A Sew-aholic's Mothers' Day Weekend

So … the original Mothers' Day plan was to meet my daughter and her future Mother-in-Law in Northern Virginia where we would do wedding prep stuff.  I made the first wedding dress muslin and we planned to go to G-Street Fabrics in Falls Church, VA to look at wedding fabrics.  It would have been a great Mothers Day. That plan changed when I remembered I bought a ticket to see Motown, The Musical* in NYC on Saturday.  The bus trip included about two and a half hours to explore Manhattan and that could only mean one thing to a sew-aholic:  FABRIC SHOPPING!   I had an agenda.  I was working on the black crepe dress for my sister's 40th Birthday Bash.  The dress was looking too somber, not at all like a party dress, so  I decided to go another way.  I decided to make a skirt with the leftover black crepe (I'd bought 6 yards) and make a shiny silver satin top to wear with it and I'd buy the shiny silver satin fabric while I was in NY.  Since I was with my non-sewing cousin, I planned to visit only B & J Fabrics and Mood Fabrics.

But, there was a problem.  The chartered bus that was supposed to take us to NYC left 90 minutes late, which left very little time to drag my non-sewing cousin to fabric stores once we arrived.  Since we had less time to shop, we went only to B & J.  This was my first time there and I LOVED it!  Brightly lit and so much fabric!  But I didn't have time to browse.  (I MUST go back to that store!)  So … I rushed through B & J and made a rushed, impulsive purchase: a piece of silver/grey taffeta.  We got to our seats about 2 minutes before the curtain went up.

Silver/Grey Taffeta

It just so happened, Bryan Terrell Clark, who played Marvin Gaye in the show, said he attended the same church as the woman who organized the trip.  He came on the bus to say hello, sign autographs and take pictures.

Bryan and me

Traditionally, my daughter makes a big breakfast for me on Mothers' Day and gives me a mushy card that invariably makes me cry.   But this year, she was in VA and I was in PA.  (I still got the card and it still made me cry.)  I took a closer look at the taffeta and decided I didn't like it for a top - it had only slightly more pizzazz than the black crepe.  So I decided to spend Mothers' Day doing what I love -- shopping for fabric.  I tried to find the silver satin I originally wanted to buy either at Fleishman's Fabric, the only Fabric Row store open on Sunday, or JoMar.  I bought a piece of silver satin at JoMar, but I still wasn't totally satisfied. Since I didn't find exactly what I wanted, I ordered Silver Charmeuse  from Vogue Fabrics.

Silver Satin

But now I have about two yards of silver taffeta and a yard and a half of silver satin that I may never use.  (It might be time for a give-away!)

So, although my Mothers' Day weekend was not traditional in the Hallmark sense, it was a very enjoyable weekend.  I saw a great Broadway show; I discovered B & J Fabrics and I hugged a young, handsome and talented actor.  Not a bad Mothers' Day.



*By the way, Emilio Sosa, of Project Runway did the costumes for the show.