fabric find

Fabric is one of those things that you can never have too much of. Ok, maybe too much for your space, but not too much in an over-the-top, oh-my-gosh, who-could-use-this? way.

My sister-in-law recently introduced me to a magical store in Fairport, NY called Crafts Bits and Pieces. It is unlikely that you will be won over by their website. However, the contents of this village shop are a madcap collection of cast offs: knitting needles, yarn for hooked rugs, embroidery hoops, buttons, beads, pipe cleaners, baskets, scrapbooking supplies, and yes, FABRIC! Tiny pieces and larger pieces. All priced at about 50 cents a yard. Yes, 50 cents. The scraps are carefully measured, tagged, and bound with yarn to make hundreds of small bundles arranged by color and weight: cotton, wool, etc. You can't unbind these bundles in the store so you are never quite sure what the patterns might be.

Hence, my fabric find. Saturday, when I was in Rochester, I visited the shop with J and we piled our baskets full of pieces. Some future projects came to mind, but largely it is a treasure hunt to unpack when you get home. I snagged a muted purple and mauve patterned bundle that was just the weight I was looking for, not quite broadcloth, but more substantial than your basic cotton.

When I got home, I unwrapped the said bundles only to find that the mauve wave pattern was a yard and a half of vintage MARIMEKKO! From 1967! You can see in the blurry photos the design and date stamp. Here is an exhibit posting that shows the pattern in full, only in different colorways--its the wavy pattern in the second photo and in the last. Called Albatrossi, the pattern was discussed in greater detail in a design journal here.







Stay tuned for Albatrossi's next iteration in the 540B collection.