Hey there Stud...

It's not what you think, I promise.  As much as some of you would like me to write all about gorgeous men, I will actually be writing about studs... as in iron-on studs, which can actually be just as interesting, and a whole lot more fun.  I got slightly ambitious regarding this topic, so bear with me.

I do admit that I did go through a phase when I was very into studded jeans.  However, it wasn't until fairly recently that I started considering putting studs on my clothes just to refurbish them.  So that's exactly what I did this week.  I bought myself some iron-on studs and went to town on some of my clothes from last year.  And I must say, I am very pleased with the results.

To start, I have to give credit to a store called TrimArt (38th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues).  While I didn't buy any studs there this week, they have undoubtedly the best selection of iron-on studs that you will find in midtown Manhattan.  They have flat studs, pyramid studs, cute shaped studs, embellished studs, jewel studs... you name it, they will most likely have it.  The picture on the right shows about... one-twelfth of the amount of studs they actually have.  Those colorful ones on the right side of the picture are actually iron-on studs that look like sequins... very cool and something I am definitely planning on using very soon.  The price range is also very affordable; anything from $2 per pack to $8 per pack, depending on the actual studs, and how many are coming in the pack.  The jewel studs and the fancier studs will obviously sell for more than your normal metal stud.

M&J (6th Avenue between 37th and 38th Streets) is another good option for studs.  They aren't as cheap as TrimArt, nor do they have the selection, but they do have some really cool stuff that TrimArt doesn't.  They have a better selection of studs in cute shapes (like hearts and moons and such) and that is what I took advantage of.  I was debating about some cool flat black studs and some cute gold finish heart shaped ones.  In the end, I bought two packs of heart shaped studs, one larger and one smaller, and applied them to a couple of plain black skirts I bought at H&M last year.  Each pack was $4, which is actually at the very low end of the price range.  The most expensive studs I saw were $8 per pack.  The end product is the picture on the left.  I got a little stud happy and put the same design on the back as well.

And last but not least, there's Joyce (38th Street between 6th Avenue and Broadway).  Being the small store that it is, the selection of pretty much anything is not very large.  They do have quite a nice amount of studs though, considering the size of the store.  The picture on the right shows most of the basic studs they have (pyramid studs, circles, squares, flat metal studs), but they also have some really cute shapes and colors on the next shelf over from this one.  I immediately saw some awesome flat circle studs in neon pink, yellow and orange and I decided that I must have them.  I went with the largest pink studs, but in retrospect, wish I had bought all three colors to create something awesome.  I used the pink studs to create some adorable hearts on a plain black, knit dress that I also bought at H&M last year (picture below).  I will probably end up going back to the store, buying the other two colors and embellishing a couple more of these same dresses that I have. The price range is big, starting at about $3 per pack of studs, going to about $10 per pack for the really fancy stuff like jewels.

In addition to iron-on studs, all three stores that I listed do offer studs with prongs if you are more comfortable applying studs by hand instead of with an iron.  A benefit of using the pronged studs as opposed to the iron-on ones is that they will not come off.  The iron-on studs will likely eventually pop off, and you will have to replace them.  The downside of using studs with prongs is that they may scratch in the back and, depending on the fabric of the garment being used, the prongs could leave holes.  I personally prefer iron-on studs because I find that there is a much bigger selection.  Pronged studs tend to only come in metal finishes (antique, matte, or shiny) and there is not much of a variety in shapes.  They pretty much only come in pyramid, square, or dome.  However, if you are on a budget, they are a cheaper alternative to iron-on studs.

Less is more

Occasionally, there comes a time when you have to source something that you know you like to source, but that might seem rather boring to others.  For me, this would be plain old solid cotton fabric: pretty much my favorite thing to sew with.  Being slightly afraid of prints, it is really nice to be able to go out and have such a huge selection of lovely solids to choose from.  And not only just regular solid fabric: you have all sorts of weights, all sorts of textures and about a million colors right at your fingertips.

Personally, I prefer getting a solid that has a little bit of stretch to it because I think that having a little give makes a fabric easier to work with.  The solids with stretch also sometimes have a slight sheen to them which gives the fabric a little more depth than a matte solid fabric.  Mood (37th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues), of course, has a nice selection of solid cotton fabrics in many different colors.  They mostly have mid-weight, stretch cotton in amazing colors.  The biggest issue I have with Mood, is the fact that this particular section of bolts (located in the back far right of the store) is incredibly disorganized.  There are two areas for the fabric on opposite sides of the aisle: one side of the isle is nicely color coordinated, while the other side of the aisle has no rhyme or reason.  All the colors are mixed together which makes it really difficult to find what you want.  If you are willing to overlook that problem, the prices are right overall.  They range from about $8 to $14 per yard, depending on if it's plain or some sort of specialty cotton.  I did find this really awesome fabric that is black on one side, and sparkly on the other side for only $10 per yard which I thought was a steal considering that the back had some neat detailing.  I will admit though, that the nicer the feel of the fabric, generally the more expensive it will be.

Another place I like to go for my wonderful solids, is Elegant (on 40th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues).  The selection at this store is laid out much better, as it is all color coded.  A minor problem I have with this particular fabric venue is the fact that, even though the colors are lumped together, so are all of the different contents.  These are not just plain old cotton solids: there's polyester, there's rayon, there's stretch and non-stretch.  It can get a little overwhelming because you really have to make sure that you thoroughly feel every fabric to make sure it's exactly what you want.  You do have to do a little searching for the actual section because there are about a million nooks and crannies in this store, but the aisle you want is in the second to last aisle on the left, closer to the middle cutting tables.  The price range here is actually a good deal more expensive than Mood: anywhere from about $14 to $25 per yard on pretty much the same fabrics.

I would also always suggest popping into a couple of the much smaller, lesser known stores.  They don't have the selection, but their advantage is that they sometimes have fabrics that the bigger stores won't.  Also, if you hit the right one, you might be able to talk down the price a little bit.  The ones below are a couple of good ones.  The man who owns Fabrics Garden (39th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, up a few steps) is a really nice guy.  If you go in enough times, he starts to recognize you and he will negotiate with you.  Swan Fabrics (39th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues) I've only been to a couple of times.  It is a VERY small store and the people who own the store can be a little bit pushy but I have found some really nice things there for very reasonable prices.

And just for a little something different, here is a picture of a dress I made out of solid cotton stretch fabric which I purchased from Mood for $8 per yard.  It is a really nice medium weight, mustard yellow cotton/spandex.

Off the Chain

I am a bit of a self-admitted minimalist when it comes to clothing.  I tend more towards solids, not a lot of embellishments... simple, if you will.  But I always seem to find myself marveling at the selection of chain-by-the-yard whenever I go to a trim store.  They just amaze me: tiny chains, chunky chains, multi-colored chains... I seem to just love the idea of them more than I actually love the idea of wearing them.  But I just know that one of these days I will go crazy and buy tons of yards of chain and make something amazing with it.  In the meantime, I will just continue to dream about it.

The most to-the-point advice I can give is to take the train to Bryant Park and walk along 6th Avenue between 40th Street and 36th Street.  There are probably six or seven bead stores in this four block area.  Now, bead stores in New York aren't anything like bead stores anywhere else.  They actually contain much more than just beads.  There are all sorts of awesome goodies that can be found at these stores, including yardage of chain.  I snapped the picture on the right at a store called Toho Shoji (6th Avenue between 37th and 36th).  This is maybe a sixth of the selection that the store actually has.  I took this one because I'm a fan of the gunmetal colored chains on the bottom.  They also have silver, gold, black, and all sorts of delightful bright colors.  If you are looking for something a little fancier than the normal chain link type chain, check out the website.  It has some really pretty things like chains that look like vines or hearts, ball chains, box chains, rope chains.  The chain racks are very easy to find, which I am a big fan of, as I don't like to search for things in a store.  Just walk on in, turn to the left, and there you are.  The price range is pretty big, about $1-$18 per foot depending on the width of the chain itself.

Another place you could go for a pretty good selection of chain is the ever popular Pacific Trimmings (38th street between 7th and 8th Avenues), a place I tend to mention quite a lot.  A perk of this store as opposed to Toho Shoji, is the fact that they have a selection of acrylic chain as well as metal chain.  However, the overall selection of chains in general is smaller.  The organization of the spools is also a little bit messy, and you sometimes have to search for what you want.  The chain spools are kept in the back of the store to the left of the cash wrap counter, and some are kept right in front of it.  A great perk of this store is that they have chain metal by the yard as well.  I couldn't find a picture of chain metal, but it's basically flat metal pieces attached together by metal rings.  It is very flexible, and it is used a lot in jewelry.  It can make a great embellishment to garments, and I have seen it used for shoulder patches or on patch pocket flaps.  The prices are cheaper as well, as they price by the yard instead of by the foot.  A yard of chain goes for anywhere from $4-$9 per yard.

Maybe I'm a secret junkie for shiny things and my simple nature tends to lead me away from the chains that I seem to gravitate towards.  Either way, whenever I pluck up the courage to make something sassy with chain, I'll know exactly where to go.

All about Spandex

And no... I'm not (necessarily) talking about the jazzercise, 90's aerobics outfits type of spandex.  But sometimes there is an occasion when you want to make a t-shirt, or a bathing suit, or a sweet pair of leggings and you need to find a place to go in order to get the best spandex or spandex blend.  Before I moved to New York, I shopped pretty much exclusively at Jo-ann Fabrics for any fabric I needed.  They had a modest selection of knits and stretch fabrics.  When I did move to New York, I discovered that there are actually stores that ONLY sell spandex blends, and 100% spandex fabrics.  At first, it was slightly comical to me to hear about people talking about stores called 'Spandex House' or 'Spandex World'.  All I could think about was a 'Saved by the Bell' era scene, with people walking around with teased hair, blue eyeshadow and those atrocious thong leotard things with the bike shorts underneath.  However, when I actually went to these stores, there were no people wearing spandex and no teased hair.  I was met with a seemingly endless variety of knit fabrics.  Being a huge fan of anything made out of knit, I was blown away.

image: www.shopthegarmentdistrict.com

First and foremost, I would recommend going to Spandex House (on 38th street, between 7th and 8th Avenues).  A two-story spandex heaven.  They have pleather, metallic, sequin, velvet, printed, chiffon, mesh... name it, they have it in a stretchy version.  It can be a little overwhelming if you don't really know where anything is, but it is easy to get your bearings, as everything is organized pretty well.  Downstairs is all novelty: bathing suit material, sequin and sparkles, knit denim, and wacky prints.  Upstairs is the more basic stuff like cotton, polyester, rayon, lace and velvet.  One of the best things about the store is that they give you nice sized swatches, which makes it easier to visualize the garment you want to make.  The price range in the store is huge.  Anything from $6 per yard for basic cotton or polyester stretch, to $40 and more per yard for something heavily embellished.  I'm not going to sugar coat it: if you need stretch fabric, GO HERE!

image: itshisandhers.blogspot.com

Another decent alternative is Spandex World (also on 38th street, between 7th and 8th Avenues).  The store kind of looks like a circus, from both the inside and the outside.  It is a good deal smaller than Spandex House, but occasionally you will be able to find some awesome fabric at Spandex World.  The price range is pretty comparable to that of Spandex House, so on that basis, they are equal.  However, I do have a couple of grievances regarding Spandex World: the main one being that they do not give swatches of all fabrics.  They have some fabrics hanging in bunches around the store and those are the only fabrics you may have swatches of.  I mostly understand them not wanting to give out tons of swatches to everyone, but this still annoys me when I have to settle for a swatch of cotton in yellow when I really want to make something in blue.  I also have problems with the layout of the first floor.  Being kind of a personal space freak, I try to avoid stores that are overly crowded, and this is one of them.  There is so much merchandise, that sometimes it feels like you need a GPS to get around the store.  The real reason I go continue to subject myself to these minor annoyances, is the fact that they have great novelty knits.  If you like sparkles and shine, this is THE place to go.

But, if you are looking for an everyday knit, I would always suggest checking out any old fabric store.  They will, very rarely, have something amazing that a spandex store won't have and they are worth popping into every so often.  I will say though, that they are almost always more expensive than either one of the spandex stores.  A basic rayon spandex blend can even run you up to $18 per yard, whereas at the other stores, you will be paying more like $6 - $8 per yard.  I think if I had to name one basic fabric store to look for knits, I would say Fabrics Garden (on 39th street between 7th and 8th Avenues).  It's in the middle of the street up a few stairs.  The knit fabrics are toward the back of the store.  They have a good selection, considering they aren't a specialty knit fabric store.  When I had to source knit polka dot fabric, this was one of the only stores that I could find it in.  The absolute best thing about this store, is that if you get the right salesperson to help you, they will sometimes give you a better price than the one listed.  The prices are maybe a couple of dollars more the expensive than the spandex stores, but it's worth a look if you're in the area anyway.

Perhaps it's just my love of pretty much any garment made of knit fabrics, but I am a huge lover of spandex stores!  Definitely check them out if you're in the market.

Buttons, buttons everywhere

I have to say before I start this post, that I am not much of a user of buttons.  I do always find myself perusing the buttons section at any trim store I may go into, but I always end up going with a zipper if I need a closure.  But, in my many days working as in intern for various companies, I have been asked to source countless amounts of buttons in different colors, sizes, and materials.  In my experience, a good button can be a difficult thing to find.  Most of the time, there is a specific idea of what kind of button needs to be used for the garment that is being made and having to go out and find the button that exists in your head is a much bigger deal than anticipated.

image source: www.diaryofaquilter.com

To start, I will have to say that M&J Trimming (on 6th Avenue, between 38th and 37th streets) has, hands down, the best button selection I have seen at any trim store I have been to.  Not only do they have just about every color button known to man, but they also have just about any material that exists: leather, pleather, wood, shell, horn, plastic, metal, fabric.  The picture at right is merely a tiny portion of the amount of buttons that is available.  M&J is especially great if you need any sort of novelty button.  They have all sorts of super fun buttons (like those sparkly gold and silver star buttons in the picture).  The one and only downside to shopping at M&J is the price situation.  The fact is that they are more expensive than most other stores.  If you want a plain plastic button it will only run you a few dollars for six or seven buttons, which is comparable to most other trim stores.  But if you want a novelty button (especially anything metal, wood, or leather) it could cost up to five dollars PER BUTTON.  Now just imagine: you're making a coat and need six nice leather buttons.  That is already thirty dollars spent just for the buttons.

image source: www.lindsaytsews.com

Unfortunately, there is no other store that has nearly the selection that M&J has.  The store takes up a good percentage of a city block, which means they have a lot of merchandise.  But if you are willing to go to a few different stores for the sake of finding the perfect button, there are a few more affordable options.  Joyce Buttons and Trims (on 38th street, between 6th Avenue and Broadway) does have a pretty decent selection of novelty buttons.  The specialize in the more glamorous buttons, such as ones with crystals and jewels.  While not super cheap (a jewel button will run about two-five dollars a piece), they are still more affordable than M&J, not to mention that they have cheaper alternatives in the store.

image source: www.lindsaytsews.com

If you are looking for a more basic button (think solid color, plastic, two or four hole) I would absolutely recommend Pacific Trimming (also known as "YKK", on 38th street, between 7th and 8th Avenues).  The store is a little cramped, so I generally try to avoid going there, but they are still the best for a basic button.  The picture at right, shows one of the button aisles in the back of the store.  There are hundreds of button drawers to choose from, it can be a little overwhelming.  But it is almost impossible to go into this store with the intention of buying buttons, and leaving without buying any.  I have found that they are the absolute best for basic black and white, as well plain old flat metal shank buttons (great if you are going for the military look).  The best thing about the buttons in the store is that on average, they are less than two dollars per button.  Some even go for as little as fifty cents per button.  They do have some very fancy buttons as well, but I would suggest avoiding these, as they are quite pricey.

Now, if after going to all three stores, you are still unable to find the button you want, I would suggest trying Lulu Buttons (on 38th street, between 6th and 5th Avenues).  This is store is a tiny, narrow, one-room store.  They don't have much of a selection but you can occasionally find a cool novelty button or two.  The one advantage this store has is that they will dye buttons to match the garment.  The button is dyed using the closest pantone match to the color of the garment.  It can get pretty expensive, but if you really want a button to match, this is probably the best way to do it.

In the end, finding a button can be an overwhelming task.  It is all about knowing what you want and where to go to find it.