49 hours in NYC with ATP

ATP, Kashi, and me.  
ATP was back in the tri-state area this weekend so of course we met up and went to NYC.  This time we had 49 hours in the city, our longest visit ever together in NYC.  Of course, our first stop was still Kashi at Metro Textiles.  He greeted us with hugs.  Love Kashi.

I brought the backpack I made from his fabric (exterior fabric) and he said I should sell them, that he didn't know that fabric could look that good.   (He still has that fabric in two colorways btw--the black and silver that I used and black and gold.)

Pawing through the fabric at Kashi's. 
ATP is wearing a dress she recently stitched up out of fabric she bought at Kashi's during her last visit. Such a great dress and great print, isn't it?

Kashi said there are people who complain when he gives them extra.  Say what?  Kashi and I assured him that we do not complain.  Kashi is always generous with his cuts.  He said it was more about there being flaws in the fabric, that he will give them the amt they asked for and the piece with the flaw, and they complain about the flaw.  No worries, I can work around the flaw especially when you cut more!

This bolt was SUPER HEAVY.

The largest change since my last visit is that there is more floor space then I've ever seen in Kashi's store. It made it a lot easier to look around and see all the fabric.

This was the HUGE pile of fabric I bought.    When we left he said, "happy sewing!"

NYC quilt, made from NYC subway fabric, at the City Quilter.

We also went to Paron Fabrics,  a new trim shop called Lauren Trimming, and the City Quilter and a short stop at Mood where I bought a scant half yard.  We even hit up Pacific Trimming, but I had not made a list of what I need so I bought nothing there (that's a first).

NYC sunflower and bumble bees Saturday afternoon.

Washington Square Park

Saturday was a clothes shopping day though neither of us bought any clothes; we went to several stores in Soho and even stopped in Purl Soho.

Here's when we were stitching sashiko on the Highline. The Highline is *great*. It's sort of like walking on a boardwalk, but high up in the city.  When you see pix of it online (or even that epi of PR a few seasons ago) it looked kind of....abandoned?  dilapidated?  not like somewhere you'd want to spend time?  to me. But it is just the opposite--full of life, breezy and cooler up there, has tons of people walking around, and benches to sit on.  We were able to walk faster up there compared to on street level, no stop lights or waiting.

ATP and the sashiko she started and finished during our trip.  She has never stitched sashiko before, but since we had more time on this trip I was able to teach her.  I think she did a great job.

We celebrated her upcoming birthday.  I gave her the best present I will ever give her: woven labels with her logo on them. I will not be able to outdo this present, ever.

I downloaded the logo of her website (RockOnTinyRebel) and sent it to CustomLabels4u.com.  They look SO good.  I kept this secret for ~2 months.

Yes, we totally were tourists!   Looking up from the 86th floor at the Empire State Building

The Chrysler Building as seen from the 86th floor of the ESB last night.

ATP and I said adieu early this afternoon, but my next meetup will be this Wednesday at my house...stay tuned!

Be well!

McCall's 6256: NYC subway zipper pouch, again

I wanted to give a special gift to Gina, one of my #mmmay15 work photographers.  I felt she had gone "above and beyond" and is leaving to move on to other things.  I rarely sew for others but felt this gift was perfect for her as she has spent a lot of time in NYC.



I've made this zipper pouch before, in the large and small sizes, laminated and non-laminated, and even in non-NYC fabric.  For this version, I chose the small, non-laminated size.  You can see all my posts referencing the various versions of this zipper pouch here.


I am still on the fence about the best way to fussy cut the front.  The word "Manhattan" is not centered over the orange and blue subway lines.    This time I centered the front over the subway lines but then Manhattan is off center.  Previously I have centered it over Manhattan but then the subway lines are off center.    I'm on the fence about which version is better.  Definitely a first world sewing problem.


This time I added a grosgrain ribbon to the zipper tab.  I think velosewer did that with hers.  It's a nice touch.

I used a 9" metal YKK zipper from SIL Thread in NYC.
I also used wonder tape for temporarily attaching the zipper tabs before stitching them down.

The zipper tabs were fussy cut featuring the two main ways I have gotten into the city...the bus (above) and the train (below).


Other versions were lined in green denim; this version was lined in pink duck cloth.

I also used Fashion Sewing Supply sew-in medium weight interfacing in between the layers.  FSS medium weight fusible interfacing is fused to the outer layer too.  The duck cloth and all that interfacing makes the bag quite sturdy and it stands up on its own.


I added the "Party" label.  I am running out of labels with fun words on them but I have ordered some of my own custom labels which should arrive soon.


Gina loved it and let out a little silent scream when she opened her present. I forgot to tell her that she can tuck the tabs in if she prefers.

You've seen me use this fabric for interior zipper pockets on tote bags and backpacks. I'm thinking of making a full-on tote bag using this fabric.  It seems like it would be fun.  Guess that means I better order more from The City Quilter as this fabric has I am running out of it.  Cotton version is here.   Laminate version is here.


Black-eyed susans at the PFM are back, yay!

Be well!

PR Day 2014 in NYC: 13 Years of Pattern Review

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.


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.

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.

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.

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 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.


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.


This room was pretty special too--it's the photography studio!

The Shoe Wall, and accessory area  (The Shoe Wall deserves capitalization, don't you think?)

This table has all the "on loan" accessories and shoes, whereas the rack contains their own items.

And here's where they take the pictures

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 guessers (Peter's rendition of a pin cushion was excellent)

Balloons and a disco ball

Wine through the decades

Delicious PR chocolate birthday cake (real buttercream and chocolate shavings, yum!!!)

Tomasa and me (the topstitching on her Vogue jacket is gorgeous!)

Peter in his hot-off-the-sewing-machine dress shirt and me

Deepika in her pretty stretch lace PR Summer Street dress and me. As always, thank you for founding PR Deepika!

Today I shopped....


Colorful elastic at Pacific Trimming

I am going to contemplate this elastic selection some more. These would make great exposed waistbands.

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.

The ESB in the dawn's not-so-early light.

Be well!

27 hours in NYC with ATP

Me, in Vogue 1351 with Swatch at Mood

I have the best blog commenters!  Thanks so much for all your suggestions about Simplicity 1314.   I responded to all of your comments.   I have stepped away from the dress for almost 48 hours now and I am feeling better about it already. Thanks to your suggestions I have some new things to try, and I will be trying them as early as tonight.  I need to pack first for the ASE.  My outfits are pretty much planned, but I need to figure out tights or no tights, which shoes, etc.  These are the big questions in life, right?

Antoinette is in town for a work gig, so we met up for 27 hours again.  Last time we met up in NYC, in May 2013, it was also for 27 hours, so there you go.

Random highlights:



We went to Kashi's (Metro Textiles).   I may have bought too much, again.  Kashi's is a very dangerous place for me.  and he is a very convincing salesman.  He has my address on file, so it's easy to ship it.


ATP and Kashi.

Me and Kashi.  The fabric for my dress and the exterior fabric for my bag were purchased at Kashi's in June of 2013 during my visit with Maria (velosewer).  So it was a fabric homecoming, of sorts.


The general scene at Kashi's.  ATP made her dress (a designer knockoff) and her bag.


Fun fact: ATP is 60" tall, so I can use her as a guide to how wide fabric is!
That picture was taken at Paron's  (pronounced Pare-own, ATP asked.)

I cannot believe that I totally forgot to look for the textured sweatshirt fabric while I was there.  How could I have forgotten?  I'm guessing Suzanne bought the last of it anyway after she made her Simplicity 1314 with cream textured sweatshirt knit, but I meant to look!!!

Fabric I bought at Paron's and carried home with me.

We also hit up Pacific Trimming and True Mart and the City Quilter.   and Mood as evidenced by our visit with Swatch. Our feet were tired and aching yesterday for sure.

Today we went to the Japanese bookstore, Beacon's closet (a clothing resale shop) and of course Doughnut Plant.

I came home this afternoon and took a huge nap.

Now it's time for packing, yes? I am driving straight from the Detroit airport to Haberman Fabrics tmw.  The fabric closet just let out a moan.

Be well!