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Play day with Elizabeth

Elizabeth and I have been promising to do a play day in garment land. Today was the day. We met in the subway and then continued onto Metro.Kashi greeted us warmly. I had fallen in love with his remnant bin by the door during my last visit. I had made two of the remnants into pretty terrific dresses. I know some know exactly what they are going to make when they go into a fabric store. I love the sense of adventure and possibility that a remnant bin gives me. making something wonderful from what others have rejected...what could be better???


so from left to right:

About a yard of blue brown jersey

2/3 yard of red silk jersey, what beautiful synthetic jersey dreams of being when it grows up

green/s turquoise jersey border print - if I place the black part at my waistline, it will give me a pretend waist

brown heathered cotton blend jersey 7/7 yard

double faced black/blue wool jersey about 1/1/2 yards...this fabric is so cool it's making my brain spin with the possibilities.. a reversible dress??? reversible skirt and tank???

brown rayon jersey

black wool jersey 2 yards

and not from the bin...two yards of Pucci-esque jersey.

I also got a few skins. A heavy but happy load.

After this load of shopping it was lunch time. We ate at an Asian lunch place that sells buns in the front. We each got a scallion bun and a danish bun. Asian breads come from an entirely different understanding of what bread is. They are light and fluffy and kind of sweet. Elizabeth also chose one bun that came from such a different understanding of flavor that it might as well have landed from a different planet. It looked crusty like a Kaiser roll ( For the Bostonians out there, a bulkie roll), but it wasn't crusty at all. The stuff that looked like a dusting of flour was a variant on a struggle topping. The roll was filled with a radioactive looking yellow paste that I think was sweetened egg yolk. It was both really odd and delicious.

Thus fortified, we walked on to the Museum at FIT. The two current exhibits are (as usual fabulous) and I will write more about them when I have more time to process my thoughts. But suffice it to say that not only do I have a crush on the work of Isabel Toledo, I also now have a crush on the work of Maria Cornejo and Ralph Rucci. See the exhibits. If you sew they will change your life. If you don't, you wil have an afternoon looking at pretty dresses.

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