First off, I noticed I was the youngest person in the store. If you’re a single male over the age of 65 lookin’ for a crafty woman, this place should be your destination. It’s also the friendliest place I’ve ever been to. Everyone was incredibly helpful and nice, even the older ladies who didn’t even work there and gave me a smile when they passed by! Oh crafters, you’re just so gosh darn friendly.

Now you’re wondering, why was I in a fabric store?

As you may or may not know, I’m going to start designing this summer. Why? Because the job I have now doesn’t pay nearly enough to get me through school. So, I thought I may as well create my own business on the side. It’s perfect, I’ll be doing something I love, plus I’ll hopefully make a bit of moola to start my “Jessica needs to leave her small town” fund.

My mom gave me this book by Mary Gehlhar a few years ago, it’s been a HUGE help in giving me tips and tricks on starting my own label. Of course, I’m not a company or a factory who will be producing huge quantities of outfits anytime soon (which is what the book is geared toward, starting your “big business”), but it’s an honest read if you want to be a designer.

Moving along, yesterday I drove to the nearest Fabricland, not knowing exactly what I was looking for. Perhaps not a good start for a designer? But I didn’t want an idea, I wanted to go and be inspired by something.

There was a HUGE selection of patterns, materials and colours. Where do I even start? I told myself to start at the front of the store and eventually move my way to the back. I began looking through bridal fabrics, which were gorgeous but way too expensive. I then made my way to the fashion fabrics and found out, I CAN BUY 1 METRE AND GET 2 FREE! AHH YEAHH!

I started looking at the “sale” racks when I found it…the fabric…it caught my eye immediately. My jaw dropped and heart started pounding and I just knew, *cue heavenly music*. It was perfect.

Of course, I’ve never purchased fabric in my life. I was looking at everyone else to see what they were doing Do I cut it myself? Do I have to buy the whole roll? I approached a woman who worked there and asked how I buy the fabric (roooookieee). She told me to pick up the entire roll and go to the cutting table. At the cutting table I said to cut 3 metres, I paid, and walked out of the store feeling like this is the start of a very, very good thing.

What does the pattern look like? What will I be making? That’s a surprise you’ll find out…eventually.

Stay tuned. 😉

XO Jessica