Ah, it’s been two weeks down since our weekend
down in Los Angeles and I am just now posting about it!
Most of the reason is due to the fact that I did not take any photos! My bad! So I waited until others posted their photos so that I could snatch them!
[source: Miss Crayola Creepy]
We met at an outdoor cafe next to The Fabric Store. There were about 40 of us there so I did not have the opportunity to meet everyone. I am also a bit of an introvert as I suspect others are as well with sewing being largely a solitary pursuit. Mr. H came for lunch and then promptly left to scour some nearby record stores.
[source: Miss Crayola Creepy]
We had a pattern and fabric swap and everyone swooped in to get their hands on the goodies we all brought. I snatched this ivory lace (appears to be cotton) and this Simplicity Retro pattern that I don’t have. I was trying not to be a hoarder and to only grab patterns that were either in (or around) my size or something I needed. I did see a couple of patterns I would have liked on the other side of the table, but I wasn’t quick enough to grab them!
I also won the Jedediah pants pattern provided by Thread Theory in the giveaway!
Look at the goodies we got, too! Isn’t that button awesome?!
I’m not an LA Sewist as I live about 5 hours away. I’m a NorCal Sewist or a Sierra Sewist. Someone asked if we had a meetup in my neck of the woods where we would shop. Well…. your choices: Joann’s (30 miles west), Beverly’s (70 miles northwest) and Hancock’s (70 miles southwest). I don’t think a chain store is anyone’s idea of a great place to meet up!!!
[source: Miss Crayola Creepy]
This was my first sewing meet up and it sure was fun! I know there’s a group that meets up in SF at that would be fun to join sometime. Britex is always a good place to go! It would also be cool to set a NorCal one up in Santa Cruz and hang out at Hart’s. Santa Cruz is smaller and more accessible than LA or SF, plus in the middle of the state. Not sure how many sewists we have in Northern/Central California, but there certainly must be enough to rally around a meetup. When I’m out shopping in central Cal it often feels like my MIL and I are the only garment sewers. Everyone else seems to be buying fleece (WTF do they do with all of that?), quilting fabrics and the occasional prom/wedding fabric shopping. It’s rare for me notice anyone wearing, much less buying, me-made garments and fabrics in my area. It’s different when I’m at Britex or Stone Mountain & Daughter (Berkeley).
[source; Scavenger Hunt]
I also got to meet and shop with Melissa! How awesome is that?! It was so cool to meet and hang out with everyone down there. I think it’s pretty cool that Laurie, Erin and Kathy are exactly the same IRL as they are on their blogs. Everyone was super nice whom I met. Just wish I could have met and talked with everyone. Maybe next time?
[source: Miss Crayola Creepy]
Also, this was my first time at The Fabric Store. I had read some online reviews of it before the meet up and people were saying how it was like Britex. Well…. it’s not really like Britex as Britex is far more expensive and has more fabrics as well as some very high quality fabrics (four floors of them!). However. if you were to compare the quality of the same fabric at;l TFS as compared to Britex, it is similar, although TFS is cheaper. For instance, the silk/cotton fabric I purchased at $14/yd would probably be $25-$30/yd at Britex.
I came armed with a list of fabrics, colors and yardage amounts and was not planning to stray. As TFS hails from AU/NZ, I was hoping to score some wool for cardigans. They had so much wool jersey in all different colors, but of course I had pale yellow and kelly green on my list and they didn’t have either….. so I was good and did not stray off my list. However, I spotted this scattered polka dot silk/cotton upon arrival and it sat on my mind throughout my fabric perusing, so I got four yards of it, even though it was not on my list. 🙂 I didn’t do any other fabric shopping this trip, but plan to in the fall when we go down south for a longer trip.
And yes…. that is a new dress and I will take some photos of it this week and share the specifics with you. 🙂
After a fun-filled fabric day, Mr. H and I did some touristy things,
a highlight of which was going on the Warner Bros studio tour.
The outside of Merlotte’s (True Blood) and the Rammer Jammer (Hart of Dixie)
“New York”
The studio tour itself was pretty cool even though our tour guide was not very knowledgeable about films/shows other than The Big Bang Theory, Pretty Little Liars and Gilmore Girls…. all of which I am not a fan of. The WB movie memorabilia museum, however, was worth the price of admission. They are celebrating the 75th anniversary of Batman, so they had a lot of movie props out which was exciting. Mr. H (who has gone on this tour before) says that there were more props/costumes from various other films before the Batman exhibit, which may have been more interesting, but it was pretty cool seeing all of the Batman costumes, especially for someone like myself who is into costuming and fashion.
I just loved the draping on this dress.
Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman costume was also pretty cool. It was encased in a glass box, so not easy to take photos of.
I find the 89/90’s Batman costumes to be more interesting than the Christian Bale Batman.
My favorite part though, was the Harry Potter exhibit!!!!
Greeted by a Gringott’s goblin on the way in
Mrs. Umbridge!
Dementor!
Acromantula
Basilisk fang and Voldemort’s diary
Creepy Hermione
Dobby
Mr. Weasley
Professor Sprout
I got to wear the Sorting Hat, although Mr. H missed taking the photo when I was sitting on the stool…. I got GRYFFINDOR! I actually figured I’d be a Ravenclaw, but I guess the Sorting Hat sees what it sees!
I seem very nonplussed by the Dementor behind me
All in all it was a pretty fab weekend. Looking forward to visiting the Warner Bros Studio in Leavesdon for the ultimate Harry Potter experience!!!!!! 🙂
I hope you enjoyed!
Tanya, just had the most fantastic experience with The Fabric Store… by phone!
Being only about 3,000 miles away, but just as desperate as you are for decent fabric stores, I twigged to their doing phone orders. And I wanted a Papercut pattern or two without waiting 3 weeks. 🙂
Spoke with Jane (and Alicia briefly) and was sent great piccies of fabrics as I’d requested yesterday, then went over them to clarify colour, width, etc., today.
Jane was sooo patient with me, as we went back & forth describing colours. And of course I then remembered a few odds & ends of fabrics I also wanted to know about. You know how it is!
Now I’ve got a nice little (NOT!) packet of fabric, 2 Papercut patterns, and lots of free swatches of their current wools on the way.
Oh, and they have a Favourite Shopper card, too. Every time you spend $50 US or more, you get a stamp. When the card’s full, you get $50 of fabric. (I think that’s what she said – I wasn’t taking notes at that point.)
Word to the wise: Their shipping fee is $20 US, no matter what; bundle up those onesy-twosy
orders.
So, YES, they will do email & phone orders to anywhere.
Enjoying your “new” blog, as always ~
del xx
That’s awesome, Del!! That’s how Britex used to do it before they started their website. $20 seems like a lot for shipping, but it’s cheaper than the gas to drive down there! I regret not getting some merino wool jersey. Will look forward to seeing what you get!
What a great weekend. The Fabric Shop is my favourite – they have such yummy fabrics. The number of shopping bags I have around the house from that shop is a little crazy really! If you get a chance to buy some on your next visit, their merino is the best I have ever bought – Lightweight but warm. That silk/cotton …. can’t wait to see what you make with that.
I wish I would have bought some of that merino!! I was trying to stick to my list… the next time I will get some!
Oh my gosh! I would’ve had a blast at the Harry Potter exhibit. Fabric stores and HP all in one day..who could ask for anything more. Well, maybe ice cream.
Well, we didn’t do it all in one day, but there was some ice cream involved! 🙂
It was fun meeting you! FIY I’m totally an introvert too, as I’m sure you could tell. I think that’s why I blog- it’s an easier way for me to connect with people and share my love of sewing. That Harry Potter collection looks really cool! I just finished reading the whole series and watching all of the movies a few months ago- they’re so fun! Hopefully one of these days I’ll get up to the Bay Area and we can try for a Britex meetup!
It seems like many of us are introverts! But we can be extroverts online! 🙂
That’s cool that you’ve been reading the HP books! I’ve re-read them all about 5x now. It’s probably time to do it again. lol
I recognize some of those photos 😉 I had so much fun hanging out, just wish I got to talk to everyone a bit more. If there ever is a meetup in Santa Cruz please let me know. For sure I will go!
It sounds like it could be a really fun idea if we could get enough people interested!
I can’t believe you don’t like Gilmore Girls! Hart of Dixie is cut of the same cloth, but Gilmore Girls is in a zany Connecticut small town and focuses in on 3 different worlds: the privileged world of Chilton, the normal work-a-day problems in Stars Hollow, and the grandmother’s upper-crust Hartford. The clothes aren’t as interesting, but I love the body diversity and the portrayals of stable loving relationships (Sukie and Jackson, Emily and Richard).
I’ve never been further west than Idaho… California has been on my travel list for a while. Our honeymoon plan was to drive the PCH from San Diego to San Francisco, but such realities as time and budget got in the way and we stayed close to home. I’ll make it out there someday.
I never got into it when it was on, but I did want to watch it on Netflix, unfortunately it isn’t available to instant streaming yet, so I will wait….
Highway 1 is truly a must=see. When you come, make sure you head further north than SF as there is a lot to see in the north Bay. 🙂
If there’s a lending library nearby, you can probably take out the DVDs from there one at a time, for free. I am really annoyed that they don’t have Gilmore Girls available to stream, it is possibly my favorite show ever! I would probably watch a few episodes every night interspersed with things I find too intense for binge watching or late-night.
The original plan was the entire West Coast from Seattle to San Diego, but my husband brought it to my attention that that would be a little ambitious… So I scaled it down to just CA. I want to go everywhere and see everything, I’m jealous of people who have a travel component for work or have the funds to travel extensively.
I will watch GG someday and see what I think! 🙂
Seattle to San Diego is ambitious but doable if you have a lot of time. Most of 1 is curvy and takes a while to drive but is worth it. I’ve been up and down it from one end to another, but never in one swoop as it’s quite a distance!
Your trip sounds like a lot of fun! I didn’t get a chance to visit The Fabric Store before we moved out of SoCal, so I’m jealous. I love that you got a pic of the infamous Batman “nipple suit” on your tour!
Definitely check it out when you come back. I’m looking forward to shopping there again!
The meet up sounded great! I love the Fabric Store – I have been to the ones in Sydney and Melbourne. Great choices, but sometimes I don’t find their colours and fabrics too seasonal, except the merino jersey of course!
I can see why you love it! I wish you could order online, but it’s something special to visit. It would be cool if they opened one in SF!
Really enjoyed seeing this, looked like a great trip! Only one thing puzzled me, was your saying you are rather an introvert; you don’t come across that way online! But yes, thinking about sewing and other solitary activities, yes.
Yes, I’m an introvert and can be quite subdued in person, especially around strangers. I can be very outgoing online and when I’ve had to speak in front of crowds or mingle with people, but it’s something I have to force myself to do, unless of course I’ve had a bit to drunk. lol
Looks like fun! I love The Fabric Store here, it’s got some damn nice fabric for not too much money. And that silk-cotton is so nice, they had it here several months ago and Jo from Making It Well got some yardage, looking forward to seeing you two match 😀
They sure do have nice fabric at good prices! I’ll have to check out Jo’s and see what she makes. I have my pattern picked out, too, although I wasn’t sure what I would make of it until after I bought the fabric.