Spring Fabric Markets

Instead of sewing, I went to the market today. My mojo has taken a beating because I had to alter the boy's pants; DS was positively swimming in them. My mojo doesn't take well to altering/repairs, whether in RTW or homesewn garments!

So, instead of starting on my blue SWALP, I've been buying more blue fabrics to add to my SWALP fabric pile. They won't all get sewn up this spring, but it sure is fun looking at them!

Top to bottom:

A silk twill (the first I've come across that isn't a tie print); two dotted poplins (that might become part of the lining of a trenchcoat I'd like to make but realistically won't until fall); a smooth firm cotton (that might become the trenchcoat shell); and some soft denim (for more last-minute kiddie pants)!

Some cute cotton prints (can't completely resist although the fabric cupboard is stuffed with cotton prints):

Buttons (from top left) for the planned SWALP jacket, the trenchcoat and the SWALP blouses:

I'd like to start on a blouse next. Trena remarked it would be a nice change from coats and jackets, and I think she is right. (Besides, who wants to contradict the Queen of Cute Blouses, aka The Slapdash Sewist?)

Hopefully my SWALP won't fall victim to overplanning, since I've been thinking about it for a while!

Thoughts on coats

I bought this fabric for, oh, not pennies, but really cheap at a fabric market last year (I know, don't hate me!). It's a border print, shown folded in half; the other half is solid cream. It was intented to be a coat from the beginning, but I did not have the confidence or stamina at that point to make one.

So the fabric went into the stash, or "collection", as Carolyn calls it, which may be a better word, because a collection is enjoyed whether it is useful or not, and I certainly enjoy having beautiful fabrics even if I don't get around to sewing them for quite some time.

At this point, I have the confidence, and if I don't have the skill I know enough resources to look everything up (and then I have you, my sounding board and encyclopedia all in one!)

I'm just not sure whether I have the stamina. Now this is the first day of September, another glorious late summer day (and I'm sitting here thinking about coats - go figure!). Enough time to finish a coat at leisure and have some winter left to wear it. It's just that I'm not very good at repetitive tasks. That incudes looking at and handling the same unfinshed garment for too long. What to do?

All this doesn't deter me from considering patterns, of course. I really like Burda 9/2009 no. 102. It fits my requirements of a short coat (covering hips but not knees), and of corse I love the folklore/vintage vibe. But it's a three-and-a-half-dots pattern. Ouch! And I'm not sure whether the hidden folds would go well with a border print such as mine. Anyone interested to weigh in?

So how about it? Should I make a coat? Is anybody else planning one? I know there was a coat sew-along last year; too bad I'm late for that!

Fabric loot

As per Gwen's request, here's yesterday's stash addition:



Clockwise from upper left:

• Cream cotton eyelet
• Olive wool knit (wrong season, but I hardly ever find wool knit, and this is my color!) with print knit (probably rayon) on top
• Pink cotton with tiny white dots, brown cotton with small pink dots, pink rayon knit, striped cotton knit and Kitty appliqué (all of this for DD, obviously, who was adamant about having no less than these fabrics!)
• Blue denim

Also, light green grosgrain ribbon and striped ribbon to go with the denim, probably. The light green is for my Chanel-style jacket. It's the right color; now I'm just worried it might look boring. I also saw what I think from Lindsay's and Katherine's descriptions must be Petersham ribbon, but not in the right colors (the vendor, being Dutch, also didn't know the German word for it!).

Last, The Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric panel. I have a first birthday party coming up, and will make something from (part of) it. A pillow? Or a wall hanging with pockets?

Fabric market and girls' pants

Today's Dutch fabric market was the real deal. I was rather disappointed last time. Had I imagined the low prices? The great selection? The designer prints as well as basics in all the colors of the rainbow?

To my relief, I hadn't. For the locals, the last market was in Bonn-Bad Godesberg; this one was in Hennef, and I heartily recommend it. I ended up buying lots of little girl prints, some cream eyelet and a graphic print knit for me, and lots of blue denim for more kids' pants. No, the jeans sewing bug has not bitten me. Yet. No pictures of the loot either, maybe later.

DS helped me choose; see his head buried in the fabric?

Gwen asked after my last fabric market post what the giant zippers are for. So today I dutifully went and asked the notions vendor! He said, "For lots of things. Some people put them in a dress, one zipper on each side." Ahem. Sounds a bit obvious to me, like those rip-off-pants male dancers (and, I recall, Britney Spears at one time) wear!

For Jenny and others who live in Germany and would like to know more about the available fabric sources, here and here are links to the sites with fabric market dates and locations. I only know of these two firms that organize(Dutch-German) fabric markets.

I also whipped up another pair of pants for DD.

No side seams, no zipper, no applications. Just a few pockets for pretties (and for collecting a three year old's necessary odds and ends).

Fabric from last year's market, left over after a skirt-sewing session with DH's nieces. Maroschka border by Farbenmix.

It passed the swing test!

Dutch fabric markets

Sunday afternoon, we went to the fabric market. DH and the kids went for ice cream, I went for fabric. Luckily, fabric markets are usually held in the town squares, where there are ice cream cafés nearby!




I was a little disappointed. Having mentioned the fabric markets before, I wanted to bring you really nice pictures that capture all the fabric goodness. Not quite.





One, I had the impression there wasn't as much fabric goodness at this market than at other markets I've been to. This might have something to do with the fact that I went with a budget in mind and had hoped to find good deals on staples such as cotton prints, denim, linen, jerseys. Lots and lots of prints in cotton and jersey, yes, at a price, but very few solids and none of the fabric market stalls I'd met elsewhere, with jerseys in all colors of the rainbow (and cottons, linens, woollens...) at cut-rate prices.

Second, it was hard to capture the size and atmosphere of the place in photos without climbing a tree (there were none) (not that I would have)... or being a really good photographer, I guess.

Still, these fabric markets are a great invention, Dutch as far as I know (roughly 2/3 of the dealers are from Holland), and I know of regions in Germany that don't have them and envy us greatly! I'd guess that there are about 30-40 stalls in all, between 2 and 10 yards long, and packed with fabric. A lot of these are "trendy" prints and brands, and I did not see competitive prices here - they were all more or less the same.

A sight to behold: the big notions stall. You almost get vertigo trying to tell which side is up in there!

Oh, and these are my fabric market stash additions.