Field Trip

I've almost finished the linen skirt. All I have left is to hem it and I have to do something with the inside-out-facing/waistband. I got that far and realized I was almost out of thread. I knew it would be really annoying to run out in the middle of hemming, so I have put off doing anything until I got some more thread, which I didn't manage to do until yesterday. There used to be a Hancock Fabrics a block away from my job, but it closed down just before I moved here. My life would be so much easier if I could just walk five minutes to a fabric store instead of taking a bus and walking half a mile to get some thread. But, it turns out the traveling is worth it.

There's a fabric store called Nancy's Sewing Basket in Upper Queen Anne, here in Seattle, and, oh my goodness, what a revelation it is after only ever going to Joann's and other chain fabric/craft stores. Almost all of the fabric there is for apparel, not quilting, and so much of it is so beautiful. If I were a rich man...beautiful silks, gorgeous shirtings, the woolens, oh the woolens. They had a bolt of Ralph Lauren 100% camel hair. (I have been in love with camel hair forever. In high school, I had a hand-me-down camel hair blend coat, from an aunt, which I adored, even though it was falling apart, and then when I was in college, just after I had bought a somewhat expensive winter coat, I found a camel hair coat at Macy's that I lusted after for months. I would pet it every time I came in. I've got a minor camel hair obsession.) I've read online reviews saying Nancy's is expensive. So, this bolt of camel hair at Nancy's: $75/yard. Is that expensive? I don't know. All I know is that I really wish I knew how to sew a coat and that I had lots of money. (OK. Just looked around the internet and found 100% camel hair at B. Black & Sons for $40/yard, but I don't know how the weights etc compare.) I saw a million other things that I would have bought if I had the money and could justify spending it given my weak sewing skills, but it was very inspiring. It was an aspirational shopping trip. They have a famous Ribbon Room that I didn't even tgo into because I started to feel like a suspicious character, skulking around the store, fondling the fabrics I couldn't buy. The other nice thing about Nancy's is that it's in a super-cute neighborhood, atop one of Seattle's myriad hills, near a beautiful looking meat market and some nice restaurants and coffee places, surrounded by adorable houses. If I were not broke, I would have gone broke buying all the things I wanted in those few blocks.

So that was my field trip. All I ended up buying was thread for the skirt, thread and buttons for the shirt I'm doing next, an embroidery hoop and some DMC floss (I have done a little cross-stitching in my day, and am now finding myself longing to embroider things. I started a little bird, from this free pattern, and my boyfriend saw me and kind of freaked out that I was embroidering. His mom's a big embroiderer, apparently.) I'm planning on going to the other local nice fabric store, Stitches, sometime in the near-future. I will report on that as well.

I think I may by a few yards of this Ralph Lauren camel-colored wool/cashmere blend to do something to temporarily sate my desire for the camel hair. It's not the same, and it will be the most expensive fabric that I've ever bought, and coat weather is just about gone, but I'm jonesing. I don't think I can help myself.