The Fabric Odyssey

I'm a bit slow writing this up - the fabric odyssey happened on Mother's Day weekend in May.

Pam and I decided that for my birthday this year we would check out all the fabric shops that we've heard so much about - but have never (or rarely) visited.  We based our day around Lara's list in her FAQs - it's a great guide.

Our first stop was Darn Cheap Fabrics.  I had no idea what to expect - the shop is a bit old school, but the fabrics were great, as were the staff.  Wishing I had grabbed a few other items but as it was our first stop I didn't want to spend all my budget at once.  The pieces below came home with me - the hearts are an acrylic knit, the next is a wool blend suiting and the last is a lovely rayon.  I also bought some stretch lace and wish I'd bought some of their elastics.

From there we headed to GJs Discount Fabric.  I had no luck upstairs, but loved the amazing selection of quilting fabrics.  I bought a few fat quarters for a quilt I'm making Wade, but didn't photograph them because I was going to write this post before his birthday in May.  Turns out neither the post, nor the quilt were done on time :)

Our next stop was Rathdowne Fabrics.  On first look I wasn't overly impressed, but once you looked a little closer there were some good buys.  My only purchase here was a couple of lovely knits which I'm planning to use for slips.  They were labelled as lining fabric but feel absolutely lovely.  I thought I saw Christy of Little Betty fame - but it's been a long time since I've seen her is person and my introvert personality didn't let me go over and say hi.

Then it was on to the Allanah Hill Outlet (head upstairs for the fabric).  I came away with some very cheery lining fabric, a heart print silk satin and a black with self dots, can't recall the fiber content but I'm pretty sure it's a nice quality poly.  

The Fabric Store is just up the street so we went in there too.  My hunger must have affected my thinking because I left empty handed.

We finished the day with a stop at Tessuti where I bought a great piece of stretch cotton and the most beautiful silk.  At $65 a meter I wasn't going to buy the map print silk, but I kept coming back to it so I gave myself a birthday treat (and Pam contributed some birthday money too).  Now I just have to make sure it doesn't become to good to sew!  We also saw the lovely Anna of Blogless Anna fame doing an in-store class.  It was great to see her again and she confirmed that it was Christy that I saw earlier in the day.

Our final stop was at Clegs where I bought some beautiful bamboo lycra knit.

It was a great day, made even better by the fact that I could share it with my sister.  Big thanks go to her wonderful partner for playing chauffeur all day.  I'm sure it's a long time before he wants to see another fabric shop!  The only downside was that Mum couldn't be there too.  Next time you're down Mum, we'll do an abbreviated version.

One of these fabrics is already a finished garment and several more are cut out ready to sew.  Back to the sewing machine to make the most of the long weekend.