PR Wknd Shopping Aftermath + Jumping on the Bandwagon.....

The Me-Made-May bandwagon, that is.    And dang if it isn't getting crowded!!!  313 participants on Zoe's site as of this writing!   I've not done this before, but I'm pretty sure that I  have enough me-made items in my closet to make it through the month, so here's my promise:

I, Jilly of jillybejoyful, sign up as a particpant in Me-Made-May '13.  I endeavor to wear at least one handmade item at all times, all day each day for the duration of May 2013.   There WILL be repeats, and I highly doubt that I'll manage a picture every single day, but you'll have to trust me when I say I did it.  (I'm inherently honest, really!)  I know I won't be posting a pic every day, but I'll do my best at a weekly update.

Thanks, Zoe, for starting this inspirational challenge and for keeping it going!   I couldn't imagine that I'd ever participate when I first heard about it a couple of years ago, but now that my me-made wardrobe has grown, I think it will only take a bit of conscious awareness for me to make sure I make it through the month successfully :)   And hopefully point to any holes I have in my wardrobe, and set to work filling them in :)

Now then, about that shopping....

I thought I didn't buy much at all (and compared to many, I'm sure I didn't!), but when I gathered everything together I realized that I have a rather happy little haul...

Britex offered a free tote bag to all of the PR participants who visited the store.   Not only did I visit, but I actually BOUGHT something!   Just a touch of ribbon...only to find out that nothing on the notions floor was included in the 10% discount they were offering us.   Ah well, I like the ribbon :).   I also got some of the fusible cotton Japanese trim from Sandra (people rave about this!) in black and in white.  And some horsehair canvas (for bags) and a copper remnant (for bustles) from Stonemountain.

More Stonemountain Remnants - a particularly yummy thin wool, and a lovely cotton, both with unknown destinations:

The black wool gauze that had me rushing to Stonemountain first thing in the morning (yep, we cleaned them out of this one)  Even the selvedge is lovely :)

And then, since I had to go to Marin to pick up something from my Vet, who just happens to be right across the street from Dharma Trading, I popped in to get a set of the Colorhue dyes used in the Wabi-Sabi technique I recently blogged about.   And a bag of silk remnants - they bag up their remnants and sell them at 1/3 off - a great deal for projects like this!   My bag contained various weights of charmeuse, habotai, gauze, chiffon, flat crepe - I'm itching to do some more dyeing & weaving!

I actually tried and failed to spend a little more $$ - I finally got in to the Vogue website last night and put 2 patterns in my cart, but it was still running so slowly I wanted to wait until this morning to figure out a third (3 is the magic number - 4 bumps you into the next shipping charge).  By today everything I wanted was sold out.   Sold out!?  I guess that's what happens when they put the brand new releases on sale the day they're released.  Ah well, I can be patient until the next sale rolls around.   I really wanted to make up Sandra's new pants though!  They have just the sort of shape that I like, a unique way of puddling at the ankles, no elastic at the waistband, and they're one-seam pants that fit well.   Must get!

I wave goodbye to all of the PR attendees who are taking off - do come back, and next time, I hope to spend a little more time with some of you!

**UPDATE**  Before I knew that everyone was having trouble getting in to the Vogue site, I  emailed a report to them stating the troubles I was having, and said that I hoped the problems would get resolved before the sale ended.   I just got an email back from them apologizing for the difficulties, and they told me they would honor the sale price for me.

Sometimes it pays to speak up :)