Just Like Fabric Chrismukkah

(Note: I did not know until now that there was a roughly "official" spelling for the portmanteau of Christmas and Hanukkah. I've never actually typed it out before, and I typically don't even say it as I don't mind just going "Yeah, I celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah." Who knew!)

I got five package notification emails from my campus' post office today. Five! In one day! That's the magic of ordering the materials for two projects all at once, I guess, and having all of the vendors have incredibly speedy shipping at that. (Seriously, two of the Etsy stores I bought from shipped off so fast that Etsy won't even let me leave them feedback yet!) These five packages contained almost all the materials I'd need for both the Newcastle Cardigan I'm making for my boyfriend (including main fabric, contrast fabric, buttons- which I have a somewhat silly story about, but more on that latter -and interfacing) and the Cooper messenger bag I'm making for myself (including main fabric, contrast fabric, and lining- still waiting on the hardware kit and the pattern itself, but since that's coming from literally across the country I'm not surprised it didn't arrive on the same day as everything else.)

I wish I'd thought to take a photo of all the envelopes (plus one box- sweatshirt fleece gets bulky when folded up), but I didn't have that kind of self restraint. I tore into everything about as soon as I got back to my dorm.

Look at how perfectly the main body fabric matches the green square part of the contrast fabric pattern! I'm a little apprehensive about using the oilcloth, but as far as overall look goes I love it. Also yes, I still haven't taken the main fabrics out of their protective plastic shipping material, shh.

THIS SWEATSHIRT FLEECE IS SO SOFT AND SNUGLY I'm going to steal this from my boyfriend all the damn time.

I can't wait for my Cooper pattern to get here so I can tackle both of these projects. I'm printing out the Newcastle pattern tonight, but since I've two papers due tomorrow, well... probably not getting to cutting anything out until tomorrow at the earliest.

Now, for that silly story about buttons I mentioned. I guess I temporarily forgot how to read descriptions, but I somehow got it into my head that "Quantity: 1" meant one singular button. In reality, the website very clearly states that "There are 3 buttons per card", so obviously "Quantity: 1" really means one order of three buttons.

I, er, ordered quantity: 5, which translates to 15 buttons.

Some day I'll be able to take non-phone pictures in which you can actually see some semblance of detail!

The good news: I really like these buttons, so I guess I now have some direction as to what I'm going to make my Mathilde blouse out of: something that matches the buttons in my stash! Maybe I'll go for a black main body with blue sleeves to echo the navy-and-black of the buttons... and maybe with a peter pan collar added, as I've a major weakness for those. But that's not going to be for a while, no more projects for me for now!

I ordered all the Cooper fabric from Etsy. The main fabric came from Bratpacks Fabric, the lining was from Oilcloth by the Yard and the contrast fabric (that made this whole project need to happen) was from Fabric Supply. Fabric Supply also included a whole bunch of adorable fabric swatches- they have such cute import fabrics. The Newcastle Cardigan fabric and buttons all came from Fabric.com. I was really hesitant about ordering from them as when I looked up reviews of them in advance (as I always do with online sites I haven't used before) it was fairly predominantly negative reviews, but they were the only place I could find with the exact fabric I wanted and the price was incredibly right. I took a chance, and either I got very lucky (which is possible- some of the reviews, both positive and negative, said it tended to be luck of the draw) or they've shaped up a bit. Whatever it was, I'm incredibly pleased with the fabric I got from them (and again, the button confusion was entirely on me- their site VERY clearly says one order is a card of three buttons).

Now if only I could pause academics and just sew... If only.