Sew-a-Long Day 2: Picking Fabric Day

First thing I did yesterday morning was blow up the images from my Ruby pattern. Burda patterns have a nasty habit of making their images teeny tiny. So I took care of that. Here's before..

and after!

Much better. I even added notes and scribbles. I seriously recommend that you also do this fellow Sew-a-Longers. It makes a big big difference. I can almost tell what's going on now!

Afterwards I went off to the fabric store to find my $25 worth of stuff. I initially wanted linen, because it's light and breathable and because the Ruby Shorts pattern recommends it. As I thought about it some more however I started to change my mind. Linen in general tends to be a little expensive and unless I could find something hiding in the clearance pile I didn't want to have to commit to $9-$16 per yard. So I figured I'd pick up a yard and a half or so of a nice cotton instead, still breathable and still machine washable.

BUT as luck would have it I walk into the store and all linens and linen blends were 50% off!! What? Someone was smiling down on me as I quickly dashed to where the linens were housed. Apparently I was the last person to find out about this sale however, and most of the section was picked out. I was pretty annoyed to find some great prints with less than a yard on the bolt. Seriously? You put that back on the rack? But I did manage to find this cute pink stretch linen blend solid.

Quite retro in color and definitely has the 40s look I'm going for. I bought myself a yard and half for $6.98. Then I went off to find the buttons. I found some super cute white buttons (also pictured above) for 40 cents each. Ouch! But they were so perfect. After seeing the shorts I mentioned in my first Sew-a-Long post I knew I needed white buttons.

I picked up a spool of polyester thread for $2.79, about a yard of fusable interfacing for $1.89, and $0.91 for GA state and county tax bringing my total for the shorts to $16.18. I have never been a stasher and before I started this $25V project I had no stash to speak of. I bought fabric as I needed it and sewed with it right away, hence why I have to pick up things like interfacing each time I start something. I have slowly begun to realize the appeal of buying in bulk however and you will more than likely begin to see more bulk buying out of me in the near future. But for this project I'm still sticking to my old tricks, just buying what I need. Or am I?

In true Nancy fashion as I was dashing by another of my favorite fabric stores this morning I found THIS.

Not so 40s, but holy cuteness! It's a 100% cotton linen look fabric in the cutest shade of purple for $6.50 a yard. I couldn't stop myself! Before I knew it I was in the store, bolt in hand, having the lady cut me out another yard and a half. Best part of this trip was the thread being on sale. $2.15 on a spool of thread that normally runs $3.49. If I made these shorts instead my total would be $19.62 with tax. A difference of about $3.00 to the pink version.  So now I can't decide. Retro with retro looking fabric or retro with more modern print fabric? Gah. I'm so bad. Help me please!