So I finally did it. Ventured to downtown LA and hit up the Fabric district! Yay me! I have been dying to make the trek up since I read this amazing blog post. We decided to start with the FIDM Scholarship Store. I was really excited to about the idea of finding a bunch of “Forever 21” type clothes for super cheap, but got there to find that that wasn’t the case at all. I was extremely disappointed in the selection…it looked like a thrift shop, without the hidden gems. The one highlight however, is the fabric in the back! There is a small section of the store where they sell fabric remnants for $1 each! Needless to say, I snatched up about 1.5 yards (in two separate pieces) of this amazing print.
So, after about 10 minutes in that store we hopped back in the car and headed down 9th street. We found parking on 9th and Santee and ventured in and out of TONS of shops. I had my eye out for fabric similar to this (curtains from z gallerie) for table runners for my wedding.
Swoon!
After wandering into what seemed like every store on the street, we ended up at the Michael Levine loft. It was on the second floor of a building with big boxes of fabric all over the place. They sold the stuff by the pound! $2.50/pound to be exact. I grabbed some tan and white jersey knit and also some black. I was getting a little discouraged that I hadn’t come across any fabric that matched my table runner vision, but I was saving the best shop for last. Michael Levine! This is the go-to fabric shop in the district. The prices are a bit higher here, but they have everything.
Unfortunatly, they have everything but my dream fabric. Total bummer, but I snatched up some similar yellow/gold fabric and will have to make do.
Side note: how amazing would this rug/skin look laying on some polished concrete or nice hardwood floors?? (thanks for modeling Bec!)
While in Michael Levine, I fell in LOVE with some fabrics and immediately wanted to re-decorate my house. How great is this Ikat? Reminds me of Aubrey.
For some reason I am in a tropical phase….I have no clue why, but I was drawn to this print
And this:
Now that I think about it, my tropical phase is more intense than just upholstery fabrics! I just found this picture:
And this one….
(this picture is super dark…no time to lighten)
Back to the LA post…after we had our fill of the fabric district, grabbed some flowers from the Flower Market
And then dropped all our purchases off in the car and decided to walk to lunch. Only 1.5 miles away, how bad could it be? Answer – SO BAD. Here we are, 2 blonde girls walking around in leggings, wandering the ghetto of LA. We were on a street lined with homeless, none of which were women, and breathing in the disgusting stench of urine. Bec even saw a human %$#@ laying on the sidewalk. GROSS – she almost puked! Thank goodness I missed that one. We immediately turned around and decided to drive to lunch. 🙂
Overall amazing day. I got home and sewed my little heart out with all my new fabric, but we’ll save my creations for another post…hint, I am wearing one of them right now!
happinessislookinglikeyou 
1 Comment