Brisbane meetup report and what I did on the way home

 I can't believe how much fun it was! The official report is here with links to the blogs of the attendees.

 

I am so glad I went. I might have to join Facebook so that I can look at the photographs ;(. 

Everyone else wore gorgeous dresses.Mine was a rather mature Simplicity 3447, selected by the teenage fashion panel as the best candidate for a lunch time meeting of strangers and previously virtual acquaintances, because I was too lazy to make myself a new frock last week. As due punishment for this lack of application it did not strike me until entering the hotel that I had failed to consider that a room full of sewing experts can spot a not-very-good invisible zip insertion from half a block away. Fortunately they are also too polite to mention this.

 I talked so much I could only fit in a couple of treats and had absolutely no time to eat any sandwiches (at least that is my excuse for going straight to dessert).  I have not been able to talk about sewing for 3+ hours very often before without causing severe boredom in the victim. It was a very stimulating conversation.

Thank you to Busy Lizzie In Brizzy  and the other ladies who organized the delicious and extra long high tea followed by a pattern and fabric swap.

I felt so stashbusting on my way there - I took a mere 10 metres of fabric and about a dozen patterns, thinking I didn't want to look as if I have excessive sewing supplies at home , but some people had suitcases full to put on the table, so clearly acquiring sufficient goods, not all of which make the cut, is a crucial part of this hobby . My lips are sealed about how much was in the same suitcases after the acquisition phase.

I had intended to come home without any treasures, but guess what?

Just under 4 metres, so not too bad for the fabric and pattern diet. I have been wanting that Jasmine pattern for such a long time......I could only resist it when it wasn't in front of me.
I promise to make them up straight away (fingers crossed).

Having taken a day off work so that I didn't have to drive home after lolling about on a Sunday afternoon in Brisbane drinking champagne.(I have such a hard life), naturally I had to visit Packer tannery at Narangba on the way home on Monday, as it is not open on the weekends.

 Leather definitely does not count as fabric for fabric dieting purposes.

Honestly, that will be a HotPatterns Nomad Hobo bag by the weekend. I am not delusional at all.

Desert Island Sewing trousers Burda 04-2009-118 + bag

Once upon a time a few months ago I announced a self inflicted plan of sewing up all my Scruffy Badger inspired desert island patterns in the next 12 months.

 You might think I have actually been transported to a desert island, given my recent lack of internet presence, but this is not the case. I have in fact, been torn away from my sewing machine on multiple occasions in the last few months, and have somehow not managed to blog about what I have sewn, but am still thinking of this plan at odd moments.

Naturally, there has been some construction going on- after all, I still consider myself sane and reasonably even-tempered, things that might not be the case if I had nothing to make.

Here are my desert island jean-trousers, Burda World of Fashion Magazine 04-2009-118



The fabric is extremely cool. It is denim, and linen-hemp, and both soft to touch yet crisp looking. I had been stashing in a "what fabulous garment can I make from this amazing fabric" fashion for about 3 years after a fortuitous appearance on Michael's Fabrics website. A trip to chilly variably temperate Melbourne in October was the occasion for its use. (I am just a tad behind on my blogging)
As this is my TNT trouser pattern, I have little to report on the construction, other than the very sad loss of my adjusted calico pattern pieces. I had to readjust from the original tracing!!! This was not such a major project as the first time I did it, but still caused some muttering.
I loved these trousers for Melbourne. They were not-too-cool, not-too-hot and were  surprisingly free from any nasty crushing with wear. The grey tones of the fabric went with lots of tops, and my deep purple rain jacket (vital for Melbourne), and looked a bit more smart than regular jeans IMO.  I had added nice deep front pockets, so useful when out all day, and used these as a front stay, which keeps them looking shapely after sitting for too long.
However, the denim was surprisingly lacking in robustness.
This is what the inner leg of the jeans looked like after a mere week of second daily wash and wear.



It might have been due to my choice of transport during the week of my conference.



Fortunately this bike hire scheme was great fun - almost worth sewing another pair of trouser jeans.....maybe for next time I visit Melbourne.

I had already used up the very last of the hemp denim - this is from the free pattern soho slouch tote I made a week too early for the virtual bag making event at Stitcher's Guild , .



 It seems to be lasting quite nicely - maybe being reversible and lined with thick embroidered linen helps - but I plan to write about this bag later if I ever get around to my leather version, and can report back on the denim properties then.

Stashbusting statistics about 2.3 metres of linen-hemp denim, 2010 and 1 recycled dress.
Melbourne souvenir fabric purchased
Alannah Hill outlet shop, Brunswick
3 metres of frivolous silk chiffon and assorted trimmings



hmmm - fortunately the liberty blouse (2m stashbuting) went to Melbourne too, so I am still ahead in my personal fabric accounting system ;).

Exercises in supporting or depressing the sewing mojo - trouser jeans

Thank you for your kind comments about my blogging absence. Thank you also for the kind words about my mojo, but unfortunately, it seems a fragile and feeble thing at the moment, rather than returning in good shape as would be preferable.
Here are some mojo killing depressing jeans that I finished prior to the trip.

I am not a jeans devotee ,but have to admit that they are a useful item of clothing for someone who tends to dress in order not to stand out in any way, and only wants to take carry on baggage.

I do not really want to talk about these jeans, they were dull and un-co-operative to sew due to the stiffness of the fabric combined with the vagaries of my figure, which tends more the shape admired in the 1880's than one that looks its best in jeans. The pattern is my adapted TNT trouser pattern from Burda 04-2009. I embroidered one leg, then got sick of it.

They look better than RTW jeans.

I am sewing a skirt next

Lets move on to mojo stimulating activity.
Here is my $22 worth of things from Hunter Valley junk shops. (My husband loves junk shops)

The singer binding foot and pattern tracing wheel are from Morpeth, where I did not buy an incomplete Singer buttonholer for $30, but the foot was only $1 - Did they know what it was? I am planning a bit of electrolysis this weekend to see if I can make these tools a little more useful.

The buttons and lace were from a lovely Old Wares shop in Branxton. This was well worth the visit, with a lot of vintage clothes, vintage fabric lengths, buttons and trims. The prices were what you would expect for someone trying to make a living from selling these things, except for the cotton lace in very good condition for 50c per metre which the lady said was a mistake, but sold to me for that price anyway. I hope she made a profit on my husband's purchases!

I have been on a fabric diet since mid January, which I could possibly blame for mojo depression, but had always planned to finish the diet during my trip to Sydney, as my daughter and I planned an exciting expedition to buy fabric for her self-designed high school graduation formal dress.
This dress is a very big deal to my daughter, particularly as the Yr 12 graduation dinners are highly interesting events to our country town, with all the attendees photographed red carpet style and all the photographs being published in a special issue of the local paper.
After being unable to find a suitable-to-my-daughter shade of green silk fabric in any of 9 internet shops I thought this would be a loooong day.
My plan was to start at Alexandria, then move on to the fabric district in Surrey Hills where there are 3 shops from which to choose - Greenfields, The Fabric Store and Tessuti.
This was my first visit to The Remnant Warehouse, both Gail and Sharon recommended it to me, and I am very grateful, as it is a terrific shop.

I found it easy to access via public transport, as it is only a few blocks from the train station.
(Train station is Green Square, not Alexandria,just to be confusing)
Fortunately for me, the shop is located right next door to an enormous tool shop, for the entertainment of accomanying husbands, no doubt. We thought this person was safely off kayaking for the day with his brother, but this fell through at the last minute. Much as I enjoy my husband's company, he is not my favourite companion for fabric shopping.
The Remnant Warehouse has two shops, one for dancewear, costumes and swimwear, and one for dress and quilting fabrics.

Here is my score from the swimwear shop, which I accidently entered first - 2 nylon/lycra pre cut 1 metre lengths at $9.95 per m, and the one my daughter fell in love with cut from a roll at $19.95 per metre. See all the lovely doo-dads useful clasps and things-I-might-want-one-day. It was probably just as well that I was on a strict time limit in this shop, there were some very interesting remnant and trim boxes.

Next door, there was a good display of dress fabrics, about half of the shop was quilting fabrics. There were silks in a reasonable range of weaves, weights and colours, scattered amongst other fabrics, but clearly labelled. Amazingly, my daughter found the exact colour she was after, in a medium heavy duchess silk.

I thought it was a real bargain at $16.95 per metre - so I bought myself some in red as well. It took us about 20 minutes.
The service was excellent and well informed - also beyond the call of duty. I had a few 3kg flat rate post bags with me, not being keen to carry fabric about all day, (and being quite keen to buy too much fabric to fit in my carry on), and packed one of these at the fabric counter. The shop is in an industrial area and I had not seen any post boxes, but before I could even ask where the closest one was, the saleslady offered to take my parcel to the business post centre, which not only saved me lugging it about, but had my parcel delivered interstate and rurally in only 2 days for no extra cost (normally $7 extra for this speed).
The only problem with this wild success was that I had no change of convincing anyone to visit the Surrey Hills shops with me ;(.
We walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge instead.

Merino wool jersey vs. Wicking polyester knit and some fabric acquisition

Several people asked me about, or commented on, the knit fabrics I used for the travel wardrobe, I hope I am answering these questions with this post.
Wicking polyester knit fabric
Sources
:My main source for this fabric is Stretchtex, although I have also bought some from Seattle Fabrics, it is available at The Rainshed, and I have also come across it occasionally at Spotlight.
Advantages:
1.Price The wicking polyester fabric I own was approximately 1/4 of the per metre cost of the wool jersey or silk jersey I can purchase (note, I bought a large amount of wicking polyester in 2006 and 2007 and am still using it up, the large purchase was one of the factors in how I purchased it so inexpensively) I am happy to use this fabric for childrens' technical clothing, which they may only wear a few times before outgrowing the garment. I am much more stingy with my use of the merino jersey.
2. Absorbtion: Wicking polyester does not absorb moisture readily. This makes it good for water sports (kayaking shirts, beach sun protection tops)

and for vigorous exercise in the heat. Merino knit tops absorb so much moisture that they sag and stretch when worn for these activities to the point of impracticality. Think wool swimming costumes!
Wash and wear: Wicking polyester can be washed in the machine with regular detergent and requires no blocking after washing. I line dry, but others dry these garments in a machine without problems, other than occasional shrinkage ( source, cycling group, not my stretchtex fabric)
Disadvantages
1.Construction: Wicking polyester can be difficult to sew. Two of the fabric colours I have used (dark blue and dark pink) are needle resistant. I have to use a new microtex needle for each garment (including overlocker and coverstitch) and still get skipped stitches.
2. Smell. Wicking polyester holds odour readily, develops its own peculiar odour as the fabric ages and breaks down, and becomes musty if not bone dry. At home I soak all wicking polyester garments, (including purchased cycling jerseys, so it is not just the stretchtex fabric) in an anti bacterial/anti fungal pre wash product called Canestan, or, at a pinch, Napisan, to combat this problem. This works but is an extra chore I do not need for non-exercise clothing. Wearing a garment for a few hours of sweaty exercisewhere it keeps you cool, then washing it immediately is fine, wearing a garment for 12 hours of walking about and then putting it in a dirty clothes bag in your suitcase because you have a plane to catch is another thing entirely.
Euuw.
3. Longevity. Wicking polyester stains easily, pills, breaks down under UV drying conditions and generally looks like a rag after a year or two. Hand washed merino jersey garments look good for much longer.
4. Texture This is personal taste, but I find the texture of wicking polyester slightly unpleasant and on occasion clammy. This holds for purchased garments as well as the stretchtex and seattle fabrics. In warm weather I also find it hotter to wear than thin merino jersey, and definitely hotter than silk jersey. I also find the same fabric less warm in cold weather than either of the natural fabrics.
Wool jersey
I am a big fan of merino wool jersey for normal life garments and for travel clothes. It is as easy to sew as any cotton or rayon or poly jersy of a similar weight, I find that it is warm in winter, not too hot in mildly warm weather compared to poly knit fabrics of a similar weight. I hand wash it and dry small light garments on the line, heavier garments lying flat on a towel. A light merino knit t shirt hand washed and rolled in a towel then hung up in a hotel bathroom dries just as quickly as a poly knit t shirt of a similar weight and size, and does not smell musty if packed slightly damp.
Disadvantages
1. Absorbtion:I do not like merino jersey for exercise clothes, due to perspiration in my hot climate. It sags and stretches. However, this makes it useful for baby soakers. An acquaintance of mine makes these for sale from merino jersey.
2. Moths and cockroaches :Wool jersey is subject to insect attach and requires careful storage where I live - all wool clothes are packed away when not in circulation, in an airtight container, which also contains a fabric square dampened with eucalyptus and lavender oils.
3.Texture :My son and husband find some of the wool jerseys itchy when worn next to the skin. I have not found any of them itchy so far.
4.Merino jersey is not cheap. Personally, I find it worth the price.
Sources
I have purchased wool jersey from an ebay seller in Sydney
, gaining a light weight t shirt type jersey,
from Gorgeous Fabrics, gaining a much thicker terry style knit

and from Michaels Fabrics, gaining a heavy smooth knit, of wonderful texture but a terrible progressive vertical shrinking habit.
Wool jersey internet descriptions do not appear to be consistent regarding weight, stretch nor texture.
More recently I have confined my wool jersey purchases to those where I can see and touch the fabric at Global Fabrics (New Zealand)/The Fabric Store (Australia). Although I have only been once each to the Sydney, Wellington and Dunedin branches, on each occasion this fabric shop chain appeared to stock most the weights and types of merino wool knit fabrics available in RTW, in lots of colours. There is a new Brisbane branch, which I have not yet visited,and the shops offer a mail service to rural customers, which I have not used, but as far as I know there are no internet sales.

Here is my merino haul from Dunedin, last week
The fabrics to the left are light t shirt weight jerseys, the blue one is slightly heavier, with a diagonal waffle pattern, and the far right is like a merino terry, backed with a knit nylon, which I plan to make into a lightweight hooded cardigan. These were all 30% off, except the nylon backed one which was $8NZ per metre instead of about $30NZ per metre as when I saw it in March, so I am pleased I had a very light bag of clothes with room for such purchases.

To make my fabric confession complete, here are the two rayon knits and the cotton print I also purchased at Global Fabrics,which is cleverly located close to several outdoors shops, three cycling shops and a sweets shop for the entertainment of husband and children. (46 minutes in Global Fabrics - my son was counting). I am very grateful that this shop is open on a Sunday.

Here is a boy's shirt portion of cotton Kiwiana (selected by the boy) and a heavy embroidered cotton remnant from this very nice fabric shop in Oamaru,

nearly opposite the museum with a SteamPunk display -11 minutes. Sigh, I prefer shopping without my children.

It was fortunate for my fabric shopping interests that I wore my boots out on the last official day of walking, otherwise I might have been tramping the Otago peninsula before our flight instead of bringing home goodies.

(Gail, I have posted about this dress previously here)
I throughly enjoyed my trip to New Zealand. Here is my last souvineer photograph.

Outback a bit

Last weekend, I did not sew, but went on a small camping trip with my family - for the first weekend of the spring school holidays.
I had intended to sew myself a pair of hiking trousers, the sort with zip off legs that turn into shorts, but alas, on Friday morning, they were still lacking half a leg and the waistband facing, and I had a last dash of work to do at the job that pays me, so no early morning sewing could be squeezed in. There went my cunning plan for a fabulous natural backdrop for my finished object post. Oh well.
Fortunately for my blog addiction, my travels unearthed another topic.
We stopped for lunch in Gayndah, and I not only trawled the op-shops, but found an old-fashioned drapery shop, which actually had dressmaking fabric as well as the inevitable quilting cottons. How exciting!



This particular shop was built in 1921, and has the shop-length cutting counter, fabrics and haberdashery behind it on shelves, and the claim to fame of a flying fox, from about 1890 (the previous shop burnt down, but the flying fox survives) that carries the cash/change to the back of the shop to a teller. My daughters really liked the flying fox, apparently it is a cool steam punk object.


I bought some thin, non-stretch denim here, possibly for another jeans attempt. There were fixed length offcuts, of many different types, at $14.65 per metre, very reasonable for denim compared to my other relatively local retail options.

My op-shop trawling was also successful.

I think the postal pattern might make a fun apron, and the dress has definite possiblities in a knit. There is not much of the seersucker, but it looks like pyjama bottoms to me. $1.50 the lot - definitely cheap entertainment.

This was about 40 minutes of my weekend. The majority of it was more like this.



Unfortunately there was a lot of burning off, and a dust storm, so all my photos of Cania Gorge are hazy. You will have to take my word for it that it looked amazing - just as well I had no new clothes to photograph!

Fabric shopping in Wellington, New Zealand, from a non-local perspective

I have suspected for a considerable length of time, that there is some excellent fabric shopping in New Zealand. Waves of envy must waft over Mary Nanna whenever she skites mentions in an off hand manner that she picked up something gorgeous for about 50c a metre. (There may be a touch of exaggeration here for the sake of a good story)

Naturally, I was expecting big things of my very brief trip to Wellington with my husband last month, even though it is a long way from Auckland. Some Googling did not help me much - I came up with Fabrics Direct, and insider seamstress knowledge gave me the address of Global Fabrics - both in walking distance from the hotel in which we were staying. We had no difficulty finding either of these shops. I love Google Maps.

Visit A: Fabrics Direct
97 Ghuznee Street



A warehouse type fabric shop, at the time of my visit the fabric was about 90% home dec, with a wide price and quality range. Clothes making fabric included synthetic knits, synthetic wovens, woollen wovens.
There were some vaguely tempting thin viscose knits, but the temptation was not sufficient at the price, NZ$18 per metre, so I left empty handed.

Visit B. Global Fabrics.
15 Garrett St

I have visited the Sydney branch of this chain, The Fabric Store, and was equally delighted with the Wellington shop.
This is another warehouse type fabric shop, but full of delectable fabrics, for clothes, and some extras - trims and some leather. No bargains, other than the 80cm remnant of printed silk satin at $12, but I bought a lot of fabric here, because when it is gorgeous fabric, that I can't buy locally, I do not care if it is a bargain or not. In fact I bought so much fabric that the sales lady pressed a loyalty card on me, despite my protests that I was foreign, and unlikely to be loyal. It was one of those cards that is stamped each time you spend a certain amount of money, and once you fill up the card, you get $50 worth of fabric for "free". She stamped the card quite a few times. I will have to return.....
It did feel a bit like a bargain because although the prices seemed very similar to the prices in Australia (non remnants $NZ18-$28 per metre was my purchase range), the Australian dollar was feeling 1.3 x as robust as the New Zealand dollar that week, so everything was 24% off for me, with no shipping!
There was some beautiful silk here, but I have so much silk in my stash, that I do not seem to sew, that I was able to refrain (mostly) from buying more. Instead I bought merino knits and cotton wovens.

Here are the majority of the merino knits - green marle jersey, teal rib knit, thin rust rib knit and a terry backed with a jersey type knit in grey and green.

My husband, was with me, and much much to my surprise, picked out some fabrics for himself. He usually stands glumly at the entrance to the shop, frequently looking at his watch. (Much as I do in cycling shops)
I have shown you his black wool t shirt a couple of posts ago, and here is his pale blue rib knit version.

(Same 1976 Knit Wit Pattern, and an ordinary neck binding after the coverstitch failed x3 due to the thickness of the fabric arguing with the binding attachment)
He did not sew the tops (and declined a modelling opportunity), but I think fabric acquisition is the thin edge of a sewing hobby. He He.
Although we live in a fairly hot place, I use these wintery fabrics often due to camping, visits to southerly climes (Blue Mountains New South Wales this month Brrrrrr) and our perceived cold weather locally when the temperature drops below 20 degrees Celcius. Tonight it is 21 degrees, and my son is wearing polar fleece. Unfortunately he says merino is itchy.



My husband also picked out the shirting fabric at the bottom of this photo. I am not feeling sufficiently grateful for his accompaniment to make him the work shirt he fancies just yet. There is some seersucker, printed voile, pink jacquard, and sateen here, all in cotton.

I thought I had finished fabric shopping, but on our wanderings back through town, spotted some stands of fabric down an arcade.


Which led to Visit C


Arthur Toye,
Grand Arcade
Willis St, Wellington

This was a more usual fabric shop to me - patterns, notions, dressmaking fabrics. There were lots of synthetic knits, novelty type fabrics, but better than your average Spotlight/Lincraft. I bought a very nice cotton batik print, on sale at $12 NZ per metre. Most of the fabrics were much more costly than this.



In Arthur Toye, there was an advertisement for sewing classes, giving this webpage as a source for other sewing supplies in the Wellington Area. (I didn't visit any of the other fabric shops on the list)

I really enjoyed fabric shopping in Wellington, where the fabric shopping is far better than in my local region, but obviously need to go shopping with Mary Nanna for bargains. She has rashly invited me to do this if I ever go to Auckland. Be warned Mary Nanna - I will get there one day!

Fabric acquisition

I know some people find fabric posts deadly dull. Be warned, this is one of those posts.
Personally I adore fabric posts, particularly my own, because buying fabric is one of life's great pleasures. The possiblities! The infusion of pleasure into a day otherwise spent doing tremendously boring but necessary work type things!
In true fabric addict fashion, I have been mentally encouraging my sewing of burdensome stash and scraps by promising myself some shiny new fabric to fill the lacunae.

Ta da! from Gardams Indooropilly
Silk chiffon remnants for scarves(do not ask me about my good intentions to balance my stash by not buying more silk) and some heavy lime green linen for a skirt (my monitor shows an icky khaki - ignore that).

My son picked out the red chiffon for me. He also told me that silk feels better than polyester. A boy after my own heart. I must make him some more boring pyjamas.

Louise at Gardams recognised my dress - from my blog. I found this a bit confronting. Did she like it - either the blog or the dress? I was too embarrassed to ask her. Instead I talked to her about making gloves. Gardams has stretch pleather in the most delicious subdued red. This is the recommended fabric on the Vogue glove pattern from which I plan to eventually copy Carolyn's elegant pair (although mine will be wrist length gloves - I am not sufficiently glamorous to carry off elbow length gloves). Louise kindly cut me a sample, so that I can delay the purchase and prevent it becoming stash before I get around to the gloves place in the queue.

Next my husband had planned to get a coffee. I cunningly led him towards the shopping centre a mere block or three away and snuck into Sckafs.
Again I did well in the remnant pile, with some novelty cotton for boxers, and also in the 20% off sale, where I bought a viscose-spandex striped knit at the instigation of daughter the second (I have noooo long sleeved t shirts, Mum) and an unusual weave of cotton which will be a work shirt for me.

I managed to avoid the silk here by asking my husband to fetch me once he had finished his coffee. He drank it very quickly IMO. I had fancied checking out the glitzy zippers. Sigh.
That was my sewing today. Pitiful really.
Here is some more fabric from Friday's mail (who needs a trip to Brisbane for fabric?). This fabric shows my excellent sewing luck, as it is from the generous prize by Brensan Studios for my random prize win in the Pattern review contest Endless Combinations challenge during December.

This fabric etc is 3/5ths Bren's prize, and 2/5ths my purchase. I decided that I should pay for the postage with my own money, instead of wasting the prize money on such non fabric things.



There are two colourways of a linen blend (that blue looking bit on my monitor is actually a deep teal) which might be autumn dresses, and some "South" Pacific rayon batik, which will definitely be a dress. That is North Pacific from here.
I rather fancy the soutache braid and the Asian buttons. I have no idea what I will do with them.

London #3

Dr. Nefarious

Claudine is correct. I would not really call Elizabeth nefarious. Dr. E. bears no resemblance to Dr. Nefarious (although that Dr bit is the same.....). The last post was very silly and I will not do it again. Apologies.

The next day, we had planned to visit Goldhawk Rd for a little fabric shopping, then in the afternoon go to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

If you want to know what is in particular shops on Goldhawk Rd, you should read Melissa's post, which is very detailed and helpful. We went in to all the shops and they are sort of blurred in my mind into a beautiful vision of wall to wall fabric. What was amazing to me, was that a lot of the fabric seemed to be natural fibres or blends (hardly any poly) and of very good quality. This was quite different to the Paris fabric district, where I felt that there were mountains of polyester to wade through (remember I only had a few hours fabric shopping there, so it is only an impression). What I found similar to Paris, was the 3 metre pre cut lengths in several shops, and the Muslim shoppers in traditional dress. Multicultralism seems to be good for fabric shopping. After seeing Goldhawk Rd, I was very glad that I had only spent 35 euros on fabric in France.

I thoroughly enjoyed the freedom resulting from my 9 month fabric diet, and my plan to ship a large box home at the end of the day. However, I did not spend all my fabric money. The fabric was very reasonably priced.
The best buys for me were cotton shirting fabric (really for my husband) at 3 pounds a metre, Liberty silk (charmeuse?) at 9 pounds and 12 pounds per metre, cotton lawn prints at 5 pounds a metre, and some wool-cashmere lightweight suiting at 9 pounds per metre, all seem of excellent quality. This was incredibly inexpensive compared to what I can buy in Australia. For example, the men's shirting fabric of this quality that I can get is all between $AUS25 and $30 per metre ( about 11-14 pounds), and the suiting would be more like $60 per metre.

The plain silks were not much less costly than Surrey Hills, and the plain linen was about the same. I was underwhelmed by most of the warm weather knits - mainly due to colour, but did find a heavier purple cotton knit that I liked. I was not tempted by the sweater weight knits,although they were fabulous, as I prefer hand knitting for the very few garments of this weight that I need.
I also bought some cotton lace at 4 pounds per metre, but this may not be of marvellous quality.

It was wonderful to shop with Hen, Ruthie and Elizabeth. Ruthie has a marvellous eye for colour. She not only can pick her own perfect colours, but is really good at spotting some treasure on the other side of the shop that will look fabulous on someone else (ie, Me!) I took full advantage of this skill. Elizabeth was our excellent guide and mentor as to which shops we should attend for the particular fabrics we were seeking. She also likes similar prints and designs as I, so I just picked over all her rejects for the colours I fancied (saved me climbing mountains of fabric to get a particular roll). Hen can spot the most beautiful fabric in a shop the minute she walks in, so there was plenty of lovely vicarious shopping for me in the silk section. (Hen was after fabric for an evening dress. We were not all looking for the same sort of fabrics, but I think I enjoyed other people's purchases almost as much as my own.



Do you notice our discrete tote bags? I forgot mine, but I used it the next day. It is very handy.

We were extremely thorough with our fabric shop visiting, and had only brief intervals for sustenance (kind Ruthie shouted us coffee). Fortunately there is also a bike shop on Goldhawk Rd, as when my husband met us for lunch, we had not quite finished shopping. In fact, we did not have time to visit the museum.
We took our purchases back to Elizabeth's for mutual admiration.

(This is Ruthie's photo)

There is one pile each, but mine is missing the fabric I bought for my husband, as that does not count (I have a strict fabric accounting system, with loopholes).

Then we went out for an excellent pub dinner. We tried hard not to talk about sewing, as there were husbands present. I think we did a reasonable job. Sewing friends are terrific.

Fabric shopping in Paris

In case someone comes across this post randomly, this is the first time I have been to Paris, and I do not speak French. This is the not-very-informed subjective opinion of an Australian sewing fanatic and fabric collector.

The chance to shop for fabric is something I look forward to with great anticipation every time I travel. I do some research. The research for this trip indicated that for a short visit, with limited shopping opportunities, heading to the fabric district at Montmarte would be my best bet for fabric hunting.

I read this thread at Stitcher's Guild with great interest.

A few months before I left, Isabelle posted this guide.

Even better, a few weeks before I left, Melissa of Fehr Trade posted about her trip. I was particularly grateful for this post, and all the links, as I planned to shop for fabric in London later in my travels, and did not want to buy things in France that would be less expensive or easier to obtain in Goldhawk Rd. Melissa gave a terrific summary of what she found that was hard to source in London.

Unfortunately for me, the only chance I had to shop in Paris, was Monday afternoon. I was a bit dispirited after reading Isabelle's post, which says that most of the shops in Montmarte are closed on Mondays, but I found by looking at shop web sites and Melissa's post that my misery was unwarranted, as many of the shops are open on Monday afternoons, although they are closed in the morning.

It was also unfortunate that my husband did a little too much research. He thought he might do some sightseeing nearby whilst I went shopping, but Montmarte has a bad reputation. Nearly every site he visited warned of pickpockets, and there were some nasty stories about muggings. Several sites advised that tourists stay away from this district in the evening.
When we cycled through Montmarte in the early morning, the very large amount of rubbish, the broken bottles lying about, and the strong odour of urine confirmed his pre- formed low opinion of the area. He decided that he would come shopping with me. This was very kind of him, but taking my husband fabric shopping, especially whilst he is suffering from a severe cold (not helped by continuing to cycle for several hours a day) was not my idea of the perfect expedition.

After he had a nap following the cycling, we caught the metro from just near the Arc de Triumph to Abbesses station. I had looked up this trip on the handy Paris public transport site.

We walked up the hill (following Google maps), and immediately saw dozens of fabric shops, and lots of junky tourist shops. The rubbish had all been cleared away, the streets washed, and the area was bustling with a local multicultural crowd and tourists. It did not feel at all unsafe. I was still careful with my money and my pockets!

I was a bit overwhelmed by the selection of shops. Being pushed for time (it was 3pm, and the shops mostly closed at 4 or 4.30) I was quite disciplined with the shops I entered. I decided to stick with the bigger shops, mainly because the fabric outside the smaller shops seemed to be mostly polyester and low-end cottons. I probably missed gems and bargains with this approach, but have no regrets.

Tissus Reine: There was a lovely selection of fabrics, well set out. I was looking for printed cottons or silks, maybe woollen fabric for trousers. I was tempted by the Liberty lawns, which worked out a little less expensive for me than the Liberty website price excluding postage (Australian $ exchange rate at the time) but decided that I would prefer to buy this in London for souvenir value. I did not buy anything here, finding the printed silks not the right colours for me, and the wools too heavy and wintery. I did not notice any bargains. Although there was a fabulous variety, most fabrics seemed to be of a similar cost to shopping in the fabric district in Surrey Hills, Sydney (Greenfields, the Fabric Place), with the exception of the Liberty, which is about $60AUS retail in Australia.

My husband fancied the linen tea towel fabric on the top floor. I assured him that I was not planning to use valuable fabric space for tea towels.

Next we went to Marche St Pierre Dreyfus.
There was a bigger selection of less expensive fabrics here, and again a good selection of silk prints, but not a great deal less in cost than in Surrey Hills. There were some interesting African prints, not very expensive, but I did not feel they were worth taking back, as they were more cheap and cheerful than high quality, and I was after low volume, high luxury or very-hard-to-get-at-home fabric, preferably a combination of all three.
There were some lovely linens of different weights and colours, and these were less expensive than in Australia, but I have a lot of linen, and was not tempted.
I did not find any silk prints in colours I fancied, but I did find some of the stretch lace that Melissa posted about. I really liked it too. Here is my piece, 1 metre, 4.95 euros. I am pretty sure it is poly, but there may be some rayon in there. It has a lovely hand. I also bought some super sized covered hooks and eyes, that I have seen on the garments of European seamstresses, but have not spotted at home.



I am grateful to Melissa's post yet again for describing this shop. I could see no indication that you needed to call for a staff member to come over to the fabric to cut it, nor that you needed pay on each floor for fabrics on that floor, but as Melissa describes, that is the practice. I would have embarrassed myself by picking up the roll and wandering around with it looking for a cutting table, then trying to walk up the stairs to the next floor before I had paid.

After this, we went to Les Coupons de St Pierre. (I had quickly scouted this before the main shop to make sure I didn't buy something at full price that was available for less). This shop was filled with huge jumbles of fabric in pre cut lengths, mostly 3m, with many Muslim women looking through the piles. 3m is apparently the length required for a traditional garment. The fabrics were segregated by fibre content - Polyesters, silks, cottons. It was quite crowded, and as I do not speak French, nor any Arabic languages, I am sure I did not respond correctly to some requests by the fellow fabric hunters. It all seemed very good natured, with people passing pieces of fabric back and forth - my impression was that the comments were in the nature of "Here's another bit of that chiffon you are holding on to" and the questions along the lines of "Are you looking for red prints or pink ?" but naturally, I am not sure about this. Maybe it was more like " That's my piece, you pusher-in-er " and "Why are you in my way?". I smiled a lot, and kept a firm grip on my selections.

I was very pleased with the price. The chiffon was 15 euros, and the the other piece, which seems a sort of loose woven jacquard, also 15 euros, both were marked 3m lengths, and are a generous cut. I have done a burn test, and they both seem to be silk, as described.



I was feeling a bit fatigued after my session at Le Coupons - it required concentration and speedy reflexes to get those pieces! My husband nobly agreed to some random wandering.
We came across a button shop called Dam Boutons (do not pull out the tubes to look at the buttons, it says so in 4 languages, but unfortunately the staff do not seem too keen to pull them down for you) and this trim shop, called Doration.



Here are my purchases.





They were very expensive, which always seems to be the case with trims, but do you see how tiny and easy to pack they are? I was particularly pleased with the lengthways striped petersham ribbon. Burda used this for a waistband on a chiffon dress last year, and I had been hunting for it fruitlessly on websites. There may be a petersham ribbon waistband dress in my future (or maybe my daughter's future)
Then my husband spied this yarn shop, Chatmoelle - 3 rue Charles-Nodier.
Hours Monday, 2pm-6.30 pm, Tuesday to Saturday 10.30- 6.30.

He was really being noble, as he drew my attention to it. All my cycling was paying off big time :). I had been looking for French yarn during our travels, and tried quite hard to find some in this shop too, but the only selection of French yarn was mohair. I have enough mohair, so bought some Spanish sock wool, and some Spanish 4ply cotton (again for socks) - I had been to Spain for 2 hours, after all!

This was a very pleasant flying visit. I started knitting some new socks when we got back to the hotel - Spanish ones. Knitting is pretty good when you can't sew.

Fabric shopping in Brisbane

My latest fabric shopping was not really in Brisbane, but in the inner suburbs. I have spent the last few days staying in Toowong, and took the opportunity to visit some shops, none of which I had been to previously.
Unfortunately, the photographs I took of the shops are refusing to download from my camera, so you will have to make do with fabric acquisition photos at the moment.
The first place on my list was Sckafs Fabric at Indooropilly. This shop advertises in Australian Sewing with Stitches, and I have wanted to check out their trim section for a long time.
I was surprised to find that this shop is right inside the Indooropilly shopping centre (mall), next to Myer. The rent must be horrendous. The shop is large, well stocked, with garment-suitable quilting cottons, lightweight suitings, and lots of special occasion fabrics, and the staff know what they are talking about. I was very gratified to have a staff member come up to me and compliment me on my Japanese print dress, especially as she commented favourably on all the things I liked most about it myself. However, when I asked about cotton and rayon knits, she laughed at me (nicely) apparently I will have to stick to the internet for these fabrics.
I bought 2 colourways of a 20%poly, 80% cotton (or something close to this) woven textured blouse fabric with an elastic thread woven through it. I appreciated the fabric content markings on every roll. Sckafs is not an inexpensive store, but I did not expect it to be. The fabric I bought was on sale, and $20 per metre, and is destined for a work blouse for my daughter, and a travel blouse for me. I also bought 2 ruffle trims, at $3 per metre and $5 per metre. These were a frivolous purchase. I was on the hunt for men's cotton shirting fabrics, but there was very little here (white only), and I did not buy any.

 

I had some trouble finding Gardams which is in the same suburb. It is in a warehouse type strip mall on Coonan Rd, and in my 2008 refedex this address appears in Oxley, instead of Indooropilly. I was a long time customer of Gardams in Adelaide St in the city, but had not yet been able to visit the shop at this new location, which is not terribly close to the station, particularly on a 35 degree C day. The shop is large, nicely laid out and the staff are very good, but I did not find men's shirting cotton here either. There was any colour I wanted, so long as I wanted chambray blue. I was a little disappointed, as in the Adelaide St shop, I had always been able to find one or two good quality, manly but not too boring shirting fabrics for my husband (the price was generally considerable).Instead I bought fabric for myself. I bought a liberty remnant, which I think I was lucky to get ($40 per metre instead of $60), a silk satin remnant ($30 for 90cm), and a made in Japan cotton print (a little stiff, but I like the print) at $24.80 per metre, including the 20% off for the January sale.

 

On the other side of Brisbane, I took a diversion. My husband found this leatherworking shop, Crispin's, at 28 Kedron Park Rd, Wooloowin as he wanted to make a kangaroo skin wallet. It is open to the public on Wednesdays, 9-4.30 and Thursdays, until midday. Most of their sales are by mailorder, and apparently they are working on a website at the moment. This is a terrific shop, it is full of all sorts of leather - sheep, pig, cow, kangaroo (small pieces only) ostrich knees, perch, crocodile, NZ possum, even cane toad. The colour range in the leathers is amazing. There are also hundreds of bucklets, rivets, eyelets, corners...
I have been thinking about making a leather jacket since NancyK made one for the 2008 SWAP, and despite not having this jacket on my radar when I walked into the shop, I walked out with 2 dark brown tanned sheepskins, at a total cost of $93.10. The leather is incredibly soft, and the very helpful lady staffing the shop gave me lots of tips on how to work with this. I am putting it away for a few months to mature.