Lach mich schlapp!

I am a very, very, very lucky person to be blessed with such generosity. In one of my moments of low blog wit, I mentioned how much I like European sewing pins. Lo and behold, look what I get in the mail! (What if I mentioned how much I like German cars ...?) Not only the sewing pins, but--looky looky--an authentic appliqué from the often imitated but never, ever duplicated Creabine (I'd show you how very detailed and carefully crafted this darling bug is, but darn it, if that girl's brilliant ideas don't get swiped out from underneath her ...). And some awesome Stoff!

I don't spend hours at JoAnn's combing the racks (the muzak is enough to make me harbor mean thoughts). I get some basics, like denim, eyelet, maybe some specialty cotton (and only because it is located next to the denim), I get my notions, I stock up on the bias tape German- Democratic-Republic-style, because JoAnn's always runs out and then takes six months to restock ... and I then I get the heck outta there before Whitney tells me that the "Greatest Love of All" is happening to her.

I don't get all that jazzed about fabric. I get excited about texture and hand and weight, but I don't think too much about the color or the print. All I ask my Internet suppliers is, "Tell me what it feels like." Really. Seems odd, but let me explain. I like to find out what a material does. I like to see where a seam placed this way or that will have an effect. Seams are where the alchemy of clothing design happens. Fabric selection conveys the cultural reference or mood the seamstress is trying to strike. I make road maps and the fabric is too close to the final destination for me to think about. Still, I need fabric. Therefore, my favorite fabric to work with is fabric picked out by somebody else for me. I recently stitched together a new pattern from a fabric that was given to me. It was a material I probably would have passed over at the store. And yet, when I stitched the two halves together and saw how the fabric fell and flowed, it was one of those really happy moments when I knew the design would work. I like it so much, I'm putting this particular design example on the cover of the pattern.

Thank you.