My Portland Fabrics Arrived!!

Today my box of fabrics that I bought in Oregon arrived! I was so excited! Somehow I expected it to be larger considering the amount I spent, but oh, well....It is good quality fabric, something we have in short supply in this neck of the woods.

First up, the fabrics from Fabric Depot. I'll start with two very nice cotton shirtings. The one with blue stripes is for a shirt for my husband:


It is so silky, you would hardly believe it. But for the price, it had better be! The second shirting is a textured cotton, I darkened the image so you can see the texture, but it is white, not grey:


I got this one for a work shirt for me. Actually, pretty much everything I got were for work clothes. I can get fabric for casual clothes here, but dressier fabrics are harder to find. Next, i got enough of this wool/poly blend suiting for a pants suit. I also picked up the blue lining to go with it:


My favorite piece is this wool/cashmere suiting. I only got enough to make a pair of dress pants...because it was waaay expensive:


It feels so soft and nice. I also picked up a piece of poly suiting that felt so soft...normally I avoid 100% poly, but this felt just awesome. I bought the last of the black that they had, and my friend Laurie bought the brown to use in a dress. I don't know what I'll use it for...whatever it is, it won't have a lining!


I know that I should "get over" my aversion to polyester...that it's "not your mother's polyester," that there are lots of nice polys out there that are not thick and scratchy the way that they were in the 70's. In fact, I have some wonderful pants from Ann Taylor that are poly and have a beautiful drape, and I have also purchased some poly knits from Gorgeous Fabrics that were fantastic.

Finally, I made a single purchase from Josephine's Dry Goods, a huge splurge for me:


Two yards of Liberty Lawn at $40.00 (gak, cough, choke) a yard to make a work blouse. They also had some wonderful little buttons that were a great match, even with all the variation in the fabric.

And that is all! Like I said, it seems like there should have been more (given all the time we spent in fabric stores!). Although my cat certainly appreciates any box that enters the house:


In other sewing news, I have decided to put my "TNT" pants pattern to the test, and use it to apply alterations to another pattern. I have been wanting to try a Hot Patterns pants pattern, because folks on the Pattern Review boards talk about how the L-shaped crotch curve is flattering to the bottom, so I pulled out a pattern that I had in my stash:


It is the "Denim Diva Trouser Jean" which I no longer see on the website, so I am assuming it is out of print. I traced an 18, which is where my measurements fall. I then laid my "TNT" pattern over my tracing and prepared to start alterations. I made sure that the point of the crotch of the tracing and the TNT pattern was at the same level to start the alterations.

The Hot Patterns pattern used the same convention as RTW pants, and used a larger back piece than the front. The pattern indicated a dropped waist, although I did raise the center back slightly to accommodate my round bottom. You can see the redrawn top line in the tracing below:


Other than that, the pattern was surprisingly close to the pattern that I had altered to fit me...except for the lack of a contoured waistband. I am debating using their narrow, flat waistband because of the lower waist. I definitely have enough fabric that I can make a contour band, so I might just baste the waistband on, try it, and then decide whether or not to change it out.