I've been dying to stop by the FIDM Scholarship Store for months ever since I read somewhere that they sell fabric for cheaps. I tried going a month or two ago after work, but got there maybe 10 minutes after they closed. This failed adventure could have been avoided if I wasn't too lazy to PICK UP THE PHONE earlier in the day to confirm the store hours (FYI, it closes at 5pm on weekdays).
Even though I work in Downtown LA, the store is located just far enough from my office that the thought of walking there and back during lunch always seemed so tiring. But the stars aligned last Friday! My coworkers and I walked to three different lunch spots in a quest to find someplace (any place) that wasn't incredibly crowded. When we got to the third location I realized we were only one block from the FIDM scholarship store. I bid adieu to the guys and decided to forgo a tasty lunch and instead went searching for some scrumptious cheap fabric.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but I suppose I was expecting a bit more apparel fabric. There is a small sorta hidden section for fabric and notions (TONS of buttons by the way), but probably half of the fabric was upholstery/home dec. The other half was apparel fabric and, from what I could gather based on eavesdropping nearby conversations, it seems like the store never knows when they'll receive new shipments of fabric and my guess is they also don't know what type of fabric they will receive. The day I went there was a lot of knit/spandex fabric in several different bright colors. Also, a good portion of the apparel fabric was white/ivory/cream colored.
I was immediately drawn to these knit and silk fabrics.
Don't those look like birds on the knit fabric? (or at least that's how I've always drawn them!)
So guess how much this loot cost me??
The knit fabric was $1/yard. ONE WHOLE DOLLAR!!! I think it was 60" wide (before I washed it and definitely shrank it). I originally wanted 2 yards, but there was only a bit more than 1 yard left on the roll so she only charged me $1.25. Honestly, this is so much fabric that I'm kinda glad I couldn't buy 2 yards. The silk fabric is apparently "designer" fabric, so it was a whopping $5/yard. I'LL TAKE IT!!!! I bought two yards because I could foresee myself ruining half of it during my attempt to make a silk blouse. I've been wanting to make a silk blouse for months, but of course never wanted to pay "silk" prices for silk fabric so I was really, really happy! By the way, the selvedge on the silk fabric says "Rozae Nichols for Angel Textiles". So, yes, apparently it is designer fabric.
The following day I went to Jo-anns to take advantage of the 5 for $5 Simplicity Patterns sale. I picked up a Men's vest pattern (my husband has been bugging me to make him a vest like the one worn by Walton Goggins in 'Justified') and a clutch pattern (because why not). My three favorite scores are these patterns:
yes, I totally spent $1 so I wouldn't have to draft my own peplum pattern.
The vintage reproduction pattern (Simplicity 1692) is actually not in my size, but I figured maybe I could grade one in my size based on the larger sizes (or I could use this as a giveaway in the future when I actually have a readership. Ha!). A lady at Jo-anns saw me holding this pattern and said she has it and that it's really cute. She also added that it's not as easy as it looks and that she had her mother finish it. Um, ok, thanks. The other retro pattern (Simplicity 2154) is the one I decided to use for the silk blouse, even though the pattern doesn't recommend using silk. I saw this pattern somewhere on the interwebs, but I can't for the life of me remember which blogger mentioned it.
All in all, a pretty successful sewing shopping weekend! Now I can finally be one of those people who can claim they made a top for $1!
Even though I work in Downtown LA, the store is located just far enough from my office that the thought of walking there and back during lunch always seemed so tiring. But the stars aligned last Friday! My coworkers and I walked to three different lunch spots in a quest to find someplace (any place) that wasn't incredibly crowded. When we got to the third location I realized we were only one block from the FIDM scholarship store. I bid adieu to the guys and decided to forgo a tasty lunch and instead went searching for some scrumptious cheap fabric.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but I suppose I was expecting a bit more apparel fabric. There is a small sorta hidden section for fabric and notions (TONS of buttons by the way), but probably half of the fabric was upholstery/home dec. The other half was apparel fabric and, from what I could gather based on eavesdropping nearby conversations, it seems like the store never knows when they'll receive new shipments of fabric and my guess is they also don't know what type of fabric they will receive. The day I went there was a lot of knit/spandex fabric in several different bright colors. Also, a good portion of the apparel fabric was white/ivory/cream colored.
I was immediately drawn to these knit and silk fabrics.
Don't those look like birds on the knit fabric? (or at least that's how I've always drawn them!)
So guess how much this loot cost me??
The knit fabric was $1/yard. ONE WHOLE DOLLAR!!! I think it was 60" wide (before I washed it and definitely shrank it). I originally wanted 2 yards, but there was only a bit more than 1 yard left on the roll so she only charged me $1.25. Honestly, this is so much fabric that I'm kinda glad I couldn't buy 2 yards. The silk fabric is apparently "designer" fabric, so it was a whopping $5/yard. I'LL TAKE IT!!!! I bought two yards because I could foresee myself ruining half of it during my attempt to make a silk blouse. I've been wanting to make a silk blouse for months, but of course never wanted to pay "silk" prices for silk fabric so I was really, really happy! By the way, the selvedge on the silk fabric says "Rozae Nichols for Angel Textiles". So, yes, apparently it is designer fabric.
The following day I went to Jo-anns to take advantage of the 5 for $5 Simplicity Patterns sale. I picked up a Men's vest pattern (my husband has been bugging me to make him a vest like the one worn by Walton Goggins in 'Justified') and a clutch pattern (because why not). My three favorite scores are these patterns:
yes, I totally spent $1 so I wouldn't have to draft my own peplum pattern.
The vintage reproduction pattern (Simplicity 1692) is actually not in my size, but I figured maybe I could grade one in my size based on the larger sizes (or I could use this as a giveaway in the future when I actually have a readership. Ha!). A lady at Jo-anns saw me holding this pattern and said she has it and that it's really cute. She also added that it's not as easy as it looks and that she had her mother finish it. Um, ok, thanks. The other retro pattern (Simplicity 2154) is the one I decided to use for the silk blouse, even though the pattern doesn't recommend using silk. I saw this pattern somewhere on the interwebs, but I can't for the life of me remember which blogger mentioned it.
All in all, a pretty successful sewing shopping weekend! Now I can finally be one of those people who can claim they made a top for $1!
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