Wednesday, February 4, 2009

More Fabric Store Field Trips





Finally made that trip to the "Fabric Dump", which was not a dump at all. The Textile Discount Outlet is just your basic, run of the mill fabric heaven! Three full floors of it. Every type of material under the sun. And the staff were nice and helpful. The selection and prices there were amazing. There was a wide selection of trim and embellishments. As for the organization and cleanliness, the basement section was probably not a good place to spend too much time in. I sneezed several times down there, but again, I am getting over a cold. Otherwise, the store is well lighted, well organized on the main floor, very well stocked and definitely a must for anyone in or around Chicago who sews and designs.



*Please excuse the bad camera phone pics.

There were not a lot of shoppers there, being mid-week, I'm sure, but those that were there were mostly interior design people buying home decor material and lots of it. There were so many wonderful and interesting fabrics. Lots of beaded and embellished specialty silks that reminded me of the elegant saris that Indian women wear. There was some really fabulous lace fabric that reminded me of the lace garments in the latest issue of Burda magazine. I saw a nice sized piece of distressed leather in caramel brown that was calling my name and telling me that it wanted to become a bag. It was hard to resist at only $2.50 per square foot! But resist it I did.

I didn't purchase any fabrics at all, since I promised myself to use what I have already before I buy any more. A promise that I sort of already broke...Prior to going there, I made a stop over at the Chicago Vogue Fabrics to say hello to a friend that works there. She was off, but the designer sample bin was on! And unlike the huge paradise flagship store in Evanston, where the bin fabrics are $4 per pound, the Chicago location's bin price was $2 per pound. I got 6 pounds worth: 2+ yards of really nice white linen, 2+ yards of taupe linen and about 4+ yards of grey cotton twill that has spring jacket written all over it. So that's it for my fabric field trips. And now, let the sewing begin!

2 comments:

QueenSH said...

I am so jealous!! I am trying to find some big fabric warehouse type places here and it isn't looking too promising. I want more options than Joanns and Hancocks.

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

Okay there is no way I would have left the leather at $2.50 a foot...nope, no way, no how! You have a lot of willpower!