Fabric-a-brac 2014

Hello dears! How is your weekend going? 

For me, this weekend was successfully spent splurging my pay on vintage fabric and patterns, eating bagels, listening to ukulele bands and "sewcialising" with Susan from Measure Twice/Cut once and lots of other fabric lovers

The shops, crowd and merchandise was substantially bigger then last year, which was awesome. If you remember I attended last years Fabric-a-brac at Newtown and had quite a bit of luck with my buys - you can see last years post here. I didn't spend as much time in the notions baskets or button jars this time - I had my eyes on fabric and the huge amount of vintage patterns which filled the boxes, cute suitcases and baskets around the tables

Photo by Susan Goodwin

Photo by Susan Goodwin

Photo by Susan Goodwin

My voice decided to disappear (thanks to a naughty cold) at the start of the day leaving me with little chance to bargain, but it eventually returned after a kind cup of tea. I picked up 16 patterns and multiple metres of fabric. Would you like see?

Of the patterns we have;

Style 4056, Simplicity 7207, Simplicity 6531

Simplicity 7021, Facile play suit, Butterick 3493 by 60s designer Jean Muir

Of course I had to pick up the Facile pattern! There was one other floating around, but I had seriously run out of money and it wasn't a pattern I liked much so it stayed behind

Butterick 4664 by 60s designer Michèle Rosier, Butterick 2624, 

Butterick 3498 by Mary Quant

I actually already own the "123 Shift" dress, but I bought it because I thought it would be the right size. I seemed to think that the one I had at home was a size 10, but when I checked I already had a 14! The pattern never fits correctly which is why I thought I needed it, but now I just have a double. Perhaps I'll have to do as my boyfriend suggested and do a give away?

Butterick 3454, Weigel's 2750, Butterick 4034

Style 3747, McCall's 2070, Simplicity 7792

I totally have to make those pants one day soon! How awesome are they? 

Sadly Simplicity 7792 is missing the bodice. In my haste I completely missed the note written on the envelope about the missing pieces. If you happen to own this pattern in a size 14, drop me an email and we can negotiate a pattern trace swap!!

And just to make things more interesting, I picked up what I thought was Simplicity 9219, but once home and I opened the envelope I found a totally different pattern!! 

Going by the instruction sheet, fonts and illustration style, I think it might be a Maudella pattern - 3102. Its the right size for me, but totally not what I thought it was.

If you need a new envelope for your Simplicity 9219 - email me your address!

And now for the fabric!!!

Purple plaid wool - 1 metre. I'm envisioning a cute late 60s style mini
Blue Floral soft cotton - 2 metres
Green wool blend - enough for a mini skirt
Floral thick poly - 2.5 metres. Totally one of those fabrics I can see Vix turning into one of her fabulous maxi skirts, but I don't yet have a plan for it

Rayon Navy floral - 2 metres
Pink and Orange cotton paisley - 1 metre
Soft cotton blue  paisley - 2.6 metres
Purple paisley cotton - 3 metres.

I'm not entirely convinced by the purple paisley. I think it might be quilting fabric, but I bought all four of these because I have realised a gap in my wardrobe thanks to Me Made May. I do not have enough tops and shirts for work, so yesterday I bought a shirt pattern from Etsy to help use these fabrics up. I always screw shirt collars up, so stay tuned for those adventures! 

This navy floral deserves a close up - I love it!

I was also given this sweet white frock by Susan. It looks old, but she is pretty sure it was a sample sewn up in one of the workshops she used to work at. Its a little tight around the hips, but I did use it to give my boyfriend a little "overly attached girlfriend" scare and told him this is the dress I'm gonna wear to our wedding. We aren't actually engaged, but we do like to play tricks on each other from time to time, and overly attached girlfriend is one of my favourites

So Fabric-a-brac has certainly grown since last year! And going by how much money I spent, I'm looking forward to draining my bank account at the next one. I think I'll have to bring along one of those nanna shopping trolleys with me so I can take home all the fabric!

This post has muscled its way in front of the new dress post I promised, but I will share it with you tomorrow for sure! Something to help your Monday go a little easier. 

She's pretty paisley lady with contrast collar and cuffs! Oh my it will be a fun post!

xoxo Cat