How garment planning saved my shopping trip

In a nutshell, it has been rough but I'm doing a lot better. I will spare you the details. Its back to doing what I love to do best- writing about what inspiring me right now.

So, lets get to it.

The day before Thanksgiving, when every other sane person in America was shopping for their turkey, cleaning up their homes, greeting family members etc. I was in Manhattan, NY shopping for fabric.

It was not as fabulous as you may think either.

It was a little chilly, drizzled most of the morning and I was sick like a dog - no exaggeration.

I looked like Death on the prowl but I had to go fabric shopping, it was now or next year, on one of the busiest days of the year, in one of the busiest cities in the world and I only just thought about that-WOW!

So, how planning saved my trip?

I knew this would be the last opportunity for me to be go to the city for 2011 but when I tell you, I was so out of it, high on meds with a fever, I'm sure you can only imagine.

You know when you are shopping, its a whole experience, you want to look at everything, feel everything and be fully involved when interacting with the sales clerks, this was not what was going on.

Thank goodness I took Mom and my vision boards I made for my blog posts on my ipod touch.

I could just show the store clerk what I am going to use the fabric for and the inspiration and they would just bring me the fabric or take me to the fabric.

I would say if I liked it, mom would inspect it, ask the questions that you usually ask when you are on full bars, like, what fabric is this, yada yada.

I had the yardage of my fabrics on there too, so I handed that over to the store clerks and that was how it went.

Ironically, it was the most efficient, most productive, most rewarding and fastest shopping trip I've ever had.

I love everything I got.

Remember this

Well, I was super lucky to find the exact fabric I wanted for this dress, a heathered Taupe, a mix of cream and brown thread. This jersey knit feels like a double knit and you can use either side.

I smiled when I scored this.

For this look

I got a beautiful, beautiful teal and orange crepe de chine for the blouse

Its fall 2011 with the teal and spring 2012 with the tangerine.

For the skirt, I was brought this cotton, the photos doesn't do it justice, it looks like its a suede but its not. Its 100% cotton in a taupe-ish grey, Driftwood maybe, lol, I'll go with that, love it.

 

For this dress, I didn't see anything that had the color and the quality all in one, it was either, get the right color but the fabric was to light or get the right weight of fabric but the color was more orange. So I was shown this and the color was so fantastic. Cabaret is one of the colors for spring 2012 according to Pantone and this reminded me of it. The color is a little off in the photo.

Its gorgoeous, I can't stop looking at it.

After I saw the Holiday 2011 Vogue collection, I added V8772 to my line up and I got this amazing chiffon for it.

Its packed full of those Spring 2012 Pantone Colors such as Sodalite blue, Driftwood, Starfish, Tangerine Tango and Solar power. I just had to grab it.

For this dress, I happily accepted this teal wool. Its amazing, feels like silk wool but it not, the back is black and those threads intertwined to make a beautiful suiting that was my vision when I saw this look months ago.

and a wild card. I am going to make V1250 with this because its going to really showcase this fabric which is just beautiful to me.

I think I'm going to make this for my Christmas lucheon at work in a couple of weeks.

So there it is. A preview of what I'm going to be working on in the upcoming months.

I hope you are well, your thanksgiving was wonderful and next time we link up, I will show you my new silky knits, I've been knitting up while I was gone.

 

 

Comments

[Marybeth]

Wow! What a great wardrobe plan, and what beautiful fabrics! I can't wait to see everything all made up! I hope you are feeling better and had a great holiday...

[Carol]

What lovely fabrics! You've made perfect choices for the garments

[adrienne]

I love all your fabrics. Just gorgeous!

[Jane M]

Love all those fabrics and especially that last one....ooooh, so envious.

[Dr. Donna]

Glad to see you are better and looking forward to seeing the fabulous outfits that you create!

[Trena]

It's good to see that you are back :-) ...nothing like little shopping to stimulate your creativity. (Imsoblessed_ Trena )

[Nancy]

I'm sorry to hear that you have not been feeling well, but I'm glad that you were able to the fabrics you wanted. That's a nice taupe knit! As always, another interesting post with a great lesson learned!

[Nicky]

Good to see you back; hope you continue to mend well.

Great fabric and I can't wait to see what you're gonna do with it.

[Patsy]

Glad you're back. Look after yourself and good luck with your plans, looking forward to seeing the outfits.

[Robyn]

I hope you're feeling better now. Those fabrics look devine and I'm looking forward to seeing them all made up.

[Mimi]

Beautiful. Glad you had fun shopping!

[Dr. Z]

Glad you are back. Looking forward to the eye candy!

[Myra]

Absolutely stunning as usual! Your taste is impeccable! My favorite...the chiffon, it's to die for!!! Love your blog and the inspirations you give us! You've helped me get out of my "funk" since returning from vacation! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!! Anxiously awaiting your completed projects...good luck!!

[Rachel]

Hi! Great to have you back. Looking forward to seeing all the lovely clothes you make. I'm getting an Ipod touch for Christmas how do you make vision boards on it?