Wednesday, February 06, 2008

I Found Heaven!

.... fabric heaven that is.

Five floors of fabrics and notions. Five floors! I swear my heart was racing. I arrived and methodically looked at each floor, dying to grab bolts, but forcing myself to wait until I'd seen everything they had to offer first. My heart rate then rose even more when I realised that I didn't have a lot of cash on me, that the store didn't take credit card and I didn't know where to find an ATM. I made myself sort that out quickly and then returned to shop. And shop I did! I'm very proud of myself for coming home with only just over 40 meters of fabric.

I'm planning on opening an Etsy store in April, just after I return from a brief trip to Australia. That gives me plenty of time to stock up on fabrics and papers to sell as well as make a bunch of new bags, cards and other items to sell. I think I may sell some of these fabrics on eBay in the meantime, it gives me the perfect excuse to go back to the shop again.

Of course, if anyone is interested in any of them, please feel free to contact me.

For now, here's some of what I bought.....

Some gorgeous vibrant fabrics with traditional motifs. Don't you just love that fish on wheels toy in the first one and the babies in a couple of the others!


Some simpler, more subtle fabrics with traditional motifs. The fourth one, black with the spider lily, I'm thinking of going back and getting some more to use with my Amy Butler skirt pattern.




I finally found some fabric with the Maneki Neko, lucky cat. I get a lot of requests for some and haven't been able to get any until now. They also had this print with a black background and another with dark blue.



Some gorgeous, super cute, kawaii fabrics. It's a bit hard to see as some of the prints are small, but there is a sweet Little Red Riding Hood in there as well as a few different Japanese fairy tale prints.



This geisha fabric is just a large single print. It was the only one. I think I might use it as a front panel on a skirt.



The Hina Matsuri, the Girl's Day doll's fesival, is coming up soon. This fabric, especially released for it, is really cool. On one side of the panel are patterns to make softies of the royal couple and their attendants and on the otherside is a print of the tiered steps that they are usually displayed on. It's a big piece so this is an image of only part of it. I grabbed one for myself and one for the eBay store.



I didn't forget about the boys either. They had some really funky fabrics with dragons, shishi lions and temple gardians.



The dragon on this fabric is so large and bold. I think I'll keep this one myself to make a satchel.



These are four different thick canvas fabrics that I snatched up as well. I think they'll make great boy bags. What bags do boys like? My husband has a really cool collection of satchels and other sling bags (I think he may have more bags than me!), but I'm not sure how many guys carry bags around outside of Japan. The fabrics would make some really cool unlined totes, but do boys carry totes?

And finally, last night I started sorting the fabrics. I took each metre, cut it into half so I have one piece about 50 x 100 cm, then cut the other one in half again to make 2 fat quarters, one for me to keep. From my fat quarter, I then cut a little piece and filed it away in a postcard file. It's an idea I got from some one on Flickr and I really wish I could remember who... once I find them again, I'll link them to this post.

Well, I must dash, I have fabrics calling my name......

10 comments:

Jenny said...

OMG!!!!!!!They are simply gorgeous! I would love to visit a shop like that and 5 levels!!!! You are certainly a very excellent fabric shopper-you know I am not goin gto be able to stay away from ebay much longer!!!!

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

Thanks Jenny! That shopping trip was so much fun! The staff were so polite despite the fact that I kept piling up their counter with bolts and more bolts and were even very nice about labelling the price on each piece for me - I think I would have been told to bugger off if I was in Spotlight!

Anonymous said...

These are all sooo lovely; can't wait until you set up shop on Etsy! I especially love the kawaii fabric with the little patterns, perfect for hooties :)

Ooooh, now I'm so envious...

hugs,
Sibi

Joanne said...

crikey o riley - i'm so jealous! Those fabrics are just delicious - and five floors?! I could weep.

mizu designs said...

what an amazing shopping spree you've had! and lovely lovely fabics. so sorry to hear about your stuff in Aus being destroyed. how awful.

Anonymous said...

wow i would love so many of those patterns. where abouts are they hiding this store. i plan to have $3000 spendng money when i hit japan at the end of this year =3

Anonymous said...

I'm here in the comment line behind everyone else, drooling, clapping, and applauding your fabulous shopping! One of my favorite childhood books was a collection of Japanese fairy tales. Wish I could find it again - the illustrations were lovely, as were the stories.

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

Thank you for the comments everyone! Sorry I'm so behind in replying.

Anonymous, the store is in Nagoya. Please contact me if you want more details. You'll have a ball shopping here!

Unknown said...

WoW! You are one lucky girl! How fun to find such a fabulous store. I would love to go shopping with you someday. I love seeing you collecting fabrics - you must have a huge storage area. I also think it must be difficult to part with things...

JuliaB said...

Wow.... lovley fabrics, what I couldn't do with them!!

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