Laura Mae, Why Can't You Stay?

Readers, there are two kinds of house guests: the ones you wish would leave yesterday and the ones you wish could hang around longer.

Laura Mae is the second kind.

You probably recognize Laura Mae from her excellent sewing blog, Lilacs & Lace.  She was coming to NYC for a long weekend, and since Michael isn't working this month and I knew she'd be suffering from chihuahua withdrawal, I invited her to spend a few nights here with us. 

I'd like to think it was solely MPB Day that brought Laura Mae to New York, but I know she also wanted to see the Charles James exhibit at the Met museum, which was closing this Sunday.  Since I hadn't seen the exhibit yet myself, we made plans to see it together last Friday.

Outside the museum, who did we run into but Kelli with her two children in tow.  This city is positively teeming with sewing bloggers!



Once in the museum, we headed straight for the exhibit, which as you may know, was split in two sections: one for James' iconic sculptural ball gowns and the other for his equally beautiful, if less elaborate, tailored day and evening clothes. 









As if running into Kelli wasn't enough synchronicity for one morning, in the Charles James exhibit we stumbled upon none other than those celebrated sewing sisters, Marcy and Katherine Tilton!  (Marcy has a pattern line for Vogue and Katherine for Butterick.)  They're both so funny and fun that I didn't mind when an hour later we bumped into them again at lunch on Madison Avenue.  Clearly the universe wanted our paths to keep crossing!



After lunch, Laura Mae and I explored Central Park, and then slowly worked our way down to the Garment District, entirely on foot.  Based on my experience over the past four days, Laura Mae simply does not tire, wilt, or visibly perspire -- ever! 



We popped into a few fabric stores and since I knew we wouldn't be able to hit Metro Textiles on MPB Day, we spent most of our time there.  I'll let her tell you what she purchased,  but we saw some beautiful things -- in fact, we returned early today for even more.



You've already heard about Saturday, MPB Day. We spent most of Sunday taking it easy: we had brunch in my neighborhood and walked the High Line, with a few stops for serious high-end window shopping at Jeffrey and DVF in the meatpacking district.

The dogs were infatuated with Laura Mae (and the feeling was mutual).  They couldn't get enough of each other!



Laura Mae had an evening flight today, but there was still plenty of time to return to the Garment District.  Again, this is Laura Mae's tale to tell, but rest assured, fabric was purchased!

At Elliot Berman, we got to chat with the famous Eugenia, one of the most helpful, patient, and well-informed fabric store employees I have ever encountered. When Laura Mae couldn't decide between two fabrics, Eugenia actually held up a mirror so Laura Mae could see how each looked against her skin (great, needless to say).  You don't get that kind of service at Joanne's!





I will share what I bought: my very first panel print, a beautiful woven cotton from Italy which will soon become a very cool shirt.





Laura Mae met Clio for lunch; I had to pick up some things at Mood for the sewing week ahead.  These will be the last summer fabrics I'll be sewing with this year: a bold cotton voile print and a pale avocado linen.



All too soon, Laura Mae had to part.  I don't know what her bags weighed on the way here, but I can guarantee you they weighed a heck of a lot more on the way out!

And that's my long weekend, readers.

It's quiet here in the apartment tonight, a lot like the dwarfs' house after Snow White goes off to marry the prince: neater, but notably emptier.

Guess who and her chihuahua, Tino.

Meanwhile, what the hell am I going to do with the 75 patterns left over from our pattern swap on MPB Day?



Have a great day, everybody!