Thursday, February 18, 2010

Vacation fabric purchases

How does a vacation that starts with my aunt saying "I've been saving some patterns for you" and handing you a bag filled with vintage sewing patterns not turn out to be awesome?



Please don't hate me now.

Things rapidly went uphill after that.

And here's are photos of the loot.

From left to right, a dark blue, a purple and a printed cotton. The first two will be summer dresses - the print will be a skirt. I bought these off the street - all 100% cotton, and roughly $1 a meter. (Seriously, please don't hate me now.)

A taupe pant-length of fabric (polyester-cotton blend) which will be pants. ($3?) The pink checks were a bit of a mistake/afterthought, but I will sew it up into some kind of shirtdress, I think. ($2 a meter - 100% cotton.) And the beautiful black/brown plaid? This is my Istanbul wool purchase (100% wool; 2 meters; $20).

Part 1 of my loot from Nalli. The olive green (woven with red - a color called 'mandulur' in South India) is 100% cotton, and will be another summer dress. The next three are silk/cotton blends (mostly cotton, I think, from the feel; the silk just adds a bit of luster). The cream wants to be a summer suit (yes, ambitious.) The pink and the onion-skin-color are fabric for tops. The cotton was about $1 a meter; the silk/cotton blends were $2 a meter. (Nalli has great prices.)

Part 2 of the loot from Nalli. The first two from the left are my splurges. The cream is 100% silk, absolutely gorgeous, and will be a pencil skirt. ($8 a meter.) The grey floral I really fell in love with, it is going to be another summer dress, also about $8 a meter. The last two were silk-cotton remnants that are going to be tops of some kind. I bought these at Rasi Silks, another famous Madras saree store. (I think Madras is divided into a Nalli camp and a Rasi camp - I maintain Nalli is better, but I couldn't leave without looking into Rasi to see what they had.)

This is a lungi. It is also the most lovely plaid; and I *had* to have it. (2 meters; about $2 for the lot. 100% cotton.)

In addition to the vintage pattern loot, my aunt also gave me fabric from her stash. (Two reasons. Mostly because she is very nice. But also, I think she was a bit sick of me rummaging through everything in her stash and asking her what she was planning to do with them.) The first two are pieces from vintage sarees. 100% silk. She warned me the silk is fragile, but look, how pretty! I love these! The cream is a stiff-ish, medium weight that feels like a cotton blend.

And while Biscuit is normally the world's most indulged cat, she was tossed off the fabric pretty quickly.

Like I said, please don't hate me now.

3 comments:

Christina said...

Wow, I can't believe those prices! I love silk/cotton blends. You got a lot of great stuff there...

Summerset said...

They're beautiful, and such a bargain. Thanks for sharing!

Tanya said...

great loot! I'm envious!