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L.A. Fashion District Shopping

My Whirlwind L.A. Fashion District Trip

For the past 10 days or so, we’ve been vacationing in Bishop, California. This was supposed to be a rock climbing (bouldering) trip, but my husband has an injured finger tendon, so the climbing days were limited. So the other night, I booked a cheap hotel (Vagabond Inn – which actually turned out to be pretty nice for the price), and we headed to the city the next morning.

The drive was a little over four hours, and holy hell, the traffic near L.A. is scary (at best). But WE MADE IT. And IT WAS WORTH IT. And THERE WAS FABRIC.

Oh…all the fabric.

The solid-colored fabrics in the photo above are all lightweight, stretch denim. I’ll be making jeans for Harper and Ezra with these for the Titchy Threads Small Fry Jeans pattern tour. And there’s enough of the pink to try a pair for myself! The prints at the top of the stack are mostly rayon challis with a little navy anchor sateen and chiffon thrown in, too. All those ranged from $1.99/yard to $2.99/yard or $2.50/pound.

L.A. Fashion District Shopping

The first afternoon, Scott dropped me off at 9th & Maple while he took the kids to a science museum. I started at the Michael Levine Loft and worked my way around the several blocks of fabric stores galore. It was a bit overwhelming AND underwhelming at the same time (lots and lots of crappy polyester to weed through), but I had such a great time. The fabrics above are all sweater knits purchased from the Michael Levine Loft and a smaller store on 9th St. The two tribals and the darker gray were $7/yard at the 9th St. store. The stripes and the bottom gray piece were $2.50/pound at Michael Levine Loft.

L.A. Fashion District Shopping

All the knits above (except for the very top one – $3.50/yard) were purchased at the Michael Levine Loft for $2.50/pound. I can’t wait to whip up some comfy stuff for Harper and me with these!

L.A. Fashion District Shopping

Ahhhh…it’s hard to tell from the photo above, but these are sweatshirt fleece, French terry and thermal knit. I’m picturing lots of comfy sweatshirts, hoodies and tees for Ezra. I absolutely adore boy sewing, and these are just perfect. Most of these were $2.50/pound at Michael Levine Loft. A couple were $2.99/yard.

L.A. Fashion District Shopping

So many gorgeous laces… I am thinking about making some soft pajamas using the pieces above as trim ($.99/yard). And the white lace background was something I grabbed at the Michael Levine Loft. Maybe the back of a bodice for a shirt for Harper? At $2.50/pound, who cares!

L.A. Fashion District Shopping

This elastic eyelet will be perfect for making undies or delicate little tanks and tees for Harper. At $.50/yard, yeah, I’ll take 20.

So yeah, if you add in the cost of gas and hotel, the fabrics aren’t exactly a steal. But if you’re going to L.A. anyway, or if you just want to have a fun trip, DO IT!

Oh – we also visited Mood Fabrics. And. OMG. It was amazing. But I decided to focus on cheap fabric I couldn’t get online for this trip. Stuff I can use to make things for the kids and practice my skills.

Have you ever been to the L.A. Fashion District? Is it a dream of yours to go?

 

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  • Sarag

    Oh my gosh, what a haul! The denims and the sweaterknits… oh my! I can’t wait to see what these become!

    • Sarah

      Sarah’s the name… not Sarag. Ha! :)

      • http://www.laurendahl.com/ Lauren Dahl

        Girl, I know your name. Hahah! :)

  • http://www.madalynne.com/ Maddie Flanigan

    Wow! You did get a lot of fabric! So jealous. I hope I can make it out to Cali one day. Michael Levine’s store looks like it has a lot of great steals!

    • http://www.laurendahl.com/ Lauren Dahl

      Yes, their loft store was so great!

  • Jenn AJennuineLife

    Very nice!

    • http://www.laurendahl.com/ Lauren Dahl

      Thanks, Jenn!

  • Tasha Early

    SOOO great!

    • http://www.laurendahl.com/ Lauren Dahl

      Yes, so much fun!

  • Amber Heidi

    Oh so amazing!!

  • justine

    I’m glad you guys survived your stay at Vagabond Inn without any problems! Vagabond Inn in South LA? You are eiher a very brave or very naive one!! Hahaha I hope I didn’t freak you out with my South LA warnings of doom. I have fabric bought in downtown literally up to my ceiling. Be glad you don’t live too close. The fabric piles up, believe me.

    • http://www.laurendahl.com/ Lauren Dahl

      It was right on the campus of USC. It felt very clean, well-lit and nice, actually! We had dinner at Bacaro which was amazing…a very good trip indeed!

  • http://www.cashmerette.blogspot.com/ Jenny

    Nice work at Michael Levine! When I went there I got totally overwhelmed and left emptyhanded but you’ve give me the motivation to try again :)

    • http://www.laurendahl.com/ Lauren Dahl

      It can definitely be an overwhelming place! I had to make two trips to take it all in.

  • http://girlsinthegarden.blogspot.com/ Lori

    That is such an amazing stack of fabric and it also sounds like such a fun day.

    • http://www.laurendahl.com/ Lauren Dahl

      It was so much fun! A crazy 36 hours or so!

  • Charity

    Oh, wow, what fun! I really want to take a trip like this someday…. the biggest brick-and-mortar place I’ve shopped for fabric is Joann’s, which seems kind of sad.

    • http://www.laurendahl.com/ Lauren Dahl

      Yeah, Joann is awesome the first time you go to one…then you’re like, meh, this place kind of sucks! hahaha! :)