Unzipped

For some reason, whenever I start sewing again, I inevitably end up with somewhere between 6 and 10 garments that would be finished but for one thing: a zipper.  This is something I have been struggling with since I learned how to sew when I was thirteen years old.  I have zipper commitment issues.  Maybe the reason this started was because I only had access to Jo-Ann Fabrics, whose selection, while good enough, is hardly what I would call a mecca for sewing supplies and fabrics.  There was no choice except for what was available there; the color selection was limited, as was the selection of types and lengths.  So I took whatever was closest to what I needed and made it work.  But in New York, you could walk into pretty much any supply or fabric store and find zippers.  Generally speaking, most stores will have some kind of zipper that matches what you are making.

Let's start with the basics:  Mood (37th street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, 3rd Fl), with its seemingly never-ending fabric options, is not the place I would necessarily recommend for buying a zipper.  While they do have zippers available, the truth is that they have a relatively limited selection.  Invisible zippers must be the biggest seller, because this is the kind of zipper they have the most of.  Usually, I try to avoid invisible zippers at all costs since they are such a hassle to sew into a garment.  If you are at Mood anyway, and realize you need an invisible zipper, this would be the place to get it; but I wouldn't suggest making an extra trip there if all you need is a zipper.

Pacific Trimming (38th street, between 7th and 8th Avenues) is a smart option if you need a zipper.  They have a pretty large variety of zippers and they will shorten any zipper at the store to the exact length you need.  It usually only takes about five to ten minutes to do so and they don't charge you to do it.  I can say that a large percentage of the zippers that are offered are metal zippers.  Now, being a big fan of the exposed metal zipper, this works in my favor.  The one thing that I will say, though, is that shopping at Pacific Trimming can be a bit stressful.  The store is very tightly packed, which makes it difficult to maneuver around the store.  And, as if this weren't annoying enough, the store is almost always slightly crowded, which makes moving around even more difficult.  However, if you don't mind the way the store is laid out, you may want to try Pacific Trimming for a zipper.

Sil Thread (38th street, between 7th and 8th Avenues), is the first place I would recommend for anyone looking to buy a zipper.  From the street, it looks kind of like a hole-in-the-wall, but it is pretty much zipper heaven when you walk inside.  The store is officially a sewing supply store, but the inventory is mostly zippers.  They have metal, plastic, separating and invisible zippers in several different lengths.  They also carry some novelty zippers, like ones with pleather or sparkly tape.  If you don't find the length you need, they will shorten it for you at no extra cost.

The biggest complaint I have about zipper shopping is the fact that I have a hard time finding zippers to match exactly the fabric I have already purchased for my garment.  However until I can afford to pay to have my zippers dyed, or figure out how to dye them myself, I suppose this is just another thing I will have to deal with in the saga of making clothing.

I'm back!

Well, it's been over a year since my last post.  Things in my life have changed; and that is an understatement.  As of my last post, I was working as a Design Assistant for a wholesale company; not really doing much sourcing as that was mostly what the interns would do.  However, I did source enough to keep posting for a little while.  As of June, I lost my job.  So now, I only source for my personal projects; which is actually more than I was doing when I was working.  I wasn't making any clothes when I was working, but now that I'm not working, I have started sewing again.  And, as anyone who sews knows, muslin is the thing that is most important to me.  I use it to experiment on the dress form and to sew a 'first draft' of any garment I plan on making.

When I started sewing again, I figured that muslin would be pretty much a no-brainer to find, as it is the most basic fabric you can possibly buy.  And, for the most part, I was right.  Almost every fabric store has muslin available.  The tricky part, is finding muslin for a reasonable price.  Previous to moving to New York, I would just head on over to Jo-Ann fabrics and pick up some 36" wide muslin for a buck a yard.  I'm not delusional enough to think that I would be able to find the same price in New York, however.

The first place I looked was Mood (on 37th street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, 3rd Floor), because they have a huge selection of pretty much everything.  Turns out, the muslin is only $2.75 per yard, which is quite reasonable as far as I'm concerned.  They also offered to get another roll from the back if I wanted more than was on the bolt.  I decided though, that before buying, I would check around in my usual fabric haunts to see if I could spot a better price.  I ventured over to B&J (on the corner of 7th Avenue and 38th Street, 2nd Floor).  While there, I learned that the store is best used for cotton prints, heavily embellished fabrics and laces, and denim.  I was directed to the area of the store where muslin was supposed to be, but there were no bolts of muslin.  Disappointed after triple-checking the area, I left and went to my no-fail spot: Elegant Fabrics (on 40th street, between 7th and 8th Avenues).  Nine times out of ten, I can find some fabric that I would like to use.  They have a good selection of most fabrics and I figured that they would have cheaper fabric than Mood (considering that Mood is generally a little pricey).  I was absolutely shocked to find out that the muslin was $3.75 per yard; a full dollar more than the muslin at Mood.  Now, normally a dollar per yard difference wouldn't bother me so much, but when you're buying 10-15 yards at a time, that makes a difference.

I would also suggest trying out some of the smaller fabric stores along 38th and 39th streets in midtown.  You can occasionally find a good deal on fabric, but they also have the tendency of trying to rip you off. However, Metro Fabrics (on 37th street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, 9th Floor), is another good alternative for a place to get muslin.  The store has very good prices, but not a big selection of fabrics.

Moral of the story:  Mood is a great place to get muslin.  The price is right and they always have the yardage that you need.  An added bonus is that they have plenty of other fabrics to choose from for other projects.

I'm Back!

Hey all, after that somewhat brief hiatus, I've decided to come back and continue the blog.  I probably won't be posting every day, but I'm aiming for two or three times a week at least.

What: crochet trim
Price: $8-$15
Place: Top Trimmings (39th street b/w 7th and 8th) B&Q (38th street b/w 7th and 8th)

I thought that considering how 'in' crochet embellishments are these days, I would go ahead and post about them.  Most recently (maybe within the last month or so), all of our interns have been asked to go sourcing for crochet trimming, more specifically: crochet neck and back pieces.  I will say this: they aren't really so hard to find.  The one hard thing about having to buy them for a company is the fact that any given store only carries a small quantity of each piece.  But for everyday, personal use, finding one is no trouble at all.  In my experience, the best place to go for crochet anything is Top Trimmings (www.shinetrim.com) which is on 39th street between 7th and 8th avenues.  It is a two-story shop so they have a lot of products.  The crochet things are on the second floor.  Not only do they have a pretty decent selection of the neck and back pieces, but they also have crochet trim by the yard, as well as actual yards of crochet on bolts (like fabric).  The majority of their selection of their neck and back pieces are pretty large, but they have a fair selection of smaller ones as well.  They also have a very good selection of all sorts of crochet by the yard in white and off-white (mostly). 

Now, if you're having some trouble finding what you're looking for at Top Trimmings, you should try B&Q, which is on 38th street between 7th and 8th avenues.  They are both owned by the same people so they kind of fill in the gaps of the other one.  They don't have the selection of Top Trimmings (by a long shot) but the things they do have are pretty good.

The one complaint I do have about the selection of crochet trims, is the lack of black trim available.  It isn't so hard to find, but actually finding one you like is another thing.  The stores that do offer black trim have only a very small selection compared to the white and off-white times.  Some girls I work with even had to go as far as dying a white trim that they liked to black (which ended up being more like a very dark brown sort of color).  It's just too bad that there isn't more black trim available, considering the fact that black is such a basic color.

Some news...

So I got a new job at the company I am interning for, hence I won't be sourcing nearly as much for work.  I've still had to do tons of sourcing for things I haven't written about yet though, so I'll still be able to maintain the blog (yay!). 

One of those days

What: metal shank buttons
Where: Pacific Trimmings
How much: $0.25-$1.25

Again, another day without sourcing.  It's very weird for me to not have anyone ask me to source anything, as that is a big part of my days at work.  I did get to go out and buy stuff for people though; one them being something I'm asked to buy most frequently: domed metal shank buttons.  They give a good military look to things, especially in antique brass and antique silver, which is what I'm always asked to buy. 

Now, you'd think that you'd be able to find these buttons at any trim and button store there is.  And that's somewhat true.  These are easier to find than most things because they are so basic.  The problem is finding good ones.  A lot of metal buttons are way too heavy for most things, or they look really cheap.  A good majority of the buttons that look like this are actually plastic finished to look like silver or gold; they really just come off looking low-quality. 

The one place I always go when I need these buttons is Pacific Trimmings on 38th street.  They have a really good selection of both antique and shiny metal buttons and they have a big size range.  They also have these buttons in a dome shape and just a flat disc shape.  The big ones come in really handy for outerwear and I like small shiny ones for cute closures or details.  They run about $0.25-$1.25, the price increasing in relation to the button size.

Not much

So I didn't really have to do a whole lot of sourcing today.  I was asked to go to a new trim store to see if I could find some silver neck pieces.  I had passed Trims de Carnival, on 38th street between 5th and 6th, a couple of times on my way to 5th avenue, but I had never stopped there because the window display is so gaudy.  The store itself is pretty narrow and filled almost to the brim with products.  And, while I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, I would definitely go back.  They have a really good selection of fancier trims and loose sequins and beads.

I was also asked to find some matte sequin trim.  I knew that finding sequin trim would be pretty easy to find since it's a pretty basic thing in the trim world.  I walked around to a few trim places but was met with only shiny sequin trim.  I knew that TrimArt would have what I was looking for so I headed over there and was right.  They have several different widths of matte sequin trim in silver and in gold; with square sequins.  I didn't see any with regular round sequins, but luckily the square ones are what I needed.  It was only $2.50 a yard which is a pretty decent price for anything with sequins or beads on it.  I bought 15 yards and headed back.

Nothing in particular...

So I have to admit that today was a bit different for me, just because of the fact that not one person asked me to go sourcing for them.  But, around mid-afternoon, one of my coworkers asked me if I'd like to come with her to Metro Textiles on 37th between 7th and 8th.  I said yes because she had told me about how good the place was and I wanted to see for myself.

To be exact, Metro Textiles is located at 265 W 37th street on the 9th floor.  When I got there I was a little bit surprised with how small the space is.  There are bolts of fabric everywhere.  The shelves go up to the ceiling and they are absolutely filled with bolts.  There are also tons of bolts just stacked everywhere.  Despite having only a little bit of space to move around, their selection is pretty extensive.  They have just about everything you might need.  The downside to the selection is that they only have a few bolts of different fabrics.  So you go in needing polyester chiffon, for example, but they only have a small selection.  That's basically the story with all the fabrics they have.  But most of the stuff they do have is really good; I found an awesome metallic stretch lace that I absolutely must go back and buy later.  The best thing about the store is that they have amazing prices.  A yard of georgette is only $3 and a yard of muslin is only $2.25.  You really can't beat either of those prices.  Most of the plain shirting and light cottons will run about $6 per yard which is also unbeatable.  They'll cut you pretty much as many swatches as you want (within reason of course).

So all in all, if you want to find fabrics for a good price, go to Metro Textiles.  But if you want a big selection, I might suggest going elsewhere.