So I went to a couple of local fabric stores to see what kind of bridal fabrics they have. Well, not much! I'm indeed surprised. I thought that they would have lots of those. However, all I found was some itchy polyester lace, heavy crepe back satin and some cheapy polyester satin. They don't even have something simple like white dupioni silk! Does it mean I have to travel an hour to the city centre just to get some bridal fabric? What's going on with the fabric stores in my area? To be honest I have met less than 5 people in my area who sew, and most of them were quilters. Where are all the garment sewists? I guess I should not be surprised at the lack of selection for apparel fabrics in my neighbourhood.
My dear friend (around my age) who lives in a suburb of Montreal has 2 fabulous fabric warehouses in her neighbourhood. When I visit her, we always go to the fabric store because I just can't believe the selection, the quality and the prices of apparel fabrics they offer there. Does it mean there are more home sewists who sew garments in her city than mine?
Anyways, I am not going to visit my friend soon and I really need to finish this wedding dress for the photo shoot. I guess I'll just base my fabric choice on how photogenic it is than my personal comfort. Sigh.....
I think this is the situation in many parts of the world. Certainly more people seem to do craft sewing nowadays than dressmaking. Patchwork seems to be huge, and so expensive to do, so I can't work out why they don't choose to sew clothes instead - it sort of makes more sense, economically. I guess that's where the market is now, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah Liz! I have lots of friends who are surprised that I sew. They would always ask me why I didn't just shop at the mall like everyone else. The crazy thing is that I see lots of people shopping in the malls but almost all are wearing ill-fitting store bought clothes that are not that cheap to buy! If they had only had the clothes they bought altered (by themselves or a tailor) to fit their bodies, they would look so much better. Of course it would be even better if they would learn how to sew! Oh I'm preaching again........
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