Sewing Studio Trip - July 4th, 2017

So I made my annual pilgrimage to The Sewing Studio in Maitland on the 4th of July :) For new readers - The Sewing Studio is the absolute BEST fabric store in the Central Florida area (seriously, you should check them out if you're local), and twice a year (New Year's Day and the 4th of July) they put their ENTIRE STORE 40% OFF even if it's already on clearance. Seriously. It's the greatest thing ever. People come from all over for this sale. I talked to ladies who drove from Gainesville and Jacksonville just for this sale. It's amazing. Since I live about an hour away from this fabric heaven, I don't tend to make it over super often, but I always try to go for the big sale. This year I was joined by my mom and sister, and we had a lovely time buying too much fabric. Here's my haul this year:

Admittedly not as much as previous trips (and it's a pretty lack luster photo), but I was on a budget this time and I'm very happy with the pieces I snagged since I feel they will all work in my wardrobe. So let's look at the breakdown.

First up: the knits :) I actually didn't plan on buying lots of knits this time as I have amassed quite the collection, but when you come across cute designs or luxurious fabrics for a steal you need to be ready, amiright? So top left is a Télio Dakota knit in navy blue with yellow dots on it. This is a rayon spandex and it's has a lovely drape. I grabbed 1.5 yards for $11.78. Top right is a completely delicious Bamboo Rayon jersey in a bright plumy purple color. I grabbed 1.5 yards for $14.00. Bottom right is an adorable cotton jersey by Dear Stella with flamingos on it! I grabbed 1.5 yards for $16.00. Bottom left is an Art Gallery cotton spandex jersey called Philosopher's Thoughts (it has deep thinking phrases all over it, lol). I grabbed 1.25 yards for $15.00. All of these are destined to become different t-shirts.

In the cotton section I stayed a bit more frugal (i.e. all of these were clearanced at 50% off plus the additional 40% off). Top left we have Chrysanthemum Blooms by Joel Dewberry in an awesome greeny yellow. I grabbed 2.5 yards for $9.32. Top right is called Faril by Lotta Jansdotter - it's white with greeny yellow butterflies all over. I grabbed 2.5 yards for $9.23. Bottom right is called Quill by Valori Wells - it's Essex Linen which is 55% linen/45% cotton. I grabbed 2 yards for $9.70. Bottom left is called Correspondence by Jim Holtz (it's postal style stripes) and I grabbed 1 yard for $3.73. I plan to make an outfit with the blue and yellow pieces. I bought the linen/cotton to make a skirt (possibly a Peggy skirt by Blue Ginger Doll, but I'm not completely decided), and I plan to use the Faril fabric as a Sailor Top by Fancy Tiger Crafts to wear with it. The Chrysanthemum fabric also matches the linen, but I'm not sure if I will feel bold enough to wear that much floral at once.

In the miscellaneous stuff, I grabbed 1 yard of Bosal In-R-Foam (which is a fusible foam stabilizer for purses and bags) for $12.50. I also got the end of the bolt on this lovely Télio Viscose Batiste in Midnight Blue. This piece is 1.75 yards and I paid $6.34. I got 7 fat quarters that were 50% then 40% off - 3 Cotton & Steel buildings from their Penny Arcade collection, 2 florals on a navy background, a blue Cotton & Steel XOs and a brown floral. All of these were $0.97 each. I snagged an entire tube of gray buttons for $2.00, some khaki thread (because I was all out), and 2 Dritz seam gauges. I've used my old seam gauge so much that I've rubbed all the measurements off, lol. So I decided to grab 2 more to make sure I had them on hand. Also I've wanted to try making a more stable bag for quite a while, and the Bosal interfacing is recommended for a lot of patterns by Sew Sweetness. I have a particular bag planned as a gift that I need to make this week, so this was well timed. It felt pretty expensive at first, but this stuff is 58" wide and I'm sure that I will get quite a few bags out of this 1 yard piece. Normally this stuff is $19.29 per yard.

I seriously contemplated some of the more trendy fabrics in the store as well. They had most of the Cotton & Steel Les Fleurs collection and the new Alice & Wonderland Collection (both designed by Rifle Paper in Orlando), and the rayon just feels dreamy in these fabrics. When it came down to it though I just couldn't help but think of how much fabric I have at home, and even with the 40% off sale it would be quite a chunk of change (for me) to get enough for a dress in the rayon. Maybe I'll make something from these in the future when I'm not on a strict budget. But today is not that day :) It's honestly not a bad thing - I walked away very happy with everything I purchased. Were there other amazing fabrics I loved? Absolutely. But that's not really hard to do, you know? I love fabric, lol. I'm proud of my self control and I still love what I bought. You can't beat that.

So did you grab any fantastic fabric deals this holiday? If you're a Florida sewist, I highly recommend heading to The Sewing Studio next sale!