New purchases February 2016

Guilty, guilty as charged. I bought new fabric, despite my resolutions to sew from the stash and only buy one piece for every two stash items sewed up.

I did make a skirt, using up 2 metres of beige stretch corduroy, and also a shirt, using up 2 metres of a cotton print - both were from the stash.

And a tee shirt, which only took 1 metre, also from the stash.

But I bought 3 knits from www.blackbirdfabrics.com. They are gorgeous. If you live in Canada, you have to check out this resource in Vancouver. Amanda carries really top-notch fabrics, her service is terrific. And if you buy over $100, shipping is free. Her fabrics are not inexpensive, but I have been very pleased with everything I have bought from her this past year and will continue to patronize her business. We have so few online fabric resources in Canada, that we need to support the ones we have.

The striped knits are bamboo and cotton blends, they are very very soft. The purple one is modal jersey knit, not really sure what that means but it feels like a rayon/cotton knit to me. All three knits will become tees for the spring/summer season approaching. You can never have too many tees.

This print, also from Blackbird Fabrics, is a rayon ikat poplin. Rayon is a lovely fabric to wear in the heat, and this was bought with the intention of a soft shirt, with gathers or a pleat in the back to give the shirt some drape.

                                    

And then there was a trip to Texas. One visit to Hancock's Fabrics in Tyler was the only shopping I did. Not terribly inspiring and the sale didn't seem to extend to anything I bought. So the price tag surprised me for 3 patterns and 2 lengths of fabric. Over $80 - not impressive.

We can't get Simplicity patterns in Canada any longer, at least not in Halifax where I live. Simplicity has decided it is not worth their while to export to us, so Simplicity can only be bought online or in person in the US. Therefore I picked up three patterns in Hancock's rather than pay shipping for them.

The fabrics are 2 lengths of cotton, one a grey/white seersucker and the other a very fine plaid cotton in shades of pink and green. Both will be summer blouses/shirts and I am looking for a companion print for the plaid to make the inside collar, placket and cuffs.

                                        

So keeping up with my goal of tracking the inventory, this results in

February  5 metres sewed up
               11.7 metres purchased

That's it for now, time to start sewing some of these beauties.