I look forward to Sew Expo as an opportunity to share time with my dear friend C, learn something new, and find some lovely new fabrics. Last year was the year of the bra. This year, thanks to the work I've been doing with Wardrobe Architect, it's about stretch, stretch, stretch!
One of the most fascinating things to us girls, we are both engineers, was the see through Bernina. We were fascinated by watching the components in motion and seeing the lights flicker and remain steady on the breadboard. It's really fun to experience the intersection of our love of sewing with our careers in engineering. Thanks Bernina! You rock. Though, we turned to the sales rep and fully admitted that we'd love to take the machine apart, to which he was a bit overprotective. That's ok dude. We wouldn't really at the show. ;)
One of the most fascinating things to us girls, we are both engineers, was the see through Bernina. We were fascinated by watching the components in motion and seeing the lights flicker and remain steady on the breadboard. It's really fun to experience the intersection of our love of sewing with our careers in engineering. Thanks Bernina! You rock. Though, we turned to the sales rep and fully admitted that we'd love to take the machine apart, to which he was a bit overprotective. That's ok dude. We wouldn't really at the show. ;)
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There were many lovely and interesting seminars at Sew Expo 2015. However, there was one that stood out in bold letters for me. It was Annette's "In the Swim" seminar. Annette is the author of Pacific Fabric's email newsletter. And, she's amazingly talented at making swimwear. Thanks to her, Pacific Fabrics had lots of lovely nylon/lycra blends in solids and prints available in their booth as well as swimwear elastic and more. There was so much interest in the products they brought in specially for sewing swimwear that they had a run on them and ran out! How cool is that?
While a consumer might be disappointed by not having something available, I see things differently today than I did 7 years ago in 2008. Back then, I would be disappointed if stock was out in an item I wanted. However, since the housing & economic crash of '08, everyone has stopped buying. That meant shops were left with lots of stock and no buyers. As a result, new products have been slow to enter the stores. Stores have reduced inventory or stopped carrying certain products full stop. So today, when a store is completely out of something, I will wait for it's return or request the store order some for me. By ordering and letting them know I'm interested, it helps them identify where to spend their precious dollars on stock. It shows them this is what I, as your customer, value and wish to purchase. Put your money where your mouth is and vote with your "feet". If you want something to stick around, you need to support it. That goes for anything. What you value is what remains, all else eventually falls away.
So yay for you, PacFab, I'm glad you're carrying more swim wear (you've always had a decent selection), and I'm glad that the local market is supporting the product, because I LOVE me some swim fabrics.
While a consumer might be disappointed by not having something available, I see things differently today than I did 7 years ago in 2008. Back then, I would be disappointed if stock was out in an item I wanted. However, since the housing & economic crash of '08, everyone has stopped buying. That meant shops were left with lots of stock and no buyers. As a result, new products have been slow to enter the stores. Stores have reduced inventory or stopped carrying certain products full stop. So today, when a store is completely out of something, I will wait for it's return or request the store order some for me. By ordering and letting them know I'm interested, it helps them identify where to spend their precious dollars on stock. It shows them this is what I, as your customer, value and wish to purchase. Put your money where your mouth is and vote with your "feet". If you want something to stick around, you need to support it. That goes for anything. What you value is what remains, all else eventually falls away.
So yay for you, PacFab, I'm glad you're carrying more swim wear (you've always had a decent selection), and I'm glad that the local market is supporting the product, because I LOVE me some swim fabrics.
Annette's class was FABULOUS! C & I learned so much. Use cotton to line the crotch. Lining a suit is easier than you think. There were many samples passed around, one of which is shown below. Annette was patient, detailed, and very kind. She even offered her email address for us to converse with her further. I had a chance to pick her brain about some skips & breaks I've been seeing in my stretch sewing. She suggested using a size 75 needle, and also getting a tune up on my machine. Practical and simple. I highly suggest you chat with Annette if you get the chance - or say hi to her via the newsletter or the blog - that's not an easy job to keep coming up with new topics to share and engage customers. But she does it beautifully.
Drum roll please.... C won the door prize in the "In the Swim" seminar! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's standing at one counter of the Pacific Fabrics Booth at Sew Expo. For those that haven't been to Expo, that's the gorgeous Tilton Sisters booth behind C. So many drool worthy, gorgeous fabrics to choose from between Tiltons and Pacific Fabrics. Both are among my favs!
Awesome friend that she is, C shared part of her prize, a $10 gift certificate to PacFab. Woot Woot! I found some gorgeous stretch fabrics at the Pacific Fabric booth (see below) that fit perfectly with my color palettes I chose during Wardrobe Architect. The purple will likely be a dress and/or hoodie. The green with dots will definitely be happy pants as will the aqua plaid. The pink (my fav shade) is destined to be a T-shirt, unless I discover that is a shade of pink in which I look nekked from a distance, in which case I'll use it differently. Ha! I love them all.
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