The Sewing Studio - Let Freedom Ring, 2016!

So, I chose to exerise my liberty this 4th of July by buying amazing fabric for a steal of a price - as I usually do :) I took a break from moving and unpacking to go with just my mom this year and we had a great time. For those of you not from Florida (or new to my blog), The Sewing Studio is a fabric filled treasure trove located in Maitland (just outside Orlando, still sort of Orlando). The store has high quality fabric for everything from quilting to wedding dress making to home decor and everywhere in between. Each 4th of July and New Year's Day, they put their entire store (!!!) on sale for 40% off. This includes the items that are already in clearance for 50% off - you get another 40% off of that price. Craziness. Since these biannual sales coincide with holidays where people sometimes give money (Christmas and my Birthday at the end of June), I like to splurge on all kinds of stuff twice a year :) Generally I spend most of my time in this store looking like this:

Yep - that's "The Sewing Studio Effect", lol. It's so much fun. I do still have to reign myself into a budget, especially since it would be SO EASY to spend way too much with all the lovely silks and laces and other fancy threads. I can let loose a bit, but still within reason. It's a pretty overwhelming experience the first few times you go, but I've gone enough to get something of a game plan each time. If you're in the Central Florida area, this store (and especially this sale) are well worth a trip on your holiday. Anyway, you're all here for the fabric, so let's get to the good stuff :)

This was my haul this year :) I went a little crazier than normal (meaning I purchased a few things that were a bit pricier than my usual), but I have plans for almost every piece of fabric. If only the purchase included guaranteed time to make up everything you want, right?  Here's what I came away with specifically (all fabrics listed clockwise):

•  4 yards of Moda Bandana Bows and Dots print cotton - This will most definitely be a dress :) I'm thinking it would be cute as Butterick 6321 if I can find a matching blue or mint green for the contrasting pieces :) 
• 4 yards of Cotton + Steel Homebody Buttons printed cotton poplin - This will be probably a dress, perhaps a shirt dress? I only wanted 3 yards at first for a Hollyburn skirt, but when there was just 1 more yard left on the bolt I bought the whole thing. 
• 3 yards of  Windham Snippets mint green needle and thread printed cotton - Another dress here :) I may go for the tried and true Simplicity 2444 or 1419 - just depends on how those dotted lines handle darts.
• 1.5 yards of Free Spirit Memory Lane pink floral printed cotton - this is soon going to be on my lampshades in my new bedroom :) Whatever is left will also be used around the room on pillows and whatnot.

•  2 yards of Amy Butler Soul Blossoms Cotton Canvas in Temple Tulips print - This is another I have to decide on. Originally I wanted to make a bag, but it would also make a pretty cool a-line skirt. With how wide the fabric is, I might be able to do both :)
• 2 yards of Free Spirit dark blue twist printed heavy canvas - this will also be a skirt, possibly a Melissa, and the excess will be great for a bag too.
• 2 yards of Cotton + Steel Mochi Folklore Moon Rabbit Autumn Rice printed linen cotton. This is 55% linen, 45% cotton and has a metallic gold border print. I think it will be a great flared skirt.
• 2 yards of Art Gallery floral printed lightweight denim - This stuff was a slight splurge for me. I almost bought this exact fabric a month ago on Fabric.com, but held off and got some Brussels Washer linen instead. So when I saw this for 40% off, I knew I had to get enough for a skirt. I'm still deciding on a pattern, but it will be flared :) It's so pretty and drapey in person! I can't wait to make it up.

• 2.25 yards of crazy 3D squiggle flowers in pink and purple on mesh - This will be an epic skirt. I'm thinking circle skirt on this one :) The flowers are done the same way as one of my favorite trims I've used (on my mom's birthday shirt last year), and it was just so pretty and fun.
• 2 yards of bright pink poly chiffon - this will line the crazy flower skirt :) It's not opaque at all, but the crazy flowers plus this make for just enough to not show off anything.
• 1.5 yards of emerald green rayon jersey - This will be come a plantain tee with 3/4 sleeves. I adore this color, so I had to get some. Now if I can just find a nice mint green ...
• 1 yard of Mickey and Friends printed cotton jersey - Isn't this adorable?! I'm not usually a "wear Disney characters" type person (I blame the oversized t-shirts of my chilhood printed with Winnie the Pooh), but I think in the right pattern this will be really cute (especially if I wear it to the park itself). I'm thinking a Sorrel top with white collar and cuffs, but we shall see.

These were all remnants, so they were really cheap :)

• 1.75 yards of Amy Butler Alchemy Velveteen - this was a wild card purchase because to be honest I have no idea what I will do with it, but it was so cheap. This cut cost me $3.00. It's super soft, especially now that I washed it, and I can't decide if it would be ok to wear or not. It may become a skirt, but then it may end up covering a chair, lol. I'll have to see what inspiration strikes.
• 1.62 yards of black and white polka dot knit mesh - This will be really cute as a shirt, maybe a Parisian top with a white collar? It's a fairly dense knit, so I might not have to line it. 
• 0.9 yards of Ming green 100% silk chiffon - this piece was just one of my favorite colors and it's so beautifully drapey. This will become a top, but because it's only 42" wide I'm not sire if I can get a whole top out of it or if I'll have to use a different fabric for the back or something. I generally stay away from silks since I'm clumsy and tend to get picks in it, but this one seemed fairly robust. 

After the hours of fabric selection, we hit the notions wall and I was pleasantly surprised by some products I love that the store just started carrying (they now stock Sew Keys E knit stay tape!). The threads were grabbed for some of the fabrics I purchased that day (as well as the mint green zipper), plus I got white and navy thread since I go through those colors faster than anything else. The pink zipper is for my crazy flowers skirt, and the plum zipper was just really inexpensive so it will end up in a skirt eventually. I'm running low on Wonder Tape, and they only had this Dritz brand (I usually buy the Collins) but at 40% off I figured it was worth trying out. I gasped aloud when I saw the SimFlex Expanding Gauge! I've toyed around with buying one of these for years, but I just never justified spending $20+ on it. Since it was only $12 I decided to grab one and I can't wait to add buttons or pleats to something so I can try it out. My final decision of the day was the bag of buttons. I brought along my Hetty Cardigan to see about buttons for it since I'm almost finished and I didn't love anything in my stash. I actually laid my sweater out on the floor in the button area and went back and forth auditioning various button styles, and when I came across these round shiny ones I knew it was meant to be. All the others I tried were either too small, too red, too orange, too "old lady"-ish. These were the exact color of my yarn and they were the perfect size AND they were shank buttons (my preferred for hand knits). There was only one catch - I needed 9 and the store only had 8 if I bought the display button too. I tried out more buttons, but none held a candle to these. So, I tried out using a decorative button at the top of the sweater and ended up with a pretty mother of pearl checkerboard inlay button to possibly go with it. I still can't decide if I will use this button or just pull out the buttonhole band and redo the spacing to have only 8 holes. We'll see. I've got til the end of the month to finish, lol.

So, that was my sewing studio trip :) I think we were in the store for about 3 hours, which is pretty normal for us. It was crazy busy when we first arrived, but when we left it was much quieter (thus how I was able to lay out my sweater on the floor). It was a fun day, and I've been washing fabric ever since. I've also already uploaded my fabrics into Trello (thanks to Camille for this post - so great for organizing!), and I love scrolling through my collection online at will :)

I will confess that I started off my fabric buying weekend a little early by going to the local Hancock sale. Hancock is going out of business (which is so sad since I just moved to right around the corner from the nearest store), but they are in the final throws of their going out of business sale and prices are finally low enough to get some good deals. Saturday night I came away with this:

• 4 yards of coral rayon challis - this will be a dress, possibly with some other rayon as a contrast to give more interest.
• 2.38 yards of damask printed stretch cotton twill - this is going to be a skirt (I'm thinking a traditional knee length "jean skirt" style like the Style Arc Sally skirt) and I'm sure I'll have excess which will probably become a bag or chair cover.
• 2.5 yards of charcoal gray stretch denim - I'm really wanting to try sewing Ginger jeans, but I've been too cheap to potentially waste fabric on a muslin. This was cheap enough that I'm not too worried about it, so we'll see how that goes.
• 5 butterick patterns I've had my eye on: 6090, 6260, 6321, 6282, and 6285. The patterns are still not super cheap at $1.99, but I've wanted these for a while so I went ahead and bought them. I'm holding out that they will go a little cheaper soon and then I may get more. 

This was my second trip in to Hancock, and it's seriously so sad that they are closing. This store has been in the same spot my whole life and for a long time it was the only fabric store I knew about, so it's certainly the end of an era. I hope someone buys them out and reopens, but I'm not holding my breath. I'll especially miss them when I need notions on the quick - they were my place to go for thread and buttons all the time (so much so that the night shift ladies nick named me "button girl" because I was always there for buttons). I guess the universe just really doesn't want me to live that close to a fabric store - they are currently building a Hobby Lobby near my house that I'm selling and they are closing the Hancock around the corner from my new place - I can take a hint!) It's probably better for my budget, but it's still a bummer that now my nearest store is the Joann's in Melbourne :/ Anyway, it was a great weekend of retail therapy and fabric shopping :) Now I just have to get to making things with all this so I can justify going again on New Years' Day!

Sewing Studio Trip

So, in my bi-annual grand tradition, my Independence Day was spent in the best of ways - fabric shopping! The Sewing Studio in Maitland puts their entire store on sale for 40% off on July 4th and New Year's Day every year - and the 40% off extends to items already in their clearance sections. I love this store anyway just because of the quality of products they sell. If you need really high end fabrics to make a wedding dress or a good wool suit or anything like that, this is the best store in Central Florida to get them from. They also have an enormous quilting section that carries Michael Miller and Alexander Henry and Riley Blake and other big names in the quilting cotton world, so this is a destination for those as well. I you live in the vicinity of Orlando, I highly recommend heading to their store - you will not regret it! So, in my grand tradition of bragging documentation, I'm gonna show off what I got. Be warned, it's a lot this time. Don't judge!

Anyway, since this was their big sale, the place was packed with sewists of all kinds. Once again I forgot to take pictures of the mayhem (bad blogger!), but trust me when I say it was cramped in there. This time we went earlier than we have ever gone before in hopes of snagging more goodies before they were gone. I certainly wasn't disappointed :) I started off in the clearance sections, like I always do - how can you resist an additional 40% off their already 50% off prices?!

 These were my first grabs - the folded pieces are quilting cottons. The emerald green with pin dots is from Dear Stella and I grabbed 3.5 yards for a dress for $3.39 per yard. The green with medallions on is a Moda fabric and they only had 1.4 yards left of this so I grabbed the whole piece for $4.75 (this may be a trim on a dress I have planned). The blue with polar bears was just too cute to pass up - it's from Timeless Treasures and I grabbed 1 yard for $3.30. The dark blue with flowers is a satiny polyester material remnant - it's a 1.1 yard piece and it was $3.00. The pink is 1.38 yards of 100% linen and it was $3.00.

My next stop was the "sale annex" room where they have old stock as well as garment industry remnants for really cheap. The fancy printed orange material is actually a Robert Kaufman Laguna Jersey, which I have always heard praised but been too cheap to buy myself. I grabbed 2 yards of this for $8.70 to try out and see if the fabric is really all it's cracked up to be. The teal fabric is a mystery industry remnant piece - it seems like some kind of cotton spandex, though I'm not sure at all of the content. I grabbed 2.5 yards for $7.50. The dark gray is actually silk habotai that has a small dark spot that repeats throughout the bolt. Since I would only use this for lining, I don't mind the little spot, so I grabbed 3 yards for $9.45. The coral pink is just a polyester lining material that I grabbed 3 yards of for $7.20.

This set was the most exciting to me - the coral pink is cotton voile! It's buttery soft and I can't wait to use it. I've always heard everyone say how great it is, but I could only find Amy Butler prints for $17 or $25 per yard, which just wasn't happening. Well this time around, they had solid colors of voile for $6.49 each (regular price) and oh my gosh they are soft like buttah. If the lighter colors weren't so sheer I would've bought more, but wanting to try it out for the first time I just grabbed 4 yards of this awesome coral pink for $3.89 per yard :) The black is 2 yards of cotton batiste since it seems to come in handy a lot for accents and it was $3.48 per yard. The green was really hard to accurately photograph - it looks much too blue in this photo. The green is actually a more pea green color than the emerald shade shown here. It's a Robert Kaufman Classic Cotton (or something like that - I know it said classic something) and it has a chambray looking weave and it's soft and thin, not quite like the voile but close.  I grabbed 3 yards of this for $2.79 per yard.

I'm always a sucker for the clearance fat quarters since they always seem to come in handy when I least expect it. I grabbed all of these for $0.90 each :) I got a few duplicates because I plan to make a bag or something for my sister eventually. The sale annex had quite a bit of upholstery fabric this time, and I grabbed this 3/4 yard remnant for $2.25 and 10 yards of pretty brown satin trim for $6.00 - how can you go wrong there? I'm going to use these for a coffee table turned bench :) And I was thrilled to find so many invisible zippers in the sale annex - I have a rather ridiculous stash of regular zippers that I got thrifting, but I never have invisibles. I grabbed the neutral colors for around $1.50 each just to have in my stash since they always come in handy (white, gray, black and brown), but the other more vibrant colors were all $0.90 or below (the cheapest being $0.45). I even grabbed a few fancy metal separating zippers and that white on in the bag is separating with about 7 pulls on it - those were $1.20 each - can't go wrong there! The trims were just super cheap (the white was only $0.40 for 10 yards, lol), and I've been embracing the idea of tasteful trim usage on my makes ever since my floral plantain (I love that neckline trim!) so I thought these would be a fun way to try things out. The needles were just to stash and that Olfa mini cutter is so cool! It was only $1.50, so I grabbed one.

So, obviously I bought a whole bunch of stuff at The Sewing Studio and had a ton of fun. But of course that wasn't enough :) After a reviving lunch, we went by Joann's to shop more. I have to admit, I've been a pretty big snob against Joann's fabric. It used to be that every time I would go, I was just surrounded by synthetic fibers that I had no interest in working with. This time though, I was quite impressed by the quality I found - Joann's had really stepped up their game! First off I went to the Gertie fabric section ...

I was pretty taken aback with the discount on the designer lines - these were 60% off and then you could use the 20% off your whole purchase coupon on top of that! I grabbed 2.5 yards of the gray with kitties poly chiffon for $4.79 per yard, 2.5 yards of the swiss dot roses for $4.79 per yard (and I am totally going to make Butterick 6217 just like the pattern cover photo!), 1 yard of the teal with cherries rayon (it was all they had) for $4.00, and 2.4 yards of the white with cherries cotton poplin for $4.15 per yard. 

These were all from the red dot clearance section, which was already marked down then 50% off and then the 20% off that. The pink floral is called "Vivie Bloom" by DeLeon Fabrics for Alexander Henry - they only had 1.4 yards and it was $4.12, the blue flowers is a gauzy cotton only had 1.36 yards left and it was $3.80, and the black and white flowers is a nice rayon that only had 1.5 yards left and it was mistakenly put in the 60% off section, so I only just now realize that I was charged full price for it - ugh. Apparently I paid $12.00 for this piece, when I thought I'd be paying $3.20. Thanks a lot, Joann's.

And these are the knits I snagged - so exciting! The first one there is actually a charcoal gray rayon spandex jersey from the red dot section and I paid $7.20 for 2 yards. The fun print there is from the Doodles collection, which I am really pleased with so far (it's designed for kids clothes, but not all of it is super kid-ish), and I grabbed 1.5 yards for $9.00 (which is yet again more than I was supposed to have paid, but only just realized ... maybe I'm not so enchanted with Joann's after all ...), and the teal and gray stripe is a poly rayon knit from the red dot section that I got 2 yards of for $7.20.

This is the piece I am most excited about! Sally from The Quirky Peach posted about finding this awesome knit print at her Joann's a week or so ago, so when I was in the store I searched all over and finally found it - I was elated :) This is from the Doodles collection and it's a 100% cotton jersey (just like the blue and green print above) and I got it for the correct price - $5.19 per yard. I grabbed 3 yards not knowing if I want to make a dress or not, but at least i have enough to do what I want when I decide. Isn't it awesome?!

And I can never pass up the sale patterns and buttons - this time it was McCall's so I grabbed the ones on my list I always have on hand. The buttons were all 40% off and then another 20% off, so I grabbed a few I liked. The black ones are contenders for my Emelie cardigan, and the pink ones have a pretty iridescence to them and are flower shaped - so cute!

So there you have my weekend shopping spree :) I just finished washing everything last night (and there were casualties - I'm trying not to let it get me down!), so hopefully tonight I will at least get to whip out a t-shirt or something. It's been too long since I had a successful make and I'm starting to get antsy, lol. At least now I have plenty of stash to work with so I need to get going on turning these into wearable garments :)

Happy 4th of July!

Anna Hrachovec seriously does the greatest knitted gifs :) 

I am currently elbowing old ladies for amazing fabric deals (just kidding, they aren't all old, lol). I am celebrating my independence the best possible way - by purchasing fabric at drastic discounts. I hope you get to celebrate in your own way too. Happy Birthday, America!

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!

My Fourth of July - Solo Sewing Studio Trip!

So, it's become my own little tradition to go to The Sewing Studio in Maitland, Fl for their fantastic sale :) Every year on July 4th (and January 1st) they give you 40% off your entire purchase, excluding things like sewing machines (but they are on super low prices too!), and I make it a point to go. Some will ask me, "What's the difference between them and Joann's?" To which I try to explain the sheer quality of fabrics and tools among many other things. This isn't cheapy quilting cottons and 100% polyester stretch lace. The Sewing Studio sells brands like Amy Butler, Robert Kaufman, Michael Miller and has a wide selection of very high end dress fabrics. Like $100 per yard lace, real silk organza and such. I love going just to look around :)

Anyway, enough preaching, let's get down to the fun stuff. Here's me trying not to look too conspicuous out in the parking lot when I arrived. I got there around 12:30 pm and holy cow was it packed!

Sorry for the blurry pic - I was trying to take it unnoticed. This was the line to pay! In all the years I've gone to this sale I've never seen it this long. To give you an idea about the scale - the register is up by that door the linoleum leads to. Yeah. I'm glad I wasn't ready to go just then.

The first spot I always check is the clearance bin at the quilting cotton section. Normally this bin is packed - it had already been pretty picked clean by the time I got there. I blame it on the nice weather - the last 2 years we've gone it was raining and the bin was much more full.

In my meandering I found what seems to be some new acquisitions - Amy Butler cotton voile, lawn and satine! They were heavenly to touch, but even with the 40% off I couldn't take the plunge. The gray satine at the front was $21.50 per yard! Yikes!

Anyway, so what did I come away with? Well I went over to their sale annex and found a mountain of material right up my alley. The shop recently bought out the fabric bolts from a garment factory down in Miami and they are selling it off incredibly cheap - between $0.50 - $3.99 per yard! Plus the additional 40% off! The only downside is there is no guarantee of the fabric content, but you can pretty much feel it and take an educated guess. I got 3 yards of a deep navy suiting material (left) for $2.39 per yard, 4 yards of a textured/printed royal blue thin cotton poly blend of some kind for $1.79 per yard (middle), and 2.5 yards of a linen textured orange-red-coral polyester. I honestly may had had a shirt at one time made from that royal blue material - I know I've seen it in ready to wear items before. These were just so cheap that they will be great to use for muslins and I won't have to be too upset if they don't come out just right. I almost got some of the linings - they were plain slick polyesters but they said Pierre Cardin and Lanvin all over them. How funny to make your own piece and put their name in it, right? But I was being frugal.

These two are both jersey. The black is a Robert Kaufman 100% cotton jersey that has a nice medium weight. I plan to recreate my favorite black t-shirt with this. I got 1 yard for $6. The crazy print was from the remnant section so I have no idea what it's made of but it was crazy and only cost $3 for the 1 yard that was left. I figure it will make a good mock up so I can test my t-shirt pattern.

This was my one acquisition from my favorite quilting cotton sale bin. It's a 100% premium cotton print called Rock 'n Romance by Art Gallery Fabrics. It has nice drape and isn't too heavy like lots of quilting cottons, so I got 2 yards and will make a top out of it.

No joke when I saw this fabric I let out a little gasp and grabbed it before someone else could. Not that it was crazy cheap - it was in the regular priced section - but it's just so me, for real. It's another 100% premium cotton by Art Gallery Fabrics called Splendor 1920 - appropriate, huh? I got 2.5 yards for $6.60 per yard but I just had to grab it. This will be a Banksia :) And I snagged several sets of 5/8" buttons to potentially go with it. It couldn't decide at the time and they were cheap.

These were the real justification for going today. My sister is getting married at the end of the month and I have had a hell of a time finding a dress that goes with her colors that I can get in time that would fit me. So I figured I would be ambitious and look at fabrics while I was there. For the first hour of my trip, I was convinced I wouldn't find anything in her colors (gray, blush pink, or gold) and I gave up. By chance I meandered to a corner I hadn't been through yet and found a rack that said "50% Off" and there were not one but TWO fabrics in my sisters color scheme! Hizzah! It's hard to tell in the picture but the left fabric is a light blush pinky peach colored polyester and it's thicker like a taffeta. There was only 2.67 yards left on the bolt, but it was 60" wide - just enough to squeeze a dress out of if I'm careful about cutting placement. So I grabbed the whole bolt at $3.15 per yard! The gray and mauvey-pink are Robert Kaufman cotton poplin rayon blends so they have a nice crispness with slight drape. I got 4.5. yards of the gray and 1 yard of the pink for $2.70 per yard! I got a little of the pink just in case we want to break up the gray a little bit. We will use these fabrics to make one of the patterns I have laid out there - maybe 2 if my sister can't find a dress.

I also snagged some random notions (machine needles, etc), a veil for my sister (hoping she likes it), and these 3 rolls from the bargain annex. The red is an Amy Butler cotton remnant of 5/8 yards for $2, the middle blue a random cotton remnant of 5/8 yards for $1.50 and the black a cotton fat quarter for $0.90.

All in all I did really well this year. I didn't go crazy like last time - granted last time I had all my birthday money to burn. This time I'm pretty broke to tell the truth, but I've been saving some of my Etsy store money just for this occasion. I feel like I left with all very well priced fabrics, some I absolutely love, and most with projects in mind. Now that my sewing room is more set up I might actually get around to making things this year :) I can't wait!

Orlando Area: The Sewing Studio 4th of July Sale

Anyone who is local to the Orlando FL area and is a crafter - you need to read this post! My favorite fabric store ever will be having their fantastic bi-yearly sale on July 4th, Wednesday. Every year on New Year's Day and July 4th, The Sewing Studio puts almost everything in their physical store on sale 40% Off! This store has a huge selection of quilting cottons but also has lots of fine apparel fabrics, drapery fabrics, swimsuit and athletic wear fabric as well as everything in between. They also have a vast amount of notions from buttons to threads and zippers and lots of specialty items.

Another great thing they have in this sale is their sewing machines. They aren't necessarily 40% off, but if you are in the market for a really good sewing, serger, or embroidery machine, this is totally the sale for you. You will not see these machines go any cheaper than you will at this sale.

So, if you have anything you are looking to sew, you should absolutely go to this sale. The Sewing Studio is located in Maitland, address 9605 S Hwy 17-92  Maitland, FL 32751. It's to the East of Orlando but definitely worth the trek to get there. I will be cashing in my birthday money at the sale :) I have a nice list of items that I want to grab while I'm there including some nicer fabrics for some of the patterns I got for my b-day.

So, come out and join me on Wednesday, July 4th to get some great deals on some really high quality products!