No pretty pictures or links to post today, I'm afraid! This morning when I woke up, I felt really motivated! So I got online, and I ordered Gypsy a fresh supply of Swedish cat food. (Reindeer was one of the flavors, and I will feel like I'm serving up Rudolph every time I feed it to her.) Then I went and ordered myself a TABLE for my sewing machine! No more sewing at our round, glass kitchen table that I keep thinking is going to shatter every time I sew fast! And I think I got a pretty good deal: 66 euro, including VAT and delivery. I can't wait to have a separate work space again. I would have liked to wait until July, when the new IKEA is opening, but man, I just couldn't wait until then. Sewing is so miserable in this little nook. And this table should be for eating, not used as my desk! Next thing I need to do is get my dress form shipped to me, and I will have most of my former studio here in Ireland.

So then I decided to get some sewing supplies in town. But wouldn't you know it, not thirty seconds into my shower and I came down with a migraine. I waited until the visuals were mostly over, and then I headed out. I picked up some snaps and knitting needles at the Trimmings store, and then decided to venture into town to this store called Hickey's which is sort of like the equivalent to Joann's fabric, the US fabric store chain, I guess, but much smaller and a little more boutiquey. They have one floor that is mostly bridal, and one floor that is mostly curtains and upholstery. Then the apparel fabrics are...limited. But not only that, they are SO SO SO EXPENSIVE.

Let me give you some perspective on how expensive. At Joann's you can get cotton knit from about 1.99 to 6.99 US dollars per yard, which is about 1.53 to 5.36 Euro. But don't forget that it's yards, not meters, and keep in mind (for later) that a yard is .9144 meters.

At Hickey Fabrics, I found a knit fabric. It was a plain periwinkle color -- nothing to write home about (get it? irony!) -- just a plain cotton knit (it might have even been a cotton/poly blend). The price tag? 12.95 euro per meter! What the??? WHY? This fabric would cost me two US dollars per yard back home, why on earth would it be 12.95 euro, or 16.89 USD per meter, which comes out to $18.34 a yard. Can you believe that? I just could not pay that amount. You can buy a finished top for that much money! And then there's the expense of any notions, like buttons or zippers, or ribbons, etc. No one could possibly shop at these places for business. So I have to find another option. The cheapest fabric in there was this gaudy brown and gold knit for five euro a meter -- still too much, and not the look I am going for at all.

I miss Building 19!! So, for the moment I have some silk that I bought at a yard sale (it was 3 euro, and now I know what a fantastic deal that was!) and some striped cotton knit that I brought with me from home (bought at Building 19 for, yes, two USD per yard), and once that is used up, hopefully I'll have sourced out good, inexpensive fabric I can use to make garments to sell. I have some good ideas ready to go, and I don't want to be held up by not having material!

Speaking of which, I finally think I am finished with a dress I started literally three years ago. It was supposed to be a top for a school project at FIT, and I ran out of time to include it in my Term Garment project. But since the fabric was 55-dollars-a -yard silk (bought at the famous Mood Fabric - god that place is a rip-off) I hung onto it. I committed a big fabric no-no by making it into a dress by using what I had left of the fabric -- the big no-no was using the fabric cross-grain! I will never do that again, because it truly makes a huge difference -- the skirt and the bodice actually look like two different colors even though it's the same fabric. The dress is not my size, but would fit someone a little larger in the waist. I will take photos of it, as well as another great little dress I made a couple of weeks ago, and post them very soon!