AWESOME STOPS IN NORTHERN CAL.

Lacis didn't have just one of anything; there were mind boggling supplies and vintage examples of everything!! Bobbin lace,tatting, millinery, corsets, purses, gloves, silk ribbons, books, notions, knitting, patterns, etc., etc., etc. Seriously plan on spending at least one hour in this store if you like any almost extinct hand sewing skills.

Lacis Musuem of Lace and Textiles

My well informed friend Meredith told me if I was going to Berkeley I should check out "Lacis" on the corner of Adelaine and Abbey (??). This place is aptly called a store AND a museum. Upon entering it took about 5 minutes just to absorb the greatness of it all...

Another fabric store find!

Two enthusiastic thumbs up for Stone Mountain & Daughters Fine Fabric store in Berkeley.

Everywhere I looked was a great idea just waiting to be purchased and created. I limited myself to a great knit print and a great yarn dyed woven with a unique selvedge that can be used for a hem. I broke my rule and purchased these fabrics even though I have about 4 projects cut and waiting to be sewn at home :(

The next day I was in Berkeley looking for Stonemountain Daughter fabric store on Shattuck Ave. This store knocked my socks off!! Great selection of fabrics, books, yarns, notions, you name it and they probably have it.

IT'S CRAZY THESE ARE FROM THE 1800s

You really have to see these quilts to believe how each one was so beautiful and unique.

SAN JOSE QUILT & TEXTILE MUSEUM

Okay, I'd been driving for like 6 hours to get here so I'm a little goofy in this photo. But, it was definitley worth the stop.

The San Jose Quilt Museum was the first stop on a three day journey. The Crazy Quilt exhibit was fantastic!! The quilts were from the 1880s and the craftmanship was unbelievable. What women accomplished before TV and chaos is remarkable.

Hometown, Downtown Fashions

Joseph Morris hand dyes and sews all his creations. He has a definite style that I would define as laid back, California sexy. Joseph is planning more independent fashion events and I'll be attending for sure.

Here I am with Joseph Morris last Friday night at his Night&Day Fashion show in San Clemente. Joseph is a fashion graduate from Saddleback and has had some successful forays into the fashion industry. I really enjoyed all the details of his show and his outstanding garments.

New Spot for Fabric Maniacs

Well if you can't get enough of fabulous fabrics word on the street is that there's a new store in town...

It's called the Sewing Party and it's located in Laguna Hills in an industrial area. A fellow fabric enthusiast emailed me the info and the web site for the store which is to your right under "New Store in OC". She actually visited the store and said it was aimed at quilters, but lots of cute fabrics (probably mainly cottons I would imagine). She also said there are lots of great project ideas (can anyone say holidays...)

The store has an 'open sew night' when you bring your machine and projects and sew!
Sounds like a fun concept and when I visit the store myself I'll add any info. In the meantime check out their website.

I visited the Sewing Party store on Wednesday, Oct 28, after class and is it ever cute! LOTS and LOTS of great cotton print fabrics at $9 a yard. In the back room LOTS of fabric at half price.
The store is primarily oriented towards quilters but there are LOTS of purse patterns and a nice selection of purse handles.
I would definitely rate this store worth a visit. It is actually in the location of the old Yarn Lady store off Commerce behind furniture row in Lake Forest.

MOVIE MAGIC

On a sweltering hot afternoon I treated myself to the afternoon showing of September Issue. I had read great reviews about the movie which documents the creation of the September 2007 issue of Vogue, their largest issue ever at 104 pages. The movie primarily follows editor Ann Wintour as she makes the decisions on the content of each page. There are fashion shows in Bryant Park and Paris, photo shoots with Grace Coddington, cover shoot with Sienna Miller in Rome, collaborations with designers, and lots of fashion, fashion, fashion.
On a scale of 1-10 I would rate this movie a 12! Even my friend who is not obsessed with fashion throughly enjoyed the movie.

LOS ANGELES LE$$ONS

So, merrily i blog along...and this weekend I spent ($$) in LA at in the Fabric district. Three students and myself visited fabric stores in downtown LA. Unfortunately I took no photos but I will attempt to re-create the trip verbally. First we headed to Mood Fabrics on West Pico ( see links at side bar ). The prices are high ( average $14 to $45 a yard ), but the selection is stupendous and the fabrics are gorgeous. I bought 3 yards of a knit at $8 per yard and a student fell in love with a sheer navy blue silk chiffon for $18 a yard and bought 1 and 1/4 yards. Unfortunately they were out of their super cool canvas bags:(
Next stop was the Scholarship store at Fashion Institute of Design ( FIDM ) at 9th and Grand. You never know what you will find in their very small fabric section, but it is $1 a yard and that's worth checking out!! I bought a GREAT black & white tweed and a brown mini polka dot. The silk girl bought 3 yards of another sheer and other student bought 3 yards of a knit. The best buy was a bejeweled neck piece with at least a dozen stitched on jewels for 50 cents!! Each jewel would cost that much at a jewelry supply. Also, I learnt something VERY important and that is that parking on Saturdays is FREE in the FIDM underground parking ( I learnt this after I had put about $5 in a meter ).
After FIDM we drove the couple blocks to the fabric district on Maple and 9th. We went straight to Michael Levines on Maple and I bought leather scraps for some gloves I hope to make, but the students needed home dec fabric so I told them to go across the street to the Michael Levine home dec store. I was very nervous when I crossed the street and could not find them in the store. I noticed there was another door with signage stating fabric sale upstairs. Upstairs I found my students AND a room FULL of boxes of every kind on fabric for $2 a pound! Yes, the fabric was sold by weight! Two of the students purchased fabric and must have gotten 5 yards for $2 ( I think you had to buy a pound at least ). We then went downstairs to the regular store where two of the students purchased the fabric for their first project.
And the day was over. We were all exhausted and ready to head home behind the orange curtain. But I learnt two important things that day;#1 free parking at FIDM and #2 a fabric store that sells by the pound! I can't wait to go back to LA:)

My Summer Singer Sewing Swimsuit Contest ( say that 5 times fast... )

So this summer I was surfing cyberspace when I stumbled upon a contest at threadbangers.com where the first 10 entries won a signed original poster that was so cool!! My daughter and I quickly compiled an entry and I won! So I surfed sewing sites for more contests and the most legitimate one was by Singer for a bathing suit coverup. Ironically that was what I had just created for the threadbanger contest. The swimsuit coverup contest was supposed to end July 23 so I strategically sent my entries on July 20 so no one would copy my fabulous ideas :) Well, there were 123 entries on July 23 and the powers that be decided to extend the contest for 2 more weeks! There were over 300 entries by the time the contest concluded and sadly I did not win...anything. But it was a fun experience and I just entered another contest today (!) and you guessed it, I'm entering my swimsuit cover up AGAIN because the contest is a Reuse, Remake, Restyle theme. My coverup is made from a recycled tshirt!

So check out my styling, recycled swimsuit coverup...

Welcome to What Wows me in my World

August 4th, 2009

Today is the first day of the rest of my blog. I took a class on social networking and we each created a blog, this is mine. One woman shared the blog she had already created, but it was very serious and full of important information. I am way too whimsical to take myself too seriously. I spend most of my time daydreaming. I can even be looking right at you and actually be thinking about the shape of your cheekbones in relation to your chin and nose profile. Aside from sewing I am quite obsessed with faces.