Here we are beginning the weekend at FIDM. We had a fantastic tour! I loved seeing the textile library (and seeing the trend books!), the looms and the galleries.

Q: Why did you create Fabric Weekend?

A: Because. Really, who wouldn't want a fabric weekend? I wasn't looking to get rich of sponsorship (I didn't) or create some sort of "event". It started as just a fun weekend for friends.

Q: How did you invite people?

A: I sent out an email to about 20 friends. Many of them said yes and invited other friends. It was super low key. If you were left sitting at your house wondering why you weren't invited or trying to figure out if you missed registration somehow it's because it started off as just a small gathering of friends. 

This knitting machine had everyone facinated! Pictured: Miriam, Jen, Leann, Justine, Marissa, Melissa.

Q: Will there be future Fabric Weekends?

A: I don't know! It was TONS of fun but I'm not sure I can recreate it in the intimate setting it was this year. The cat is out of the bag and hundreds of people want to join so I'm trying to figure out exactly what any future shopping weekends would look like. For now I'm pretty sure I'll have another one, in a different location. But, as I said, the details are fuzzy.

This is at FIDM still. This gallery had amazing old shoes and accessories from Britain. That's Justine in the center. I loved her Liberty of London top and those adorable shorts. She made them both, of course. Melissa in the front left made her shirt as well. And Bethany on the right made her skirt. Also pictured: Carrie, Caila, Abby

Q: Can I create my own Fabric Weekend?

A: It is certainly fair game! You can't copyright an event. If you have 20 friends who want to go fabric shopping together, please do!

We were so thankful to have Michael Levine sponsor the event. They went all out and we all fell in love with them. A fantastic, family run, business. More about them later.

Q: How do you get sponsors for an event?

A: It's all about proving yourself as an in-demand media outlet. If you've got tens of thousands of people listening to what you say about a particular subject then a sponsor is likely to want you as a partner. We had two amazing sponsors for this event: Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts as well as Michael Levine, of course. 

After the first day of shopping a few of us decided to take photos of the bags. I really wish we had gotten everyone's bags together. 

Q: Did you get enough fabric?

A: No, of course not!

What do you think? Could you do this?

My brother and his family live out of the country and they are visiting at the same time. There are 10 kids staying in my parents' house right now. It's a little loud and a lot of fun. They range in ages from 1 year to 17 years but everyone gets along great.

I thought I'd add a few of my fun instagram photos I've shared the past few days so you can catch up on what's going on.

You might be a bit concerned about that cockroach. He was a stowaway in a gift my brother brough for my kids. Don't worry, he had a short U.S. vacation before meeting his death.

My dad was great and flew down to our old house so he could drive in the car with me and the kids. Yay for that. I was pretty sleepy by the end. We would have had to have a bit of a nap in a parking lot if it wasn't for him.

Those cute babies? Those are my youngest niece and nephew. Twins. Aren't they dolls?

Alright. I've got to get back to work! It's vacation but I've got some serious pattern drafting to work on. See you back here soon!

P.S. Don't forget to enter to win the serger and prizes I'm giving away as well as the instagram exclusive giveaway.

It you follow along on facebook or instagram you know I'm currently moving. My sewing machines and fabric are all packed up. For a long while... There's good news though! I'll be borrowing my mom's machine for a bit to complete some super top secret Pattern Anthology patterns. I can't wait to reveal!

Well this is super late (see above) but now it is time to link up!

One GRAND PRIZE winner! ($210 value)

Brother 1034D serger! (donated by GoToPatterns.com)

4 lucky winners will receive $150 in prizes!

$50 to GoToPatterns.com

$50 to LowPriceFabric.com

$50 for a class at Craftsy.com

Contest Rules:

Giveaway open internationally to contestants 18 years or older. Contestants must enter their email address to be added to the LowPriceFabric.com and GoToPatterns.com email newsletters to win. All prizes are awarded in the form of gift certificates. Winners responsible for paying shipping with the gift certificate. Gift certificate value of serger is $210. Contest open from June 11, 2013 through June 20, 2013 EST. Winners will be notified within 24 hours of winning. Winners have 48 hours to claim their reward. New winners will be chosen if prizes are unclaimed. Winners will be emailed their rewards within 7 days of claiming their prize.

Contest is hosted on multiple blogs. One entry per person, please. Multiple entries will be deleted.

The dinner was following Fabric Weekend 2013 so I had just purchased massive amounts of fabric and was too excited to leave it all alone in my hotel room by itself. So I wrapped the fabric around me in a feeble attempt to make a toga. 

Thankfully Bev was there to show me how a real toga is tied and Jen helped style me. I am pretty sure they thought I was just joking and were laughing along with me instead of at me. But then I really did wear the toga out of the hotel, down the street in Los Angeles, and into a nice restaurant.

It was so hilarious and ridiculous that they made me pose for photos. This photo was taken by Christina. I couldn't keep a straight face. And it was at this point where it set in that I should have worn my nice dress under the toga instead of my jeans. So I kept the toga on. In moments like these you realize the extreme juxtaposition of your sense of humor and introvertedness. 

It was a great night with friends, in spite of my wardrobe. Here I am with Stef and Cherie.

Thanks to great sponsors of the evening:

I've got a lot more to say about Fabric Weekend but I'll have to add more later. I'm off to enjoy the Character Awards for my daughter's kindergarten class. Can't wait to see which award she gets!

Did you see what I made last week?

You can find the tutorial for the wrap high/low top here and the ruffled leggings tutorial here. These tutorials are universal so you can make them in any size, large or small!

I also managed to update my About page. It had been a while and it was really uninformative. You can now find out all sorts of random facts about me as well as learn about what sewing machines and camera I use.

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I bought a lot of fabric. I'm stocking up since I'll be moving away from Los Angeles soon. That's what I tell myself anyway. I always get tons of knits. I go through those the most when creating a pattern. Stripes. I can never get enough. I love all the geometric prints everyone else was buying but I just didn't have the vision for any. 

So my question for you is, are you a fabric hoarder or do you just buy what you need with a specific project in mind? What type of fabric do you seem to collect the most?

It's easy!

1. Just follow @TheTrainToCrazy (that's ME!)
2. Take a photo of something you made in June.
3. Tag me and use the hashtag #SewToWinJune

I'll choose two lucky, random winners June 30th. You may enter one additional photo daily. But they must be things YOU made IN June!

Winners may live anywhere in the world but must be 18 or older to win. Winners will be tagged and will have 48 hours to respond via email. After that point a new winner will be chosen. Winners receive a $50 gift certificate to GoToPatterns.com.