Sequins & Chambray

I am still recovering from my trip to Manhattan.  I tried to take the train much more than last year but both Javitts and the Kips Bay Showhouse were out of the way and I like to walk a few {or 30} blocks after getting out of the car in the morning.  When I'm there, I really understand why people don't leave their small neighborhoods.

I went down to Chinatown grab some Chrysanthemum tea for my sister since she mentioned she would like some and got stuck in crazy crowds.  I guess people really like cheap knock-offs.  There was also a "parade" of sorts about to happen and as I was getting annoyed that I couldn't move where I wanted to I overheard someone say, "What is this? A standing still parade?"  That kind of made my day and mostly made up for the 7 different trains I had to take to get down there and back to the Upper West Side.

I went to the Garment District first thing and found myself some sequin trim and pink Italian cotton {with a chambray look to it} and plan to make bags for my nieces with it.  I have been determined to find some sequined trim for a while now so I was happy to find it in the first trim shop I visited.

My ultimate goal is to find a trim place that I actually enjoy going to, there really aren't any good ones in Massachusetts so I've been looking around on my travels.  This time I went to Top Trimmings and, while the older people there were very pleasant and were able to help me find what I wanted in the color I wanted, they had a sort of surly younger person there who didn't make the trip as enjoyable as it could have been.  Previously I went to Pacific Trimmings and, due to a communication gap, I wound up bargaining down the zippers I bought to less than half the price they were marked and they cut them to the size I needed.  I'm still not sure how it happened.  It wasn't a bad place but I'm still looking for one I love going to.  Any suggestions would be great!

On the other hand, the fabric store I stopped at is now my new favorite, I could have stayed in there all day!  I stopped at Paron Fabrics and they have a lot of nice fabrics a lot of which are French or Italian made and they had quite a few designer cast-offs or extra fabrics from their lines.  There was nothing super expensive {well, at least not Design Center expensive} but there were a lot out of the price range of the money I had with me.  I'll have to go back with more cash one day since they have some nice wools.