The biggest adventure of my trip was a visit to LA's Fashion District, particularly the blocks of textile shops. I've been sewing for quite a long time now, but mostly since college. Reading others' blogs led me to decide it would be worth my time to visit the Fashion District. According to their website:
I didn't find a lot in the 99 cents range, but I did find some good bargains! I took the bus from my friend's place in West Hollywood to downtown; it took about 40 minutes and I bought a day pass for $5. My first stop was the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising Scholarship Store. FIDM sells heavily discounted clothing (which looked like overstock, samples and damaged merchandise) and has a small section of fabric and trims in the back for $1, $2 or $5 a yard, depending on the type and print. I bought some very heavy jersey and a light silk-type that I haven't quite decided what to do with yet. I was attracted to the colors of both of these fabrics. Did not realize until I photoed them at home that both are from the same designer, a name that looks like "Tania" maybe?The LA Fashion District is home to the largest selection of textiles and notions in the United States. There are nearly 200 wholesale and retail textile stores selling trim, beading and fabric, crafts and home decor. Shoppers can find nearly every type of fabric, running the gamut from novelty to exotic silks and European upholstery. Prices range from 99 cents up to hundreds of dollars per yard.
Left, silky-type fabric, Right, HEAVY jersey fabric
Super heavy jersey knit. May become the back of a t-shirt quilt or something??
Lovely, light silky material with a big pattern. Have to find the right garment pattern for this one.
A few blocks farther took me to the actual Fashion District part of town. It was an easy walk and I used my phone/Google Maps to put me in the right direction. My next stop was the Michael Levine Loft, where you can purchase fabric by the pound from enormous bins. (Michael Levine is like an awesome Joann's and they have a large retail store across the street from the Loft where you can buy apparel and quilting fabric by the yard.)
Minimum purchase: ONE POUND. I had no problem finding that...
The fabric here was picked over, but with a bit of digging, I found over four pounds ($2.50/lb.) of knits, wovens, and lining fabric. I'm going to have to learn to sew knits with my machine! They do not cut fabric for you here, but there was a table with yardsticks and scissors (dull, awful scissors) which I used to hack off a little bit of one of my pieces that wasn't big enough to make anything. I didn't take advantage, but they also had bags of scrap fabric for FREE with purchase. They looked like mostly scraps of jersey knits in solid colors, so I didn't think they were worth carrying around.
My Michael Levine finds: four pieces of knit fabric to become skirts, dresses, and tops.
And two wovens—the white is lining fabric and the print is rayon.
Next I wandered around the fabric shops for another two hours or so, and took a side trip to Santee Alley, which is like an enormous, permanent flea market with shops selling clothes, luggage, toys and other items for SUPER CHEAP. My fabric started to get super heavy (4 1/2 pounds from MLL and who knows how much the jersey from FIDM weighed!), so I bought a wheeled duffle bag from one of the Santee Alley shops for $20. I have doubts about the longevity of this bag, but it's enormous and the price was right. AND it made it back from LA already, so I guess it's alright.
My $20 duffle bag made it back from L.A., but may not last much longer than that...
I stopped at McDonald's for lunch (I know, gross, but I had to find a place that would let me use their bathroom. There aren't really any public restrooms. I had read on other blogs that the retail Michael Levine had a restroom, but I was unable to find it and their employees seemed awfully busy!), and then decided to head back to West Hollywood for the day. My last stop was at a place called Ashanti Fabrics, where I bought woven, silk-like fabric with embroidered peacocks. I probably could have talked them down from the price they gave, but I'm seeing similar swaths of fabric on their site for the same price I paid. So I don't feel so bad!
Two shots of the peacock fabric. The gold is metallic, shiny thread. It's heavier than I thought when I bought it, but I think it will drape nicely.
This will become a dress for the Museum's upcoming pARTy on the Patio: Bollywood Style (assuming I finish it in time!). I'm going with this Vogue pattern I bought at Joann's a while ago (IT HAS POCKETS!!). I bought the rest of the needed materials for this dress at Joann's yesterday (Memorial Day) and hope to start working on it tonight or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow, given how busy the rest of this week has been already.
So overall, my trip was a lot of fun. I didn't buy anything (except the peacock fabric) in the smaller stores, but there were some really good deals to be had there. I was by myself and am not very good at bargaining, so I thought it was best to stick with the more fixed-price, retail type shops.
A couple good blog posts about the Fashion District I found in my pre-travel research:
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