Friday, September 27, 2013

Wedding Shopping in NYC

It was time to shop for wedding dress fabric.  And where else to shop but the fabulous fabric stores in New York City?  I originally planned to shop alone because I had a singular purpose and I didn't want to be distracted.  This was not a social shopping trip.  But, I'm so glad I changed my mind and contacted Nancy K and she agreed to meet me.  We arrived at Penn Station within minutes of each other, had lunch and hit the stores!

Just a peek
The major feature of Lindsey's dress is lace and I needed wide yardage, which might have been difficult to find anywhere else but New York City.   I downloaded and printed a Garment District Shopping Guide from a few years ago.  The guide listed a store named Lace Star.   Perfect, right?  I googled Lace Star and discovered Lace Star was now Fabrics & Fabrics. (See more information here.) Nancy had Fabrics & Fabrics on her list as well, so we went there first.  What a fabulous place!!!   A phenomenal selection of special occasion fabrics.  An impressive selection of every other kind of fabric.  I originally planned to find what I needed at  B&J Fabrics, but we never made it there after visiting Fabrics & Fabrics.  I found 95% of what I needed for Lindsey's dress there.  The sales associate was extremely patient and helpful and I sought out the owner and told him what a gem she was.  Because I bought so much, the associate was able to be flexible on the prices and the dress came in under budget.

A better choice
Since I came in under budget, I could buy something for myself at Mood Designer Fabrics without guilt.  I'd changed my mind about the pastel satin fabric I bought for my MOB dress.  What was I thinking?  I'm not a pastel satin kind of person.   (I can use that satin to make a dress for Lindsey's next Marine Ball.)  I had shantung in mind when I first considered my MOB dress.  I found a dark teal iridescent silk shantung.   The iridescence gives the fabric a really dressy look and I think the color is more suitable for a mother of the bride.  I also bought a piece of denim from Mood.  I wanted to make a pair of colored jeans that seem to be the current style.  But, I didn't want to have the same buyer's remorse I had with the pastel satin, so I found a light blue denim with a little pink woven in to add color.
Denim with a touch of pink

This was an extremely satisfying shopping trip.  I found exactly what I needed for the wedding dress, I spent time with a good Sewing Buddy, I found a new favorite store and including the purchases for myself,  I stayed well within my allotted budget.  I doesn't get much better than that!

7 comments:

  1. I'm really enjoying the wedding dress process. (It's probably in my future for my darling Chunguita.)

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  2. Gorgeous fabrics, can't wait to see your garments.

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  3. Great choices, Lee. Can't wait to see the finished products.

    Ernestine

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  4. Just came back from the Garment District...didn't go to crazy. :-). I went with a group of about seven. Nice trip, nice weather. :-). This time, this trip was more purposeful and organized as I had specific patterns with me and purchased around those as opposed to the opposite. Nice fabric and good that you were able to share it with another sewing buddy. :-)

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  5. Oooh!!! You are doing great! Project managing it very nicely!!

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  6. I was happy that you called. It was a fun day.

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