Monday, December 13, 2010

Stealth Shopping

Today was my last vacation day for 2010, and I spent some of it in NY. Very little of it, actually - my trip resembled most of my visits to my aunt in that the trip itself took longer than the actual visit.

I caught the 9:00 a.m. Bolt bus, got to NY at 11:15, grabbed a quick breakfast and then hit the stores.

There was a specific purpose for my visit - I'm almost finished my dress for the wedding (it still needs sleeves and a lining, but the fit is good) and I decided that it needed a coordinating jacket. I had two store options for the jacket, Paron's and Mood. Paron's has wonderful quality fabrics and better pricing, but Mood just has EVERYTHING.

I started with Paron's, and though there was lots of lovely aqua on the shelves, nothing grabbed me. A female employee, sensing that I was floundering, took my swatch and sent me off to the annex to look at sale fabrics. When she came to get me, there were 5 bolts of fabric on the table.

Only one of them was aqua. WTF? Instead, she had chosen to match the taupe color that I had barely paid attention to, and she made some very nice matches indeed. So much so that I bought 2.5 yards of a jacket-weight cotton twill with a lovely sheen to it. I'll line it in the leftover silk and that will tie everything right up.

So, that problem solved, I went on my merry way with clear conscience and no shopping list. I went in and out of a few random stores without purchasing, and even survived Pacific Trim to emerge empty-handed. When was the last time that happened?

Mood is always iffy with me. Either they have stuff I love but can't afford, or nothing grabs me at all. Today was a good day. I left with 2 yards of lovely boucle. I hardly ever let myself go near those, but this just reached out and smacked me to get my attention. Other than the pink, which isn't a color I wear often, the green, light gold and browns in this fabric work with most of my existing wardrobe. The photo is blurry but best represents the colors; you all know what boucle looks like anyway.

Best part of the visit to Mood? Catching Swatch on a good day when he obviously hadn't been bombarded with enough attention and petting. He got a good ear-scratching and I got my face washed. I debated heading over to Elliott Berman for competing puppy kisses, but there wasn't time.

My bus was due to leave at 2:30 p.m., so I had a little more than half hour left to spend with Kashi. Not enough, but then again, there are enough goodies in his store that you can power-shop and be in and out quickly.

30 minutes, 4 fabrics. Left to right: charcoal gray ribbed sweater knit (poly blend so it's washable, but it doesn't feel like poly); the last 1.5 yards of one of those cotton patchwork fabrics, in my colors; a toasty golden tan wool remnant; and my personal favorite, this beautiful multi-colored floral on a black background. It's not quite vintage, not quite Liberty, but whatever it is, I had to have it.

And there you have it, the Garment District in just over 3 hours. One of these days I really do need to get beyond 40th Street and see what else is out there.

6 comments:

Elaray said...

Like me, you're very good at what I call "Hit and Run" shopping! Great haul - and I can't wait for the dress show-n-tell.

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

You sure were power shopping and what a way to spend your last Vacation Day!

The Slapdash Sewist said...

Looks like an awesome trip to me! I am desperate for some boucle and there is none to be had online. What is the world coming to???

SEWN said...

Still not talking to you, except to say you made a killing. I love all those fabrics.

;)

Kitty Couture said...

Sounds like a great shopping half-day!
It's so sweet that the employee helped you match the fabric. As you know, pigs will fly before this kind of thing happens at Tissus Reine or Dreyfus!

I really love that black floral you got. Totally understand why you had to have it! Can't wait to see what this one will want to be...

Meg said...

Too bad I didn't know you were coming, 'cause I could have saved you another 20% at Paron's. They are running a special for readers of my new blog Shop the Garment District. But you did good!