osaraba | Canvas? Poplin? Twill? @

So yesterday while I was waiting for Angelica to get out of work, I took Louie & Maryann with me on a search for fabric in the Garment District. Well, actually, let me rewind a bit.

Angelica went to the post office in the morning and picked up a few things of mine -- something from

gokumew2 and the new Buck-Tick album, which was just released on Tuesday! I expected to receive it on Saturday or Monday, imagine my surprise when I got it several days early! It's quite a bit darker/angry than the last two albums (One Life, One Death, and Kyokutou I LOVE YOU). It surprised me, but it's cool 'cause I really like their darker stuff anyway. I don't love some of the more angry stuff, but it'll probably grow on me like all of B-T's stuff eventually does. ^_~ But anyway, I was so excited to get it; I really love getting new B-T stuff! On Tuesday night, when Angelica slept over, we saw the Warp Days concert video, which was really cool. They did some of the old songs that I really like; and Cosmos! Atsushi sang an a capella version of Cosmos on the Sexy Stream Liner concert vid which was just soooo amazing. Unfortunately, it's not on the live album. I was hoping that he'd sing it a capella again, but he didn't. It was still amazingly beautiful, though.

Anyway, I waited at GCS for Louie and Maryann, listening to the new B-T album for the first time. When they showed up around 4:15, we headed over to take the train to 34th Street & 7th Avenue. I know the Garment District is in the 30's, around Fashion Avenue (7th Avenue), but I couldn't remember exactly where. But when we got out of the station at 34th & 7th, I knew we were in the wrong area because we were at Madison Square Garden. Sorry, but there are no dinky wholesale/retail fabric stores right around MSG. o.O* So I thought, maybe it's on 6th or 8th. We walked to 6th. Still looked wrong. Walked back to 7th. Then I thought, maybe it's in the upper 30's, closer to the 40's. We started walking uptown on 7th. I finally gave in at 36th and called the store to ask Yvette if she knew where fabric stores might be. She said there were some on 38th and 39th Streets, and some more around there on 8th Avenue. We continued walking (skipping 38th Street because we'd been talking), and turned down 39th.

The whole block was practically one long row of fabric stores. So we started going to each one, crossing the street to get to the ones on the other side, then crossing back over (and so on, and so on, etc.) as we continued down the block. After the first 5 or 6 stores, I started getting confused -- I could not remember for the life of me which way we'd come/which way we were heading. Louie finally pointed out that we were going with the traffic, but that only helped for another store or two. After that, I was just like, "You go; I'll follow."

A lot of the stores didn't have canvas (which is what I was looking for to make the Utena jackets); and some did, but not in the colors I needed (black, orange and wine). One place had a really nice heavy canvas in an orange that was absolutely perfect for Liz's Juri costume. But I didn't want to get it 'cause I wanted to try to get matching fabric for all of us, and it was in one of the first stores we went into. One of the other stores had a 60-inch cotton poplin in all the colors that we needed for only $1.99/yard (which is amazingly cheap)! The poplin was stiff like I wanted, but too thin for what I had in mind. The store next door had a 60-inch cotton twill for $2.99/yard, also in all the colors we needed. The twill was also stiff, and a bit thicker than the poplin, but not as heavy as the canvas I'd seen in black (in the Queens store), or the orange in one of the first stores we went into.

Actually, the pattern I have (for mens'/boys' Civil War uniform costumes) recommends 45" fabric in broadcloth, poplin, or twill.

At that point, I stopped and called Angelica to ask if I should go with one of the lighter materials, or get the black canvas from the Queens store, the orange canvas from that first store, and keep looking for a wine-colored canvas. She talked it out a bit with me, but basically ended up with, "It's up to you." I decided to go to a few more stores and then make a decision.

Luckily, Louie and her mom are more familiar with sewing/fabric stuff, so asking her for her thoughts/opinions about the fabric helped me to make up my mind a bit. After a few more stores (none of them having a heavier fabric in all the colors we needed), I decided I'd go with the twill. I definitely didn't want the poplin because it was too light, but considering how much less expensive the twill was than the canvas from Queens, I figured I could just use Louie's suggestion of having the jackets starched when I'm done making them, to make them more stiff if they aren't stiff enough for my liking.

We went back to the store with the twill, and since the price was so much less than I'd estimated, I got an extra yard of each, plus I got some of the same fabric in green for Liz's Schu jacket. I would have gotten navy for Farfie's vest, but they didn't have it in the same cotton twill fabric. So I decided to hold off on that in case I could find it somewhere else.

So I ended up spending only $60 for 5 yards each of: black, orange, burgundy/wine, and pine green -- waaay under our limit of $100. What a relief!

But damn that bag was heavy!

We walked back to the 34th/7th subway station, and basically went our separate ways. I went back to the store (lugging the massively heavy bag all the way) and collapsed into a chair. Luckily, Angelica had said that Fay and Yvette had both left early since it had been a very slow day that day. I told her all about my adventure in trying to find the right fabric.

While she was taking care of a customer, I thought about what I'd say about how we were going to split the cost of the fabric. 'Cause it was her money that I used to pay for it (she just got quite a chunk of her extra loan money while I'm still dead broke). Our plan was that she'd pay up front and I'd pay her back my part of it. But from the four bolts of fabric that I bought, only one of them was going to make her costume. How would I explain splitting the cost down the middle? ('Cause there's no way I can afford to pay $45 of it, especially 'cause there's no way Liz can pay me for her part of the fabric.) Well. I figured that splitting it down the middle would cover the fact that I'm the one who's going to be putting in all the work to actually make the costumes. And I think it's pretty fair. Considering these jackets would probably cost at least $75 each if we had them made for us. So I think it's pretty fair. ^^

Then again, I actually have to make them. LOL.

When I got home, I began telling my mom all about my fabric-search-adventure. She actually used to make her own clothes and stuff and I'd ask her to help, but she's really busy with work and all. Anyway, she asked to see the pattern. When I brought it up for her, I read the recommendations (which I'd half-remembered while looking for the fabric) and told her that it recommended broadcloth, poplin or twill. I asked her what broadcloth was, and she said that it was actually lighter than the poplin. So I actually got the heaviest of the recommended fabrics. Go me. (Although I'm still a bit disappointed in not being able to get a heavy canvas.)

We got started talking about how we're doing Liz's hair for Juri, which led to reminiscing about last year -- doing Liz's hair for 3 hours for her Mana costume, which led to an intense urge to go to Otakon. Right. Now. ^_~

Oh, and Angelica told me that apparently her grandmother's sewing machine broke, so although I hadn't mentioned it in my last post, I was also considering that I could ask Louie's mom (Suzanne, right? Suzanne?) for help if I need to. She's really cool like that. And fun. ^^