Which Pattern Company Can't You Live Without?

BWOF lovers are a passionate and loyal bunch. Is there a pattern company you pledge allegiance to?

Since it's Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S. and many of us are already in holiday mode, let's do a lightweight Fun Friday poll this week. Elaray's Tuesday post about her love for BWOF ("They'll Have to Pry BWOF Out of My Cold, Dead Hands") got me to thinking about which pattern company I couldn't do without. That's a tough question: In the past 12 months I've made patterns from the Big Four, plus New Look, Textile Studios, Kwik-Sew and Hot Patterns, and I don't have any strong leanings one way or the other (though I think I've had the most success with Textile Studios). But if you include all the sewing I did in my teens and 20s, Vogue would add up to be my pattern company of choice.

So here's this week's poll: Imagine one of the pattern companies is going out of business tomorrow. Over the loss of which one would you cry the biggest tears? Let us know by taking the poll at right.

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Results of last week's poll about face-to-face contact with friends who sew: Fifty percent of us, me included, have no contact with real, live friends who sew. (Sniff!) Thirty-five percent have sewing friends they see regularly (lucky dogs!) and the rest have sewing friends they see only on rare occasions. Here are excerpts from a few of the comments this post generated:

Sigrid: "I'm very fond of the virtual sewing room on the internet to share my passion."

Birgitte: "I don't have any in "real life" [but I'm] not sure I miss it though. I get so easily distracted lol."

Alexandra: "I have a whole bunch of sewing friends - it's our PMB group. We call ourselves Boutique Belles and we meet every month to learn from each other, do show-and-tell, inspire and get inspired."

Bonnie D: "It would be nice to have some one locally to share my enthusiasm but I'm so thrilled to have my internet community of friends!"

Melissa: "I've got loads of sewing friends in real life! I get together for a monthly craft night with friends, and I often go to the Meetup.com London Sewing Group gatherings, and I often run into other various sewers I've picked up (or influenced into starting!) along the way..."

Summerset, Cindy and Dawn: "Thank God/goodness for the Internet."

I did get an invite from Wendy to join the sewing Meetup group in NYC and I just may take her up on it. Have you checked to see if there is a sewing Meetup in your area?

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It traditionally rains every Memorial Day weekend in the NYC area but right now the forecast says sunny and in the 70s. Yippee! My holiday weekend plans call for shopping in Soho with DD, taking DS to the new Sports Museum of America, the first visit of 2008 to the beach, maybe a little sewing, and, oh yeah, cleaning out the refrigerator. I plan to stay off the computer as much as possible. Enjoy your weekend!

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Why We Blog

This Sunday's New York Times Magazine features a story about blogging and how it affected one young woman's life. Most of us are unlikely to see ourselves in her story, but there were several times in the article when I found myself agreeing with the author. Here's an excerpt:

"But is that really what’s making people blog? After all, online, you’re not even competing for 10 grand and a Kia. I think most people who maintain blogs are doing it for some of the same reasons I do: they like the idea that there’s a place where a record of their existence is kept — a house with an always-open door where people who are looking for you can check on you, compare notes with you and tell you what they think of you. Sometimes that house is messy, sometimes horrifyingly so. In real life, we wouldn’t invite any passing stranger into these situations, but the remove of the Internet makes it seem O.K."

—from Exposed by Emily Gould

It's a long article but entertaining reading. You'll find it here. In a future post I'd like to delve a little more into this whole blogging phenomenon and our little sewing community. A 2005 study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that eight million American adults have created blogs; I thought I heard recently on NPR that one in 10 American adults now had blogs. OMG.

Come back Friday for a new poll!


Update: Take a look at the comments left on the NYT's web site about this article. Man, people are vicious! I agree the author comes off as self-indulgent, but I saw this story more as a modern-day parable. Discuss.

Keeping Significant Others Happy While We Fabric Shop in the Garment District

Bryant Park is a great place for your significant other to park himself while you shop for fabric.

There are few sights as agonizing as a husband or boyfriend forced to tag along on a trip to the garment district. Even more pathetic are the ones who are clearly out-of-towners—they have the same look as dogs waiting in the vet's office. They'd flee if they could but they have no idea where to go.

So here are three suggestions for things your significant other (SO) can do while you fabric shop:

1. Hang out in Bryant Park. This lovely park is located between Sixth and Fifth and 40th and 42nd, behind the main public library. Tell your SO to grab a coffee and a pastry from one of the patisseries along 40th, pick up a magazine from Around the World (28 W. 40th) and park himself at a table in the park. There's wi-fi reception and great people-watching. It's hard to believe this park used to be called needle park in the '70s due to all the druggies who used to congregate there, but a massive cleanup initiative in the '80s turned it into a favorite place to relax.

2. Go to Midtown Comics. This store is like the American Girl Place for grown men. Fortunately for you it's next door to Paron Fabrics, at 200 W. 40th. Here your SO will find two floors of comics, graphic novels, action figures, statues, movies, books, posters and much more. And he'll have plenty of other geeky guys to bond with. I rewarded my 12-year-old DS with a trip to Midtown after he endured 45 minutes of me shopping at Metro Textile.

3. Pig out at Hill Country. In my opinion, as someone who consumed much barbecue while living in Texas, this restaurant has some of the best barbecue on the East Coast. Hill Country's brisket, sausage, ribs and other meats are cooked "low and slow" over Texas post oak; there's updated versions of classic Southern sides and sweets. And you can get Blue Bell ice cream here! Your SO will so be in hog heaven. (Located not far from the garment district at 30 W. 26th Street.)
   

I know I'm leaving out other good options for keeping the SO entertained—please feel free to leave me a comment with your recommendation (just try to keep to things within the general garment district area). I'd like to do a future post on places to eat in the garment district, so if you have a favorite eatery please let me know here.

There are plenty of tables and chairs at Bryant Park, and now it has wi-fi access too.

Midtown Comics, located next door to Paron Fabrics at 200 W. 40th, allows grown men to indulge their inner child.

Midtown Comics has an impressive selection of over 500,000 back issues. There's another Midtown store located at Grand Central.

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Coming soon: Reviews of NY Elegant Fabrics, B&J Fabrics and Rosen & Chadick Fabrics. I have seen fabric priced at $810 per yard and lived to tell the tale!

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