Judging fabric shops...

[lovetriangle]

Ok. When I walk in to a fabric shop and the 45" silk dupioni is on SALE at $24.99, it's time to walk out again. AND they're less than 20 minutes from the downtown fabric district. You'd think a shop with a name like Calico Corners would be a little more down-to-earth, but no. At least it wasn't spelled with K's...

It did get me thinking a little, though... I know year after year when we costumers chat about pet peeves or things we see, good and bad, synthetic or inappropriate fabrics pops up, and is usually answered by someone in a small town who says they only have access to Jo Ann's or Walmart and can't afford good silk or wool, which is in turn answered by "Use the internet! Cost is not an excuse for the wrong fabric when you can get the right fabrics cheap online." Blah blah blah, and so it goes, ad infinitum.

That got me thinking about my current fabric needs, current fabric access, and the road blocks that keep be from buying online right now.

1) Even having reasonable access to downtown LA does not make it convenient or practical to shop there when one considers traffic, parking and walking time.
2) Fabric shops I can now reach during my lunch time are the aforementioned Calico Corners and the WORST JoAnn's on earth.
3) Both CC and JA seem to think that silk dupioni is the most exotic fabric on earth, and price it at 2-6 times what I can get it for downtown. JA's has this problem with wool, too - WAYYYY overpriced for what they carry.
4) Let's face it, as scrummy as dupioni is, it's basically the bastard step-child of the silk fabric family being a cheap fabric to produce silk-wise. I like it, I use it, but it's not like getting my hands on a lovely silk twill, damask, satin or taffeta. It's constantly available in a dizzying array of colors, and Jo Ann's usually carries it, which tells you how cheap it is for being a silk.
5) Since dupioni became a popular fabric it's like an invading species problem - it's 10 times as hard to get silk that is NOT dupioni.
6) Color matching makes buying online difficult. It's great to find a deal on something online and buy it and get it and have it and be inspired to make the Perfect Dress(tm) with it, but once you have that initial fabric, trying to match or coordinate with all the problems of lighting, camera settings, monitors, etc., is next to impossible for most colors.
7) I am impatient and impulsive and don't want to pay for nor wait for swatches, only to find that the one they sent me that will work has sold out.

In short, or sort of, I am in a fabric pickle at my new job with no decent fabric shops nearby and no time to hit downtown. All fabric I need for every project awaiting fabric has to be matched to another fabric I already have. I finally have true sympathy and understanding for those of you out there who's only resources are Jo Ann's or Walmart and my heart breaks for you.

Comments

[seekatesew.livejournal.com]

Ah, Joann Fabrics, aka Fabric Hell (TM sewgeeky). Where the only silk is dupioni, and where one of the salesladies tried to tell me that linen was from some sort of animal, "like wool". At least they sometimes carry 100% linen, although you have to dig for it.