Fabric lust & updates

First of all, welcome onboard all you recent subscribers. Sorry it’s been so quiet around here lately. After that epic fitted sleeve experiment & documentation, the Photographer In Me decided she’s done enough for the year, leaving me with no pretty pictures to complete write-ups of my recent projects.

So while I try to coax her away from those holiday cocktails, here’s a wacky fabric find to entertain you…

Found at B&J Fabrics online:

digital print scuba knit (neoprene?)
with matching silk charmeuse & matching silk chiffon!

Now I’ve seen a few matching printed silk charmeuse & chiffon at B&J before. But scuba knit!?!? Well you’d have to be a much more creative designer than me to make it work! OK, just because you can have matching everything doesn’t mean you should. But I have seen it worked. And I do like me a bit of edgy high-low, sporty-refined mix. If these weren’t so expensive I’d challenge Oonaballoona, the mighty queen of pattern hacking to have a go at these psychedelic fabrics.

And how did I come across these fab fabrics? Well, I was planning for my…

Upcoming NYC trip! Happy Face!

No trip to NYC can be complete without some sewing purchases of course. But I’m trying to be more organized this time. In the past I’d come home with bulging suitcase of scrumptious fabrics. Yet when I actually get down to sew I’d be missing bits and pieces I need. And there are just some things that are really hard (or really expensive) to get here in London, the supposed Fashion Capital of the World (if the London newspapers are to be believed). Like charmeuse (for lining or coordinating top). Or reversible zipper. Or coordinating ribbing for sweater knits.

Sadly MPB Day is long over and there doesn’t seem to be any other NYC sewing meet-up in early October But if any of you Tri-State based sewists are free, I’d love to meet up and check out your latest project(s)! Contact me via my online form if you’re free to meet up in NYC in early Oct.

And Sad Face time… Vogue / McCall / Butterick boycott

I was also going to pick up some Vogue / McCall / Butterick patterns bought during recent online sales. But here I hit a snag. Seems like one of my orders has gone missing and I might be left out of pocket. Sad Face.

I had to update the shipping address while placing the order. But for some reason the order still end up being shipped to an old address. I think maybe there’s a problem with how their online ordering system is set up. I updated the address in the “Manage My Addresses” section, then chose what I thought was the updated address during checkout. Maybe it takes a a while for the new address to be saved. So when I tried to use the address immediately the shopping cart received the old address instead.

And of course I didn’t check the confirmation email carefully because nothing had ever gone wrong before with my V/M/B orders. So I didn’t think anything was going to go wrong this time.

Customer service said they couldn’t help but would I like to place and PAY for a replacement order. Erm, what do you think? No thanks. I’m really put off buying from V/M/B website again. Which is a shame since they seem to have finally gotten more responsive in the online sewing community. My worst fear would be if they start putting out amazing patterns while I’m still on my stomp-my-little-feet V/M/B boycott.

Fingers crossed that the mis-delivered package will eventually find its way back to V/M/B and I’ll at least get a refund. But I’m not holding my breath since package tracking shows it had already been signed for by the building management. Inflexible / seemingly uncaring customer service sucks.

 

0 comments on “Fabric lust & updates

  1. Hi,
    was that the US division of VMB? (I’m not sure if you can order from a British division) I have had one order take a long time from the US, then when I contacted them and queried it, they sent a duplicate package no quibbles. The original eventually turned up as well. Hope it gets resolved eventually. I’m a sucker for mirror prints at the best of times so those fabrics are quite tempting but I must abstain until I produce a bit more from the stash.

    • Know what you mean about abstaining from tempting fabrics! I would join you if NYC wasn’t such a fabric mecca! As I told MR, I simply cannot go to NYC without coming back with some fabric! But I do need to plough through my stash more diligently. And maybe try a SWAP next year!

      As for VMB…Yes, I was ordering from the US. But I was having them sent to an US address so I can pick up while visiting there. I know this package definitely won’t get to me since tracking shows it’s already been delivered to an old address all the way across the country. Question is whether it’ll get returned to VMB if it’s already been delivered to the apartment building’s mail office.

      Thank goodness I didn’t actually buy that much, so the actual monetary loss isn’t great. But the loss of trust is upsetting because I’ve been a loyal customer and advocate for a long time now. They think it was my fault for not diligently checking all the details. I felt it was partly their system’s fault for not passing on my change of address details correctly. By not offering any conciliatory gesture and instead asking me to fork out massive more money to buy what I don’t really need, they’ve lost me as a customer and advocate.

  2. I hate when a package goes missing. They usually show somewhere down the line. I may have one or two of the patterns marinating in my stash that I ordered. If you’d like I could send them to you. PM me and let me know.

    • That is so kind of you to offer to share patterns.

      To be honest, I don’t really need those OOP patterns. I only bought them because they were on sale. I was more upset about the way I was treated than anything else.

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