Weekend Project: Recover from New York City!

New York, New York, is everything they say

And no place that I'd rather be.

Where else can you do a half a million things

All at a quarter to three?

"The Heart of Rock and Roll"

Huey Lewis and the News

I was a fabric store virgin. Before last week, I used to think that Joann's was a fabric store. Last week, thanks to a work-related conference in New York City (my first time there), my eyes were opened and I saw the light!

In between each conference session, relying heavily on Lindsay T's Google map of the Fashion District and Karla Kinzer's Garment District Directory, I'd hit the streets - Seventh Avenue, to be specific:

Of course I saw the well-known street art-work:

But what really blew my mind was the fabric stores! Both the sheer volume of fabric and the whole shopping experience was unlike anything I could have ever imagined. In some of the stores, like Paron Fabrics and Metro Textile, there was a lot of personal attention for each shopper, fabrics were brought out and offered up for consideration, and prices and discounts seemed to be generated on the fly... Not only could you only haggle over the price, but the sales person (or, in the case of Metro Textile, the owner) felt comfortable haggling over just how much you would buy. ;)

The vast expanse of fabric - like that of the Grand Canyon - can't be captured in a single photograph, but here are some paltry attempts via shots from inside Mood:

There were aisles and aisles and aisles like this... The last shot includes two friends (and co-workers), Natalie (on the left) and Christine of And Sew it Begins (on the right).

I did pick up some pattern magazines - two different issues of Patrones for Ana and Juana and two copies of Burda World of Fashion for Christine and Susan. (That actually adds up to 4 magazines for me, because everyone will share with me.) Unfortunately, the store only had one copy of BWOF left in English, so Susan got a copy in Russian (we think!)... Oh well, it will be an adventure! ;)

Finally, on the fabric front, I mostly window shopped. I did get a couple of yards of this sheer for Ana:

And of this sheer for Juana:

It was an incredible trip! Next time I need to go back WITHOUT that whole working bit... ;)

Stay tuned, I'll be announcing the winner of my 100th post give-away on Tuesday!