Fabric Mecca
I have found Fabric Mecca, and it is not in New York or LA. No no no, my friends. It is located right here in the DFW Metroplex. (Walnut Hills and Harry Hines, to be exact.)
Behold: the Golden D'or. Not the best part of town, true. But OH so worth it for fabric shopping. They had a little bit of everything, and it is all super discounted. Their fabric is all closeout, so it's 50-75% off retail...and on top of that they have a clearance room where bolts are marked down another 50%! Don't get confused when you arrive, however. This is where you will enter:
So old school. I love it. Seeing as how I'm in serious wedding dress mode, I made a beeline past the notions right to the Bridal area:
This is just SOME of the lace. It went on for racks and racks and there were even more bolts off to the side. I was in HEAVEN. And the prices were really reasonable...the most beautiful stuff was about $70/yard. Still expensive, but I bought my bridal lace for $120/yard, so there's that. And, because we're in Texas:
BOOM. The same laces in a rainbow of colors! Now I'm super resentful that I didn't get a Quinceañera!!! I do, however, go to Renassance Festivals:
Oh, hello there brocades! I'll take a yard of each!! They were so luxurious. I couldn't stop thinking about all the dresses and vests I could make for Matt and me for the Texas Renaissance Festival this fall!
Acevedo Fun Fact: My mother did beauty pageants when she was younger. She was pretty active in the Junior Miss program. (I'll have to dig up the pictures one day...they're amazing). And as I stared at these sequins, I felt the call of pageantry running through my veins...even though I've never considered such a thing in my life! But hey, when you're in Fabric Mecca I suppose it's hard to think straight.
I mean, really. I NEED these Ombre sequins in my closet. I have no idea how I would wear them...any suggestions? But my, they are beautiful.
I have never looked at eyelets before and thought, "Vibrant." Well, I do now. So much potential in this fabric. I think I'll have to pick it up once I have a reason to make children's clothes.
Ah yes. The Trim Room. A whole room dedicated to trim. And this is most of it...it went around the corner so I couldn't get the whole thing in the shot. Ribbons and ric rac and pom poms and cording and buttons and zippers and anything you could possibly imagine to trim a garment with resides in this room. It was a lot to take in.
Patent Leather. I'll be returning for plenty of this, for sure. This stuff would make some adorable bags.
This room is all swimsuit material. So much spandex and lamé in this room, it was dizzying. And in so many fun prints! Check out the dolla dolla bills, y'all!!!
And then I stumbled on the velvet:
Who needs me to make them a tracksuit? Or perhaps some Juicy knockoff lounge pants? This stuff was so pretty!!!
This particular fabric is one of my favorites: Dupioni and Shantung silk. Those colors were so beautiful...and because they are shot woven, had so much dimension as I was looking at each one up close and moving it around on the bolt, watching the colors flow in the light. Breathtaking.
Oh yes. Stretch lace for unmentionables. You know you want to make your own underwear, too. Suffice it to say, I spent a good 2 or 3 hours just wandering around the racks aimlessly, appreciating all of the beauty that was surrounding me. I had initially gone in to look for some upholstery fabric for the pampasan chair cushion I need to make, but there was nothing that made me stop in my tracks in that particular department. (Not that the selection was poor...I just don't have the eye for that kind of thing.) As I made a second trip around the store, I was able to narrow down my wants, and this is what I settled on:
Aren't they pretty? Let's take a look at each one a little more in depth:
My fiancée desperately needs a second pair of swim trunks. So, of COURSE I will make them. This is my favorite shade of blue. It looks great on him, too. Only $2.95/yard.
This fabric is going to solve a major problem in my life. We discovered when my sister was in town for a visit a couple of weeks ago that she had lost a significant amount of weight. She was already skinny to begin with, so I'm not sure where she had weight to lose but, alas, these things happen. So the beautiful Maid of Honor dress I made just a few short months ago is now a potato sack on her, and I pretty much need to remake the whole thing. There is going to be no altering that. This particular red fabric is a stretch crepe. Unlike the regular poly woven, it should skim her body very nicely. I'm going to go down two sizes based on her new measurements, and this should do the trick. Even if it's a tad too small, well, that's what the stretch part is for! The other thing I find interesting about this particular fabric is the grain. Look closely...it's already on the bias! The dress I'm making is bias cut, so this should be fun. It was only $10.00/yard, so if I can't make it work I'm only out $20, and I'll make something else with it one day.
Purple Leather Remnant. A little over a third of a yard for $3.50. Should make a cute clutch!
These were the trims I got from the aforementioned Trim Room. The top ribbons of headphones and a vinyl album pay homage to my other hobby: radio. (In my past life just 2 months ago, I was a fairly successful radio show producer, and I love all things audio.) For that reason, these two ribbons were a no brainer. The black satin I am going to use as the trim on the bridesmaid dresses. Both were $1.50/yard.
This was the most expensive thing I bought. At $39/yard I could only afford one yard of it, and it accounted for a little over half of my tab today. But the Fish Scale Sequins are probably my favorite item from today. I love how I can choose either the iridescent pink, the flatter white look, or a mixture of both for my garment. I think this is going to end up a tank top to wear either on our honeymoon or the week of the wedding. And they had SO MANY other colors to choose from! That's a wrap on my first visit to Fabric Mecca. I didn't even really get to touch on the upholstery, fleece, minky, flannel, knits, quilting cottons, athletic wear, shirtings, wool, suitings...I promise I will on future visits. The potential here is overwhelming, yet so inspiring!