Big Bucks @ Britex

Woo hoooooo! Britex has moved from "Fabric Stores to Visit" links to "Fabric Stores Visited." I could have spent Big Bucks at Britex, but in some ways, this San Francisco trip was a Bust.

Here's why:

• I lost a London Fog coat, maybe on a SuperShuttle, but they didn't find it so who knows where it is.
• Worse, I lost a credit card.
• Someone stole our camera from our booth at the salesforce.com Dreamforce EXPO. Cameras are replaceable, photos are not. Sure would appreciate if they'd just anonymously mail the media card to us.

Thus:

• The walk from Moscone to Britex was a little chilly.
• I was spendthrift due to using a debit card instead of credit card.
• And waaaaaaaaah, no picture of fabulous fabrics now.

I did get a pic of the Britex building sign with my camera. I was so excited when I spotted the sign from down the sidewalk. Then I noticed a guy sitting in a van at the curb staring at me in his sideview mirror. What a creep, I thought. The next moment while taking a picture of the Britex building, I nearly backed up into a woman carrying an open coffee. OMG, so sorry!!! I hate when people do that to me. Now I'm one of those people. The guy in the van was watching for the whole catastrophe to happen, he said. What a creep.

At Britex, buying yards of fabric would have alerted my husband's Big Purchase Detector (I've already set off that alarm way too many times this year), so I focused on 3rd floor notions and 4th floor remnants. Let's just say, remnant prices at Britex are not like remnant prices at Vogue.

Shown above are some notions I got, not readily available in shops where I live:

• 20" Riri zippers in silver and bronze -- I cannot find these specific ones anywhere online easily; they have a fine thin dressy zipper pull instead of the round sportier pull
• really cool closures in antique bronze, silver and copper for handbags or innovative coat closures -- will bring a more expensive look to anything made with them
• Dill buttons with slots to use ribbon instead of thread -- yay!!! been on the hunt for these for long time
• LFNTextiles ribbon with vegetables for a fun apron, because we're vegetarian
• 20" flexible ruler
• Japanese silk buttonhole twist thread
• Chaco chalk pens & refills
• Iris super fine pins

Bought only two fabrics, both remnants:

Striped Burberry lining -- this will be a great lining with any ol' quality black or khaki jacket/coat fabric and make it look like Burberry, especially with the really cool closures from Britex.

A small piece of striped sage-gold-orange silk with embroidery accents in exact colors of our dining room rug. A 2010 planned project is to give the dining room a casual banquette feel with a wrap-around plush bench on two sides of the table, filled with pillows. What an excuse to sew, huh? This fabric is gloriously gorgeous, and should be at $89.99/yard! Needless to say, I got a small remnant. The pillow made from it will surely be in a corner where no one can drop blueberry waffles or tandoori tofu on it!

I had intended to today photograph & post pics of the Burda WOF copper jacket I made in October ... um, drat ... One of my pet peeves is losing things. I never lose things. I put much energy into making sure I never lose things. My husband loses things, so one of my jobs is to keep track of his stuff too. I am so bugged & bummed by losing the camera.