Stashoholism Confessional: Way Overboard Edition

I gave up my car on July 6, and I used this as an excuse to go nutty buying fabric. Of course, half of that fabric was purchased online, the whole point of which is that it does not require the use of a car, but we'll put that aside for now. And it also doesn't account for the shopping I did last Saturday after I had given up the car. But we'll also put that aside. I would say that I wouldn't buy any more fabric for a long time, but I already made an order from FFC for more of the yellow twill because I bought only a snippet and had no idea I would LOVE it so much. But after that....oh, who am I kidding.

Last Hurrah With the Car G Street Fabrics Extravaganza:



The brown stripe will be gender-neutral reuseable grocery bags for friends who are getting married (they are cut out but not sewn); the green stripe will be a 3/4 or long sleeve blouse for cold weather; the blue print remnant will be Simplicity 4589, with the upper band being white; the textured white will be a pencil skirt, and also a collar for a navy and white version of Vogue 8408; the off-white knit print will be a new half slip and also just to have; and the white cotton/rayon jersey knit is already a sexy goddess version of Vogue 8386, which I apparently never reviewed even though I took all the pictures months and months ago. Huh. I will probably enter the white dress in the knit contest because it doesn't look like I'll have time to do anything else before the end of July. Incidentally, I LOVE the cotton/rayon knit. This was a remnant, meaning it must have come from a bolt at some point. And yet, I couldn't find any cotton/rayon knits on bolts anywhere. I am always looking for the perfect jersey knit. I find the 100% cotton available to us in fabric stores is generally too heavy and bulky to do the stuff that RTW does with cotton jersey. Hmph.

First Internet Fabric Purchase of the Year, from Fashion Fabrics Club:



These stretch cotton twills are for a Mondrian dress project. The white is also the base for a dress overlaid with silk chiffon in a white, black, and yellow floral print, based on Simplicity 4224, which was my very first pattern review! The strapless underdress is done. The quality of these fabrics is sensational. If you're looking for a sturdy dress-weight white, look no further. And at $5.25/yd, they are a steal! I love the golden yellow so much I want to make a shrug out of it, to go with various things I have planned (including said chiffon overlay dress, possibly the Mondrian dress, the maxi-dress out of one of the G Street prints below), but I only ordered 3/4 yard because the yellow will only be for pockets on the Mondrian dress. So I ordered another 1 1/2 yds. And since the shipping is flat rate up to 5 yards *and* the ITY prints have now gone on sale for $3.95 I ordered a couple more of those.

I also have given myself permission to buy just about any knit print that catches my fancy; this is one stash category that is *always* used up. So I stocked up on ITY prints at $4.75/yd. Some are better quality than others. The black/white/yellow graphic print in particular is so thin that I probably would not have bought it had I fondled it in the store, while the black with off white wispy circles is a nice heavy weight for Fall. I was a little trepidatious about the described "metallic" gold in the red/black/gray, but it's pretty unobtrusive (though definitely there). I mean, metallics TOTALLY have their place in my wardrobe, but that print is otherwise chic and grown up, and I thought metallic gold an odd choice to toss in. All in all, though, I'm quite pleased.





I was a little annoyed with myself after I ordered the blue and pink, because I thought they were the same print in different colorways, and then I'd feel weird wearing both garments. I was so pleased to find they weren't! One of them will be BWOF 05-2008-121. If it's pink, the bands will either be hot pink or blue; if it's blue, the bands will be black. I really can't decide. My top choice is pink with blue bands, BUT I don't love the blue fabric. It's a perfect color match, but while I loved the matte eyelet texture of it in my BWOF 04-2008-128 that I wore in Paris, I don't like the texture for the pink. I want something equally sleek and with a bit of sheen to the main fashion fabric. I'll try to post photos of the options at some point.

G Street Outing With Friends:



The wool skirt length is just a black; they are normally $6 but were 30% off and I really couldn't pass up a wool skirt length for $4.50; the red polka dots falls under my unlimited knit print stash allowance; the silk has already been turned into a wrap skirt to go with my orange polka dot blouse out of my Vietnam fabric and McCall 5426 (wore it to work yesterday and was complimented in the staff meeting); and the black, white, and yellow cotton print will be a maxi dress (yes, Cidell, you have finally worn me down) out of the pattern I made my college graduation dress from--of "That's a ugly dress!" fame. Something about the giant stripes really drew me in, and a print that big can only be used on a maxi dress.

Total damage: *gulp* 33 yards.

Buying fabric is way too easy. Once my FFC order arrives I am fasting for a while. I need to decide the parameters of it. I'll be in Chicago this weekend, but luckily it will be a very quick visit for bridal festivities and I can't even think about trying to make it to Vogue Fabrics. Right? Please tell me it's way out of the way and nowhere near an EL stop. Please.