July sale. I mean, I needed to spend $35 to get my free shipping, right? lol So a few other items hopped into my cart and they just arrived today.

• 1 yard white slub cotton rib knit
• 1 yard aqua and white Baby Talk aspirin dot cotton
• 3 yards pink/black/white City Scenes Aerial View cotton 
• 3 yards steel/turquoise Perfectly Perched Chairs cotton

The prices on these have all gone back up now, but I got all of this for just over $35 - nice! The rib knit is a bit thin, but I figure I can just double it up for my purposes. The aqua dot was for a contrast on a dress, but I'm not really sure it will go with the main fabric I'm using - we'll see. The other two were just awesome fabric at great prices. I mean, who doesn't need a dress with chairs or city scapes all over them? The chairs is a Robert Kaufman, so it's a lovely feeling fabric - so soft with a little weight but still some drape - and I haven't even washed it yet! The city scenes is by Andover, so it's also a nice quality cotton, plus I just love how bright the pink is. This is one of the first times I've bought online and the real fabrics came in the exact colors I thought they would be :)

So yeah, lots of fun future projects. I've been on a serious organize/clean/get-rid-of kick lately ... meaning all over my whole house, and just yesterday I made it into the sewing room. I've been washing fabric and putting it away, reassessing some of my thrift store purchases, and I even organized my yarn! It's a nice feeling to not have to move things to find something, or step around a bunch of bags to get to where I need to be. I'm not done yet, but I know it will greatly contribute to my productivity. I'm just one of those people who need everything clean to be creative. I'm hoping to muslin a new pattern or two so I can make some fun print dresses soon!