Fabricholism...

[Rosamundi]

And I once mislaid a ten meter piece of 60" wide striped cotton!

Wow. That's kind of like mislaying a Volvo. :-)

[Kate XXXXXX]

Definitely a forgetting-where-I-parked-it problem...  I'd filed it in the wrong box because the box I SHOULD have put it in was full.  I need to get up there and sort out a few little problems like that and re-do the box inventories to take account of the stuff I've used up and the new stuff that's gone in.

[LadyStitch]

I was begining to think I wasn't a real seamstess when I didn't have much of a stash or the drive to purchase more.... then my DH left me alone in the fabric store to "look around" while he picked up his special order buttons.

Needless to say I brought back 2 bolts of fabric. 
Bolt #1:  2 yards of a start print fabric for my current play ( or some play in the future.)
Bolt #2:  5 yards of $1.50 a yard crinkle sparkle Navy taffta.  (If the director doesn't like it I'm making me an out fit out of it!)

A cart full of 50% off sewing storage units.  So sue me the more organized I get the more I seem to aquire more stuff. 

Oh and a notebook of idea for updating the other Flamingo's outfit.  Can an outfit have too much trim and feathers?

[Kate XXXXXX]

You're getting there!   

No, a flamingo can never have too many feathers or too much trim.  And neither can a decent stash.

[LadyStitch]

My DH told me I didn't need a big stash, of course that was until I had to make a couple outfits for a play at the last minute. 
Being able to get the call at 9 PM at night, go to the stash, find the right fabric, trim, and notions already there is nice.  Espcially since they need the item 9 AM the next morning.

My weakness is bulk notions.  I have spools and spools of bulk elastics/ boning, and containers of hooks, snaps, poppers, and gromets.  Oh I will use them all especially when I can get a gross for what it would cost to get 2 packages of 6 at the local fabric store.  Or I can get it for 10 cents a yard vs $1.00  a yard.

[DragonWing]

Okay this happened a couple of weeks ago and I am now just posting. The Gods/Goddesses have smiled upon me.

At a local fabric store, G Street Fabrics, I found on the $2.97/yd pile, 2 1/2 yds of very nice white linen, 5 yds of a drab olive green, good cotton fabric and we had 2, 20% off coupons. I bought one and my partner bought the other.

Then right after a friend of ours gave us,
3 yds of yellow broadcloth
3 yds of blue broadcloth
3 yds of geen broadcloth
6 yds of light weight gray wool.
and some trims.
It was left over fabric from his mothers house in NC.   

How fab is that? I think a cloak is in order for the wool. hmmmmmm

[Kate XXXXXX]

Fortune favours the brave!  Enjoy the bonanza.   

[LadyShadow]

Talk about lucky.   

[Rosamundi]

LadyStitch, I've been obsessing about what could possibly be made between 9pm and 9am - pretty sure I couldn't make a *hanky* in that timeframe - I would love to see your results! Do you have photos?

[LadyStitch]

Let's see.....

From 9 PM to 1AM one night I made a English maid outfit because the actress that was the maid, her grandma died and had to be at the funeral during the next performance.  Another actress stepped up to do the part for the 1 show.  Size difference in the girls was a size 8-18. I even lined it. (As much as I didn't want to line it to save time, I take too much pride in my work to leave it unlined.) I used a basic short sleeve dress block pattern for it, with a gathered skirt. It wasn't high fashion but worked. 

From 10 PM to 12AM  did  a pair of large size bloomers with ruffles on the cuffs for a girl.  The director 1 day before curtain decided he wanted her doing cartwheels across the stage.  She requested we make her bloomers before the next show.

8AM to 5 PM made 4 extra large size men's white peasant shirts.  My intern cut out 4 shirts out of the wrong size, medium instead of XL. I had a bolt of white cotton originally for mock ups, but made them from that.  I remade them on July 4th last year.  We had to have them by the next morning.  They were done before that night's cook out.

12AM - 3 AM.  I did a new pair of elastic waist pants for one guy because our intern botched them so bad I had to do a rebuild.  Same on a pair of bloomers for another girl. (Sorry but there is no way a size 48 guy is going to be able to wear size 30 waist pants no matter now much elastic you put in them.)

These weren't "hail mary's" out of the stash but they were 'oh crap!' momments.
8PM-12AM  I was told, "We need a gold men's pesant shirt for the next morning, 9 AM."  Ran to fabric store bought  a gold satin.  Was home, had it cut out, sewn up and ready by midnight.  I had the thread and buttons for the cuffs in stash. I used the same pattern I did the 4 shirts on the 4th of july from. 

I made a gorgeous White satin, lined with white cotton, and had a chiffon neck drape and long flowy sleeves Arwen type dress for a girl.  I call my boss to say I finished it at 8PM.  He tells me the actress had a diva momment and quit!  The replacement was a girl I already had the measurements for, thankfully.  Size was the same but the new girl was 3 inches taller and was going to wear 2 inch heels under it.   Ran to fabric store, and bought some gold mesh, and more of the gold satin from the shirt.  I then unpicked the whole dress. Cut an under skirt  out of the gold to fill the gap that the height problem.  Then tacked the white's hem to the gold so it flowed smoothly onto the gold.  I then laid the gold mesh over the top of all the pieces so that they all seemed to go together. Hemmed it and had it ready for the next rehearsal.  It was so nice they used it in the publicity shots.   I have a shot of that one. http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n212/shanntarra/Scrg09_1.jpg

Those were the one's in just the past year. 

[Kate XXXXXX]

Nice one!  Doesn't look like an emergency remake either!

I got told at the end of the final rehearsal that they needed a pair of curtains for a window on the stage for the performance next day...  Went out and bought the curtain track and dug in the stash for the fabric, and Lo!  There were curtains!  Himself drilled the holes and put up the rail on the set the next morning and that afternoon they worked perfectly for the show.

[LadyStitch]

One of my actors said it best, "The best costumers/seamstesses can make the impossible look effortless. The worst costumers/seamstesses make the effortless look impossible."
I was quite proud of how the dress came out.  The lighting designer saw it tweaked her lighting design to have her back lit so she "shimmered" as she did her ghostly stuff. Since then she and I have had a lot of fun doing some cool stuff for shows.


I think I may have gotten the pink pirate trained.  I mentioned last night that fabric.com had summer wools in nice colors for $4 a yard. Next thing out of his mouth was, "Hey we need to buy that for your stash.  You could make me something out of it someday. Would 10 yards be enough?" 

[Kate XXXXXX]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Perfect response!

[Rosamundi]

Amazing . . . both Pink's successful training and the costume list. I really enjoyed reading that; thank you!

[DragonWing]

I think I may have gotten the pink pirate trained.  I mentioned last night that fabric.com had summer wools in nice colors for $4 a yard. Next thing out of his mouth was, "Hey we need to buy that for your stash.  You could make me something out of it someday. Would 10 yards be enough?" 

That is a good one, now if I could only get mine trained like that.