Hitting the NYC Garment District with CleverGirl

I was going to start sewing NL6731. I've made this pattern before in other views but today I was going to try view D.

Two things have stopped me:
1. The fabric I was going to use is kind of wrinkly
2. The larger problem: I don't have the front pattern piece nor front band for view D in the envelope. Who knows where it went? Then I looked at the simplicity site, ebay and etsy, and no one is selling the pattern anymore. Hrm. Kind of puts the brakes on that idea! Does anyone want to give me the view D front pattern piece and front band for view D for NL6731??  or maybe swap it for another pattern I own?

So instead I will blog about the big news. On Friday Antoinette from CleverGirl and I went to the Garment District in NYC!
It's my first visit to the Garment District, and Antoinette's first visit to NYC ever.


First off, a HUGE thanks to Meg from ShopTheGarmentDistrict for her incredibly helpful annotated map, which included places to eat and specified which shops had bathrooms. It made the research prep for this trip insanely EASY!



We got on the bus right outside my house:


Antoinette was ready for the day with some comforting Dunkin' Donuts coffee, while waiting for the bus:

Antoinette wore her rooster shirt, based on S4179.
The bus could not have been any easier. About an hour and a half later, we were at Paron's:


I am still thinking about a piece of fabric that I didn't buy at Paron's. Navy embroidered cotton. Sigh.

I'm wearing NL6807 in view E.
As we walked over to Mood Fabrics, the Garment District button and needle caught our attention:

Flag too:


Finally we made it to Mood. It's on the third floor of an office building so no exterior shots; thankfully Meg's guide specified that info so we weren't left scratching our heads.

Although it's hard to see here, this piece of fabric was gorgeously pinned and draped:


Knits, my dream world:


Here we recreated this picture we took at Jomar in Philly last September:


Looking for the perfect striped knit:


Yes! This is my section:


Antoinette finds her dress form double:


And, in honor of Mary Nanna's aging rocker jacket, here is some aging rocker fabric:



Antoinette asked if I'd like to run through the aisles with a bolt of fabric while yelling "I need a yard and a half!" while she recorded it on her iphone.  I declined.

Mood is expensive, well organized, well staffed with friendly employees (including a bouncer), clearly labeled, clearly priced, and neat. We did not see Tim Gunn, nor did we see Swatch the dog (extra points to Antoinette for remembering the dog's name; I couldn't think of it--something with an S. Scrap? Stitch?)

Antoinette scored us both the Iconic Mood Fabric Shopping Bag as seen on many, many episodes of Project Runway, and on our shoulders the rest of the day.

I never realized this bag wasn't a flimsy paper bag:


Then it was time for lunch at the Macaron Cafe, as per Meg's guide:


This "macaron" business is new to me. I have heard of macaroons but only recently heard about macarons, and they are definitely distinct from each other:


In this shot you can see a pistachio macaron AND Meg's map


Here's a dark chocolate macaron:


Antoinette asked if this is the shot from the opening sequence of Project Runway; I'm not sure. I just wanted to take a picture of the sign that says "Fashion Ave".


Next up it was time to FINALLY finally finally go through a sewing blogger rite of passage. I have NO IDEA who started this tradition of having one's picture taken with Kashi at Metro Textiles, but it was a MUST DO.


Kashi's prices are low compared to Mood and his cuts are GENEROUS. My 1.5 yard cut was 1.875; my 3 yard cut was 3.75. And it was $21 TOTAL. You have to do some digging to find what you want though, and ask Kashi for the prices.

Then we hit a bunch of stores in rapid succession:

Spandex House, which really is filled with spandex knits, then SIL Thread with the MOST number of zippers I've ever seen in one place (this is just a sliver of the zipper collection):


Then Pacific Trimming, which I think was the best store of the day.


Elastic, elastic, elastic:

Did I mention elastic as I have NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE?

Grommets:

Tons of hardware there too.  Reasonable prices.

Then it was time for a stop at Baked By Melissa:

3 mini cupcakes for $3. They're not much bigger than the size of a quarter. The chocolate chip mint one was the best of this bunch:

Then we headed over to M+J Trimmings, which was much more expensive compared to Pacific Trimmings, though the store was bright, light and beautiful. AND it was the first shop of the day with carts so we could push our heavy purchases instead of lugging them around the store.
And it was after leaving M+J, folks, when the lightening and hail storm struck.

We were headed back to Pacific Trimmings to pick up a few more things when we had to take cover in an alcove.


I learned that hail hitting bare skin hurts!

We made a stop at Spandex World then got the bus back to home:


here are my purchases from the day:

The two pieces on the left are from Mood.  The argyle is the most expensive fabric I've ever purchased at $18 a yard.  On the right are two pieces from Metro Textiles.  The navy is actually completely fused with interfacing, all for $4 a yard.
Elastic from Pacific Trimmings.  Why yes, I did just order 105 yards of elastic from sewsassy.com but this elastic is different.  lol.  (the pink actually has silver in it, which you can't see in the pix).


And I bought serger cone thread at Pacific Trimmings for my BIG DEEP DARK HIDDEN SECRET (I was given a serger that I had never tried-til Friday night!  Antoinette showed me how to use it!  But more on that later):


Also that night we made pompoms using Antoinette's new pompom maker:



It was such a fun visit with Antoinette! Thank you for your visit AND for showing me how to use the serger!   I had a blast!