Los Angeles

My Saturday in California was spent in LA doing that thing I do when I'm there. It was kind of nostalgic crawling through traffic on the 5. My first task was to find fabric for a wedding dress I'm working on. Ooooohhh, the bounty of fabric in the fashion district and at unbeatable prices, too! Within the fashion district of LA are several blocks lined with fabric vendors usually offering the leftovers from nearby fashion houses and mills. (I don't mind leftovers!)
This isn't the best photo representation of the fabric shops in the fashion district. It's a bit more disheveled than the norm. This happens to be Journal Fabrics, where I bought the silk dupioni for the wedding dress I'm making. ($8.00/yard straight from the mill and not even shed from it's plastic yet!)

As much as I love the wedding silk, satin, and crinoline I bought. The treasure of my hunt was this:

And a close up (because I know you want to see a close up):

I've decided that every fabric venture in Los Angeles should be remembered with a yard of delicious fabric. So here I go, beginning my fabric collection. At FIDM, we have a room with a wall full of this kind of stuff. (Infact, I was standing in that room when I experienced my first California earthquake. Seeing the fabric sway tipped me off that I wasn't just feeling dizzy.) I already have a few yards of some really cool, hand-woven, ethnic fabric from Guatemala that Aaron brought back for me last year.

After several hours of haggling and bargaining, I hit up FIDM for a few hours of draping in the studio.

I snapped a shot of the studio I was working in with my cell phone for the record's sake. I'm not sure why the student I caught in this picture looks so angry... maybe she's just thinking. While I was working away and overhearing the conversations of students around me, I couldn't help feel like gloating about the fact that I had no assignments due or stressful deadlines. As I observed the frantic students around me I was glad I didn't have a deadline but recognized I missed the environment. And then I had a wonderful realization: I wouldn't go back. I'm so happy to be moving forward and free to pursue whatever path I choose. (I think I mention this in every blog post... Guess it must be true.) But I think it's a good sign when you don't long for yesteryear. So that was reassuring to me.

Oh, and finding an overlock didn't happen. I simply don't have the money to invest in that yet. And I didn't have room in the car to fit it (along with everything I own that I shoved in).