Thursday, November 17, 2011

Rare find

I begrudgingly popped in to Spotlight recently to look for some plain linen for making teatowels & pot holders to screenprint (linens at my favourite stores being too expensive/too thin/too just not right). The linen was still not quite what I wanted (why is it so hard to find?!), but looking around the dress fabrics, I suddenly felt like I'd stepped into an aladin's cave of great fabrics rather than a boring chain store.



Was it that I hadn't been fabric shopping for a while, or that I was on a caffeine high from the strong coffee I'd just had? Was I in the wrong store?? When I go to this chain store (the equivalent in the US seems to be Joann's?) it's normally just for some basics, some thread, a bit of stuffing for soft toys, that sort of thing. But I seriously could have bought home about 7 different great prints this visit. But I told myself I could just choose one * and narrowed it down to this beauty...



The docket says it's 'Japanese tana lawn, hydrangea'. And the colours - pale grey background with splashes of vivid purple, deep blue and yellow - perfect! The sales assistants (or 'ladybugs' as my boy calls them ;-) couldn't tell me the difference between lawn and voile - does anyone know?



Anyway, I adore it, even though I had a moment of "is it nanna or gorgeous?", not that it can't be both! I put that down to the hydrangea print. My paternal grandmother grew beautiful blue ones near her door.

I plan to make a version of my boring dress for those hideous days like last Monday when the temperature reaches the high 30's c and it feels like we're living in a furnace. Fingers crossed that the image in my mind comes out the same way.



* Lets just forget all about this post, shall we (ahem)? Ah well, 3 steps forward, 2 steps back ;-)
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7 comments:

  1. trudi@maudeandmeNovember 17, 2011 at 1:55 PM

    It will be a very pretty "boring" dress. Have you looked at http://www.teatowels.net.au/ for linen t-towels?

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  2. MellissaNovember 17, 2011 at 2:03 PM

    In my experience, for all the tables of quite ordinary fabric, Spotlight often tends to throw up a few gems that are unbelievably pretty or perfect for what you need. People are often quite scathing about Spotlight but my stash has as a pretty decent chunk of lovely stuff from there. Quality is not top-notch, and certainly rarely as special as my designer fabrics, but hey, who can afford designer all the time? You did well!

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  3. JoNovember 17, 2011 at 4:48 PM

    Trudi - thanks for the compliment and for the link, I think I'll try them if I end up needing to buy in bulk.

    Mellissa - Good point. I certainly have a good deal of Spotlight fabric in my stash, and particularly these days as we don't have so many independent fabric stores around, Spotlight is at least pretty reliable for the basics and sometimes specials. And if we had to pay designer prices for all fabric I would be doing a lot less sewing!

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  4. lamina @ do a bitNovember 17, 2011 at 7:06 PM

    Gosh I feel like I have to go and check out spotlight.... NOW!! ha ha ha! Love that fabric and the colours are gorgeous! I think it's a nice addition to your stash but I am sure it won't last that long in there! :D

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  5. UnknownNovember 17, 2011 at 7:36 PM

    Hello Jo,
    Thank you for visit my small blog, I didn't try the girl's purse tutorial yet, I'll let you know as soon as I'll do it.
    Starting from today I'll write my post in English too, so please come visit me sometimes!
    Best wishes,
    Carmen from Italy.

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  6. Nick UKNovember 18, 2011 at 4:49 AM

    I think that print will be great in that dress pattern, and just right for hot days, not that I can remember any, I'm busy knitting wooly hats for my tribe. LOL

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  7. flowerpressNovember 18, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    A funny coincidence as I was at Spotlight yesterday and surprised to find some gems!

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