The "Right" Way

Well folks, I gave up. Not on sewing, of course, but on teaching myself to sew. I signed up for a clothing construction course on Tuesday nights at Mesa Community College. It's a bit of a drive, about 25 minuets, but completely worth it. Not only will this class count as my fine arts credit to graduate high school (would you believe that in 3 years I've never taken a non-academic elective? No wonder I'm such a nerd!) but I will be able to tackle "scary" projects with a knowledgeable professor helping me when I need it.

Tonight was my first class. Last week was the first class of the semester, but I showed up this week and caught on. I had brought some fabric with me, just in case, not really knowing what else I'd need. We are suppose to sew skirts from a commercial pattern. I didn't have a pattern with me, so I just did a bit of measuring, drafted a pocket by tracing my hand, and went off to do a little drindl skirt action. The only requirements is that our skirt have a waistband and a zipper. I'm essentially remaking my pillowcase skirt, with a center back seam for a zipper and pockets at the side seams. The fabric is a gorgeous, gorgeous black cotton with blue and purple flowers and gold detailing. It was only labeled as "cotton" at SAS, but lord knows how acurate that place is because I'm almost positive this is a rayon challis. At $3/ yard, I dont care much either way.

On the sewing table:
-Vogue 8623 coat project for the Trench Sew-along
-Drindl skirt for class
-Simplicity 2364 view D, done and awaiting hem

A tour of SAS Fabrics & Saturday Haul

Zipper bin, assorted styles, colors and sizes. All 25 cents or less each. It takes some digging, but they have good metal zippers in there.

This is just one of at least seven or eight rows of trim. Factor in that every outside wall of the building is covered in trims, too, before you wow. Prices range from 5-99 cents per yard. Most are about 10 cents per yard. They have a lot of off-brand trims. For example, I saw rack of "Guess" trim, but the font was just the slightest bit different from the real brand's logo. 

This is the Cotton/Poly knit table, all $1.99/yard. There are rarely bolts in this store. Instead, the fabrics are found in various states of bunches and balls of mess. They measure them at the front counter. The rule is, you may cut as much as you want from it but you have to be able to leave 2 yards on the cut, otherwise you have to buy it all. More often than not, you just buy it all. 

Notice the white and blue stripes towards the bottom left? Wallah.

I have a feeling that SAS gets some of fabric.com's remnants. Familiar? I've even seen fabric.com tags on some cuts. 

This is the "Fancy Button" bin. 25 cents each or $2.99 a bag. The bag is a better value by a huge margin.  I had a lot of fun digging through this bin and deciding on buttons for the Ruby Shorts Sew along. 

SAS is a great store for trims, buttons, embellishments and knits; especially for dancewear and costuming. However, they severely lack anything else. Their selection of wovens is scarce and almost exclusively synthetic. 

I had a lot of luck with knits today. The white cotton knit on the left is striped transparency. I bought it for the Peachy Beachy Coverup from fabric.com & hotpatterns, but not I'm thinking McCall's 6121 might also be a good use of it.

The greyish blob, center, is a polyester-something knit with a snake skin print. This will likely become a tank top for my friend Payton, and then maybe myself. I have over 3 yards of it. 

The light blue floral chiffon in the top right corner is actually from my last trip to SAS, but I haven't shown it too you yet. I really love this fabric and have a very specific RTW top I'm going to recreate with it. 

The turquoise scaley print on the bottom is mostly cotton, next to two of my zipper conquests. I don't have a specific project in mind for it either, but I really like the colors. They're fun and kind of girly. 

You're wondering how I could have forgotten about fabric for my Ruby shorts. I got it!

I settled for choose a navy polyester with a loose weave. it's drapey but thick enough to have some stability. I'm hoping these won't be too much of a pain to iron, but thats what I'm seeing. 

The buttons are from the Fancy Button bun and I adore them. I couldn't get a decent photo of them, but they are a cool guilded design. Not quite nautical yet very retro. 

Ops, I may have grabbed these too. The large nautical buttons are all the same color, I just have terrible photography skills. I love the painted ones, too. The metal ones in the top left corner are for my Ruby Shorts.