Saturday, November 8, 2014

PR Day 2014 in NYC: 13 Years of Pattern Review

the ESB at night
The Empire State Building last night

Even though I live 80 minutes by bus from NYC, it is still fun to play tourist, stay at a hotel, turn off the lights and look out at the Big Apple.

The hotel I stayed at last night was 2 blocks from the ESB, so I had to get thisclose to the window, point my phone way up high, and shoot.

me and the ESB at night
My selfie with the ESB.

Looking straight out the window, just the base of the ESB could be seen.

But I digress!

I was in the city for Pattern Review's 13th anniversary party.   I decided to take the day off, do some shopping first.

Tomasa and I met up for lunch, then hit up Kashi's.
Kashi, Me, Tomasa
Has Kashi ever taken a bad photo? I don't think so.

I don't know the name of the other guy who works at Kashi's, but Kashi was telling him "this picture will be on the internet tonight!"  Sorry Kashi, it was about a day later.  I didn't take a pic of my pile of fabric!

I bought my dress fabric at Kashi's at the end of sept with ATP (dress is yet to be blogged--it's my second version of V1351).
I wanted to get more of this fabric, but it's all sold out. Later at the PR party I found out it was Mimi from Shop the Garment District who bought the rest of it!
zipper pull selection at Botani
Zipper pull selection at Botani.

Next was a stop at Botani's. I had to go there after hearing about Botani twice in one week at the end of September.   Kenneth King, in his leather class at the ASE, said Botani is where you get your special hardware. In the same week, Peter bought rib knit at Botani. So I had to check it out.
three custom zippers from Botani
The girl with the ponytail (middle) is my favorite!

Back at PR weekend in 2013 in SF, I bought a slew of zipper with decorative pulls for 25 cents each. I've run out of the 7" ones and if anyone knows where I can get more ready made zippers with decorative pulls, please let me know! The zippers at Botani are built from the ground up, so they wound up averaging almost $10 each.
Tomasa choosing buttons at Botani
Tomasa choosing buttons to match her purple and gray stripe from Kashi

Then it was time to head to the Financial District for the McCall Pattern Company tour, led by Kathy Wiktour and Meg Carter.  It was really cute because Kathy remembered me from the ASE.  "Oh Kyle!  What are you doing here?" she wanted to know.

The McCall Pattern Company Tour
This is the best room on the tour--all the fabric swatches are organized along one wall and notions are organized on another wall.  .  They make sure the home consumer can purchase the fabrics and notions.

The McCall Pattern Company Tour
This room was pretty special too--it's the photography studio!
The McCall Pattern Company Tour
The Shoe Wall, and accessory area  (The Shoe Wall deserves capitalization, don't you think?)
The McCall Pattern Company Tour
This table has all the "on loan" accessories and shoes, whereas the rack contains their own items.
The McCall Pattern Company Tour
And here's where they take the pictures
The McCall Pattern Company Tour
This gives you an idea of the size of our group

Overall it was really neat to hear about the process and see the process the patterns go through from start to finish.  Producing patterns is a massive undertaking, larger than I ever imagined.  And what I think is great about tours like this is it shows that people are behind all of this.  Yes, it's a corporation but real human beings (who have feelings too!) are doing all this work and I'm grateful that they let us visit their offices and see what it's all about.  Also, there were goodie bags with a pattern and Vogue Patterns magazine inside.  Thank you McCalls!

Then it was time for the PR party at Elliott Berman.  The theme was dressing through the decades.
There were games and prizes....

Charades onlookers
Charades guessers (Peter's rendition of a pin cushion was excellent)
party balloons
Balloons and a disco ball
the wine from the decades
Wine through the decades
Deepika cuts the cake
Delicious PR chocolate birthday cake (real buttercream and chocolate shavings, yum!!!)
me and Tomasa
Tomasa and me (the topstitching on her Vogue jacket is gorgeous!)
Peter and moi
Peter in his hot-off-the-sewing-machine dress shirt and me
me and Deepika
Deepika in her pretty stretch lace PR Summer Street dress and me. As always, thank you for founding PR Deepika!

Today I shopped....

Elastic in many colors at Pacific Trimming
Colorful elastic at Pacific Trimming

I am going to contemplate this elastic selection some more. These would make great exposed waistbands.
Paron's fabric I bought today
The fabric I bought at Paron's today. This will be made into a dress.
I bought a few other things as well but they shall remain unphotographed for now.
ESB in daylight
The ESB in the dawn's not-so-early light.

Be well!

15 comments:

  1. Yay. Looks like you had a ball and with Tomasa too!
    Kashi is the best - seriously.

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  2. It was great fun spending time with you Kyle! You did a great job recapping this fun day. (Why did it have to go by so fast??) How wonderful you had such a great view from your room!

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  3. This looks like great fun ! How does one get invited to PR events.
    I was in NYC last weekend visit g my DGD & went to Paron . Great place.
    Thx for the recap !!!

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    1. I subscribe to the PR newsletter which had a link to their blog post with the link to registering for the event.

      Paron is now one of my favorite fabric stores in NYC. It is well organized, large enough for a good selection without being too big and overwhelming.

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  4. Looks so fun. Would love to make the trek to NY for one of these get togethers. Maybe one of these days..............Texas is a long way away! Means dealing with airports...........ugh

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  5. I get a tad bit jealous every time you go to NY, but it's a positive jealously.

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  6. Kyle! How can i attend this event next year? I must go!

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  7. Looks like you all had a great time. Sorry I missed seeing you all.

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  8. You definitely had a great time and am drooling over the stretch jacquard fabric. Thanks for sharing.

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  10. Hmm...cut and paste failed on that one. Let me try this again...

    Another great time at PR day. It looks as if you had lots of fun. One of these days I'll make it there.

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  11. Love the Paron's fabric! And was it a shoe wall, like the Macy's accessory wall, which we should use very thoughtfully?... ;)

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