24hrs on the bus for 3m of fabric: was it worth it?

Duh.  Of course it was.  Was there any doubt?  Especially when it's fab laser cut pleather....

....and the exact weight/size/colour of breton stripe I've been looking for all year.

I had one last 3-day weekend of the summer left, and Greyhound was having a web deal, so I thought, what the hell.  Last trip down to NYC in September of 2011 went quickly, and the wifi on the bus meant that I had 7 hours or so each way to catch up on some blog reading.  Unfortunately, it seems that the whole of Quebec decided to cross at the I-87 border that Friday, which meant a 5.5hr hold up for customs and immigration.  Sigh.   Luckily bus people are a patient lot who don't demand to skip the line because don't-you-know-who-I-am and I-have-somewhere-very-important-to-be, like business class fliers tend to!  Everyone settled down for a long wait, broke out their packed lunches, shared everything around, and I got to meet some great people and hear their stories about summer travels to family reunions. 


There have already been some great blog posts about Male Pattern Boldness day 2013, so I'll just do a quick recap:  

from Peter

I met Peter, Suzanne, Teri, Linda and Tracey early at the Chelsea Flea Market.  Really, it was more of an antiques market, with prices you'd expect in Chelsea.  That didn't stop us from taking a good look at everything, including one handmade 1920s black silk dress that caught my eye....but for $450, I had to pass. 
 

I'd been wanting to meet Suzanne for a couple of years now, so it was a treat to get to talk for a while before the main crush of MPB day overtook us.  By the time we got to FIT for the RetroSpective exhibit, we were 25+ people (plus one husband/fabric carrier).  No photos allowed in the exhibit, but there are lots available on the website. 

 We invaded a cafe en masse for lunch, during which we got to swap patterns, meet Michael and refuel for the epic fabric shopping to come.

Suzanne and Nettie at Mood

I had a Project Runway fangirl moment at Mood:  we saw Sandro (PR S12) getting fabric cut by Kooan (PR S11), and then Uli came up in the elevator as we were leaving!  I can't remember all the stores we visited, but the usual culprits (Chic, Paron, Pacific Trim, Mood, Spandex House) were in there somewhere.  Check the Shop the Garment District website for a complete list of fabric shops, if you are planning a trip there outside of MPB day.

We ended the day at Kinokuniya Japanese books, where I picked up some treats for my kids and a pattern book that I'd been thinking about ordering for a while.

Then we flopped into a corner of Bryant park and spent the next couple of hours rehydrating and comparing fabric.  I did a little speed-dating turn around the group so that I'd get a chance to talk to everyone.  Now I can say that I've actually met all these NYC bloggy friends, rather than trying to awkwardly explain to people that I have a huge group of friends that I "talk to" regularly, but have never met.  You know what I mean, don't you?

Thanks for hosting Peter!  And I'll see you at MPB 2015 perhaps?  But I think that next time, I'll fly....