La Fashionista Melody

WooHoo, what a ride 2008 has been so far! I am dazed by the number of trips around the country and the changes life has brought. I have yet to unpack from my last trip and let’s not look around the house. Someday I’ll get the condition of my private life back. Soon, soon…

This last trip was to Detroit and happily I was able to meet Melody of FashionistaFabrics.com. You might “know” Melody from her reviews at PatternReview.com. Melody also has a blog, crazedsewer where she details a seemingly ordinary sewist’s life, but don’t let that fool you! Modesty is a quality of this elegant lady.

Have you ever heard the old fashioned term “well-bred”? Melody is that, exactly. She’s good to others and to herself. She has grace and good manners, not to mention great beauty, like she has taken a long drink of wisdom and let it fill her completely and she shines with it.

I don’t want to gush, I want to share this sense of true fashion, not glitz-y, good for one season cuteness, but a deep truth: beauty is as beauty does. Melody just exudes a sense of top quality.

That all identifies her fabrics as well! Yes, I was drawn into the FashionistaFabrics area like a moth to flame…and found that each and every piece was such good quality I had to make a quick mental double check of the pricing at which the fabrics have been offered at her online store.

Some swatches that came home with me:

Click for Brown Tweed description at FashionistaFabrics.com

Here’s a tasty French Spring Green boucle

Yes, I, fabric junkie of the universe, was so overwhelmed I couldn’t decide which piece would come home with me, it was more than the kid in the candy store, it was a sense that I really didn’t want to buy a fabric that would go into the stash: I wanted an immediate plan of action for anything that would come home with me. I could have easily bought yardage from each bolt. Easily made this woman work hard, easily filled that 20′ trailer we were towing.

I will be buying this wool Rose Challis as soon as I can get to The Stitchery and find the pattern. Now, don’t you all run out and order this without saving some for me!

I have been dreaming of this red for a while and here it is!

I am thinking a tunic (tunic patterns at VoguePatterns.com) because I can wear it almost all seasons and to work, the school and around town. I have worn this tunic reviewed at Pattern Review in 2006 for the past few years and every time I get compliments. Now it needs to be altered to a smaller size.

The Rose Challis would also be great as a dress but then it would hang in the closet much more than a tunic. Whatever this wool challis will become it will be a garment that will look fresh and unwrinkled and top quality for years to come.