This is my newest little stash of fabric. I got it at the Fabric Flea Market at the Glebe Community Centre here in town. From top to bottom they are:

• cute vintage blue and green embroidered ribbon   $2
• fat quarter of cotton print. retro cool   $2
• gorgeous soft pink raw silk   1m for $12
• nubbly linen in natural, my favourite   3m for $15
• oh so groovy 70s curtain panel. Will make an excellent pillow or two. Maybe even a minidress??   $8
• Light blue/grey silk linen. So soft and it just makes me happy to touch it.   4m for $20
• Navy cotton seersucker. Aprons? Summer skirt?   5m for $5

I was pretty happy with my haul. But, holy cow, I had no idea I would have to fight so hard for a pile of fabric.

My young friend S who made the random act of handmade earlier in the summer is in the middle of a sewing frenzy. She is sewing up a storm right now on a vintage sewing maching that her mother took to the Sewing Machine Hospital for a few repairs after buying it at a thrift shop. She even signed up for her highschool fashion show in a couple of months and will be designing some of the fashions! I will definitely bring you that story in the next few weeks. Anyway, S asked if I wanted to go and I jumped and said yes! I could picture it in my mind - sipping coffee, slowly going from table to table, surrounded by a few young do-it-yourselfers but mostly blue-haired grammas buying some quilting material, knowing that I'd be able to pick up a lot of bargains since I could easily spot the good stuff in amongst the crap, er, I mean, super cute fabric with chickens printed on it.

Boy, was I wrong. I nearly got a black eye from one of those grammas.

First of all, we had to pay admission! This was the first clue that these were not amateurs. Mind you, it was only $2, but still. The second clue was the fact that the centre looked like the mosh pit from some ska punk concert I went to in the 80s, except for the fact that instead of beer bottles and studded doc martens flying around it was seersucker and gingham. There must have been about 500 ladies of all ages pushing and shoving and screaming to get their hands on some really great fabric.

I was in shock for about 10 minutes, and then decided to try to get a lay of the land by wandering around figuring out where I wanted to spend more time. I knew after about 2 mintues that this wasn't going to work. I could barely get within 10 feet of some of the tables, and when I did, I was jostled around so much that I felt like I was in that SNL skit where they dance really vigorously on either side of the girl, except without the head-bopping music. I did get up to a couple of tables that had some great fabric, and settled on going through a few tables thoroughly. I had just settled in to a moment of peace, when I reached for a piece of linen, and nearly fell to the floor with the force of being bodychecked by an elderly woman running up to grab the same piece. This woman was on! a! mission! I never found out what she so desperately needed the fabric for, but I figured she needed it more than I did. Plus I wasn't sure how far she'd go in the physically-maiming-me department.

It was crazy, but it was a lot of fun, after the initial shock. We all lasted only about 45 minutes, but were all really happy with our hauls. And happy to leave unharmed. Who ever said crafty ladies are boring? Sewing is laidback? Fabric is yawnsville? You've never been to the Fabric Flea Market, then, have you?