Vogue Fabrics Here We Come: The Patternreview Invasion

I feel like a little kid who knows she's going to the Museum of Science & Industry tomorrow on a field trip. I can hardly sleep. In my mind I'm already on the bus, up the stairs, inside the museum, aching to see all my favorite exhibits yet again, especially the mammoth train set with a miniature Chicago. That's precisely how I feel about visiting Vogue tomorrow. I go to this store at least twice a week, Monday nights for the free sewing demo and some other random day to pick up notions and/or fabric. But tomorrow night is different, way different. Deepika, founder of Patternreview, will be there. Other sewers who I only know from their thumbnail-sized photos will be there. Usually we just comment on each other projects online: "Nice job. Where did you get that fabric???" and "Wow. That looks like something you could buy in a store." or "I hate this pattern. I'm tossing it out NOW." For the first time, I will be able to put a face with a name (or handle) on Patternreview. I'd like to think we won't have any of that "first date" awkwardness: "Uh, what do you do?" or "Why do you sew?" or "Did you make that?" I imagine we will just chatter away like we known each all our Internet lives, or at least as long as we've been on Patternreview (three or so years for me....). I look forward to seeing what you've sewed, what you plan to sew. It kind tickles my funny bone (which is located right by my navel) that I will be part of the group tour that gets a private tour of Vogue Fabrics when I know the store layout better than my own storage unit. I'm actually quite curious about where the store employees will take us. I'm guessing we're not going upstairs to the break room, which I went for the first time in my short life last year after I got stung by a wasp in the store's classroom. I am certain we'll get to see the main room where there are all sorts of fabulous deals on knits and cottons, like what you see above. That lovely lusciously soft and drapy pink print is $1.99 a yard. It's on the Spring Knits table (or it was on Saturday, they tend to move around fabrics a lot in this store) right across from the cutting table if you need some guidance. I've been waiting long enough to buy this, but I keep putting it off. I see it as a wrap dress or as Valerie's top. You, however, could benefit from my buyer's reluctance and snap it all up.

Next up: the Silk Room, so named for all those fabrics there created by silkworms. Now there's other stuff besides the silks, like the Soft Touch Jersey (above), which as you can see by the neon orange sign is on sale. The assymetrical skirts I've made came from this fabric. The selection's a bit picked over now, so all the incredibly vibrant hues are gone, but there's still plenty of other likeable stuff. I've thought about picking up a yard or so for a beige full-length slip trimmed with matching stretch lace. Let me know if you need help finding these jerseys, I'm not above clambering on bolts of fabric like a scene out of a Jackie Chan action movie. Wait! I could pretend that these are logs in a water, and spin them as I walk across them, and do my best not to fall to the ground (although I much rather fall into the water, but this isn't physically possible inside Vogue.)

Also in the Silk Room are these big bold OFK (One oF Kind) jersey knits, priced at $8.99 a yard. I especially like this one with its grand geo print and incredible color combo: Orange! White! Beige! This is a very "Look at Me Now!" print that I could see as a totally tubular, ankle-grazing summer dress much like the one Adriana made. This is across from a cutting table toward the back of the room, right by the exit (not that's where you want to go, I'm just telling you). Again, I will happily show you the way, even help you bring the bolt over to the cash register. I will try my best not to hit you in the head or in the rump with it. I must say I'm a bumbling shopper, given to tripping on my own hem, and hitting myself in the noggin with fabric. You see why Vogue Fabrics likes me so much? By the time I actually get about credit card out, my head is spinning and I can't remember what I've gotten, so I actually end up getting more. Now you know why closet is bulging with fabrics, most of it from Vogue.

Back to the tour. Beyond the Silk Room is the Notions Room, where we're all meeting. If you need a copy of Burda, maybe there'll be a copy of one there. There wasn't on Saturday. But as we all know in the wonderful world of sewing, tomorrow is another day with all sorts of surprises (mostly good!) including overnight deliveries of great sewing magazines such as Burda World of Fashion.

If you're sew inclined, there's the Home Decorating Fabrics section just beyond the Notions Room. I almost never go there, in fact the employees in that part tell me, "Aren't you in the wrong part of the store?" I mean why sew clothes for unappreciative pieces of furniture when you could make dresses, skirts and tops for humans who will most certainly appreciate what you do! Take that unappreciative window!

That's all for now, folks. See you tomorrow. Me? I plan to wear another version of Vogue 2977, stitched up in a golden Liz Claiborne knit bought you-know-where.