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Should have known better!

post #1 of 12
3/10/10 at 10:12am
Thread Starter 
I sew and I've been running low on a few basic supplies so this morning I decided to go over to Ottawa Street ( it's where most of the fabric stores are in Hamilton although now they are slowly being replaced by antique shops but that's cool too) and I go into Fabricland.  I should know better than to think I will come out of the place with only what I went in for!  Well they were having a sale on patterns and I got some really nice ones that will help me use up my two big rubbermaids full of fabric and what do I go and do... yep... buy more fabric!!  So what should have been a $20 trip turned into a $80 trip but I will have some nice clothes out of it!   Good thing too.. my spring and summer wardrobe is in dire need of an update, and I've let it go seeing as I spend most of my time in uniforms!

Does anyone else here sew?
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post #2 of 12
3/10/10 at 11:16am
Yep, and I avoid Fabricland (and Lens Mills) like the plauge.  I can't afford to go and buy a spool of thread  'cause I know it'll cost me.  I can look around here and see a few bundled up, unfinished projects and imagine they are glaring at me accusingly lol. 

Ironically, it's uniforms that are on my current sewing hit-list.  I do embroidery as well as sewing (with a machine... too lazy and pressed for time to do it by hand) so I figured my new little kitchen deserves custom uniforms, and I should get to it.  It's on my list... soon... right after....


(oddly I live a wee bit west of you, just the other side of Brantford.  Small world, this)
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post #3 of 12
3/10/10 at 11:28am
Thread Starter 
My inlaws are scattered around the Woodstock area so we spend alot of time that way.  I love Len's Mill.. and that one I do avoid unless I know I have a good amount of free spending money!

I got an amazing deal on Sari cloth from an Indian clothing store that was in Jackson Square a few years ago.. it was $1/metre so of course I went for it!  I made a halter to out of some of it and I found this cute new look top pattern that I am going to make out of it and the rest will be turned into camis and pj bottoms for me and my daughter. 

I'm looking to make uniform pants.. I do like the premium uniforms pants but I am sure I could make a better fitting pant for me if I combined a scrubs pattern with a chef pants pattern.  (and for half the price if I shop right!)  

Do you ever go to Mary Maxim's?  I've never been but their catalouge is so tempting!
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post #4 of 12
3/10/10 at 12:06pm
1. I wish I knew about the Sari cloth sale (and am very glad I didn't)

2. We have the same idea re pants, I think.  Comfy, loose draping, but sturdy fitting and professional looking....  and I have to acommodate for a larger, more bulky me, now.  (Wrecked a leg and somehow my body decided to settle on a 'normal' weight 60lbs heavier than my previous 'normal' weight... sigh)  I'm finding it difficult to get a cut that looks as tidy as my former clothes did.

3. Mary Maxim's is only 8 minutes from my place.  I can't go there until after the busy season here is over and I have some coin to burn.  The place is EVIL!! lol  The cashiers there are customers of mine, and they taunt me horribly.
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post #5 of 12
3/10/10 at 2:32pm
You guys sound as bad as my wife. she just came back from Stiches (west) with a boat load of yarn and patterns for new sweaters, socks  and such....
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post #6 of 12
3/10/10 at 2:59pm
Thread Starter 
I stumbled upon the sari fabric and well jumped at it. 

This afternoon I was showing my daughter my latest spoils and she loved the red and black print that I chose for a sun dress for ME and she said... Can I have that for semi formal?..  I said no this is mine but if you like this I have something upstairs you will love and showed her an Oriental brocade fabric with a red background and black flowers and she instantly fell in love with it.  She wants the same style as my dress and that is fine... I think a visit to Woodstock to MIL will be in order for cutting the pattern as she is not an easy fit and I have to cross some sizes for her.  The new look patterns are good like the newer burda as they have all of the sizes and we can cut to fit. 

I've never been to Mary Maxim's but they know me at Micheals and the Len's Mill on Brockley here in Hamilton...
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post #7 of 12
3/10/10 at 3:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Gunnar I am just as bad with a wool sale.. and only the truly hooked with knitting and sewing would understand... 
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post #8 of 12
3/12/10 at 12:36am
I also sew and do embroidery by machine. I think most of us who love to cook have an addiction to another hobby too, it seems like the love of creating something from your stove somehow transfers to a need to create in other parts of our lives as well. I went fabric shopping tonight and really behaved myself, only got two remnants that are needed for a specific project that has to be completed this weekend. Hubby was with me and was shocked that I didn't get anything else, he kept asking "is that all you want/need?" he's used to me coming out with lots of bags but to tell the truth I already have a too big fabric stash so am trying to behave.
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post #9 of 12
3/12/10 at 2:44pm
Thread Starter 
It's hard to behave though when things are on sale and they look so nice!! One of the fruiters at work was telling be about Queen West in TO and the fabric shops there and you know I had completely forgotten about them.  So when the weather is a little nicer (maybe mid-April) I'm going to go to TO on oneof my days off by myself and just walk and shop on Queen.  
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post #10 of 12
3/13/10 at 1:59am
It does take an enormous amount of control for me to walk past the sales, but at this late stage in life I don't think I would even have the time to sew up all the fabric I already have here. When I was still living in NYC I was buying fabric every week and never getting to sew any of it up so I have years of accumulation. I guess it's a good think that I never went in for too trendy things and stuck mostly to classics as the stuff I have isn't out of date. Last year I donated over 100 yards of it to the local charity shop and that barely put a dent it the stash. This year I intend to finally get my sewing room and the fabric room organized and start to use it all up. I need to make new curtains for 14 windows and then some duvet covers and shams for two of the bedrooms that need to be re-done.........that should keep me busy for a while.
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post #11 of 12
3/16/10 at 5:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by leeniek View Post

One of the fruiters at work was telling be about Queen West in TO and the fabric shops there and you know I had completely forgotten about them.  So when the weather is a little nicer (maybe mid-April) I'm going to go to TO on oneof my days off by myself and just walk and shop on Queen.  
 

Ah, yes!  Queen street is hands-down my favourite place to go for fabrics.  Some of the stores are scary, like the fabric is going to fall at any moment and crush you, but you can find some amazing fabrics at awesome prices.
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post #12 of 12
3/16/10 at 6:20pm
Thread Starter 
Today I spent the day in TO with the kids and we met hubby at work and then had lunch with friends.. after that we went to Spadina/Chinatown/Kensington Market for shopping and we found some great deals.  I have to say though that some of the earrings they were selling in Kensington Market were the same ones on sale in the 80s when I worked near there!  I definitely need to do a solo trip to TO to do the fabric shops on Queen West and the shops in Chinatown and Kensington Market.  
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