Blogger Meet Up and Lofty Fabrics

I have been a bit of a bad blogger.  Well, lazy at least.  A few weekends ago Elizabeth of SEWN suggested a bit of a blogger meet up in the LA garment district.  I thought it would be fun to go before I have to start running around looking for skating costume materials (oh man you guys it just got real - costume orders are picking up right about now - how is it only January and I already feel like I am in the weeds???).  I was able to meet a few fabulous LA sewistas, as well as the little boy who lives with Elizabeth and all her fabulous sewing machines.  Being the terrible lazy blogger that I am, I didn't actually take any pictures of LA or the meet up.  But I do have pictures of fabric.  Of course.

First stop was Michael Levine's - where I did a bit of guilt buying.  See, I was supposed to finish my sister's coat for Christmas.  And we have a muslin!  But actual construction of said coat hasn't really started yet, so I feel a bit bad.  Also, my recent adventures in the land of sewing home dec has me believing that pillowcases are the best gift ever.  So I bought some cute cotton prints to make a few more holiday gifts...

Cameras!  My sister majored in photography, so she has a thing for weird looking cameras.
Also, sparkly dots because, um, pretty.

I got a few other things  there as well - but they are going to be for a special project (part of my fantasy sewing plans for sure), so I don't want to show the fabrics off yet.  People who were at the meet-up know, but I don't want to spoil the surprise in case I can't get it done in a timely manner.  Ideally I would like to get it finished by the end of March, but with skating orders picking up... I can't be sure.  I can give you a bit of a hint though - it involves frozen fractals.  I am still looking for a few embellishments, but I was able to find all the fabric I needed to work on the sewing part of the project.

Next stop: The Loft.  Bins and bins and bins of remnant fabrics.  Everyone had fun digging, though I don't think anyone left with as much poundage as usual.  It is always a bit of a hit or miss in there, but I did manage to find several pieces to bring home:

Blue poly peach skin for a shirt muslin, and several knit prints.

We had fun visiting a lot of other stores in the city - I even went to several that I had never been in before!  I didn't get much fabric from the other stores (well, a few things for my special secret project) There are definitely places I would go back to again if I were looking for garment fabrics though.  There were lots of fabrics I really liked, but nothing that I absolutely loved enough to take home with me.  At least, not this time.

We had a lovely lunch at a local taco place and discussed everything from school to sewing to books to kids and driving.  It was a fantastic day of shopping and making new sewing friends.  I am so happy I was able to go - it was tons of fun and I would love to do another blogger meet up again!