March 20, 2025 Last weekend I took a trip with my friend from Shreveport to Houston to check out the ultimate in fabric store shopping. And haven't we all heard of Mood Fabrics? Yes, we have, and my expectations were high. Mood has opened several locations around the country - Los Angeles, Miami and now Houston. Rumors about Atlanta and Chicago are out there but no announcement yet. I suspect that both Miami, which is a hot spot for fabric stores, and I haven't figured out why, just is, and Houston, which I think
because the fabric stores were abysmal and they knew the wealth was there, just not the quality. In Dallas, there are fine fabric stores, but because of the Dallas "fabric district" tornado in 2019, and not because of the market, but because of the ownership problems, the other fine stores have closed. There is one "fine" store left, but it's not for home sewists. It's for professionals who are doing couture design in Dallas. The fabrics range from about $200/yd for the
simplest to thousands of dollars/yd. Uh, yeah. I'm not doing that! And I think that's by intention, because they only want to deal with people "in the business," not home sewists. If you want to know the particulars, email me, and I can tell them to you. It's kinda sad in a way. So there's a market in Texas, it's just not being served, so in my mind, it was a very well-thought-out business decision to move to Texas, and to Mood Fabrics: "Thankyouverymuch!" And think about it, cause from Houston, they can draw the New Orleans, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio markets and
further north. And if you have a plane, and are in the "awl bidness" you can easily fly down for the day and back and have everything you need!
Of course most of us can't do that, but if you are in a neighboring state, Mood is located very close to the Galleria, so staying close to the Galleria, (we stayed at the Royal Sonesta, which was a great location for us), is very doable.
It's about a 2 mile walk which isn't far, but in a city it's easier by car. The Galleria is THE shopper's paradise, which may not sound like much when you're a sewist looking for find fabrics, but "snoop shopping" is some of the fastest and best way
to get inspired to sew up something special for yourself. I never miss the opportunity to check out the latest clothes, not only to get inspiration, and education on techniques, but also to see what the buyers are buying from the designer. The runway shows don't always tell the whole story. And often the buyer is very conscious of what will sell and what won't.
Here's my impression at the Galleria:
- The Neiman Marcus is gutted. It's sold to Saks and they will close probably within the year. It's sad to see this beautiful old lady go, but honestly after visiting the store, it's probably a blessing.
- The Dillard's is pretty good, but it's Dillard's.
- Frankly we got discouraged and didn't visit Nordstrom's nor Saks. They've never been as upscale as Neiman's and I didn't think they
would be now.
- Universal Fabrics, listed as one of the top fabric stores, which meant that at the least it could have at least one or two good pieces. We were both sorely disappointed. The facility is not clean, and we wouldn't be surprised if there was mold in and amongst the stacks of fabric which were piled so high and in no particular order. We went through some of the isles, and after asking one of the owners or whoever sitting by the cash register, and
grunted just like Madame DeFarge. I fully expected the Queen of Hearts to scream, "Off with their heads!" We spend all of 10 minutes there and couldn't wait to get back to Mood. No matter what all else you can say about Mood, even in the three floors they occupy in New York, the fabrics are well-taken-care-of, and you know you're not going to get a piece that has damage (mold, torn, discolor, or otherwise flawed ).
The one problem with Houston is that it's a little on the fashion designed challenged scale. It's never been a great fashion town, and I'm not sure why. Maybe because Dallas was such a bright spot, and Dallas does have a couple of design schools which
keeps the fashion design quotient a little higher. But for whatever reason, Houston doesn't have that great "boutique" that a major city should have. Even in "Landman" when they want to go shopping it's Dallas, not Houston they go to.
So why would Mood move to Houston. It's big, and there's a ton of money in Houston - mostly oil. Personally, I think Mood saw a huge opportunity here to jump-start the fashion a little with a great fabric store. But for
whatever reason, they are doing well, cause there were lots of customers in there when we were there.
Even in New York, Mood has stood out as the go-to place for sewists. For the decades I've been traveling to New York, I hadn't ever heard of Mood till Project Runway. The first time I visited it, I thought it was mediocre at best. But Mood has continued to upscale and improve it's inventory. By the time I last visited New York, it was "the" shop to go to,
and I crossed all my other shops off my list. Well, all but Mendel Goldberg Fabrics. Knowing the history of fashion in New York helps a
little, because the first real wave of fashion workers appeared in the 1830s when Jewish immigrants were escaping persecution in Europe. This was mostly lower Manhattan, south of Houston Street (SoHo), and this was the beginning of the "garment district." The shirt factory fire, caused reform, and movement north, but anything north of 39th street was treated with disdain and boycott, so the garment district moved north, but not north of 39th street. Today, this SoHo district
has a fine tradition of fashion and clothing, and the major example of that is Mendel Goldberg Fabrics. Alice has the most gorgeous fabrics you can put your hands on. I have ordered some gorgeous cream wool gabardine for a cream suit, that was to die for. She has mostly couture European fabrics that are from major design houses, and the prices reflect that. But her End Cuts are generous and can be very fun to go through. She's a go-to store for the Susan Khalje French Quilted Jacket. If you are considering doing the famous Chanel jacket, you should seriously consider looking at the fabrics at Mendel Goldberg, which is south of Houston in the old traditional part of New York fabric district!
But Mood was still my favorite. My friend was in her car so she took her fabric with her. I
was on commercial flight, so I had it shipped. It probably won't be here before the weekend and that will be another post.
A very brief capsule of what I got was mostly classic fabrics. Here's the list as I remember:
- An Armani-esque, tissue-weight wool in a gorgeous warm tan for spring and summer
- Black and White of a dreamy Egyptian, long-staple cotton that has a sheen that silk would be jealous of
- Major wovens, mostly cotton and wool. The wool was beautifully lightweight and the cottons were prints and happy looks
- Some obvious designer fabrics - Cavalli, Oscar, Ralph Lauren that were gorgeous and
couldn't resist.
- Went back the second day for knits. Not sure why we didn't see those the first day, probably because we were so excited about all the wovens.
- Again more designer names in the knits, Alexander Wang for one.
I'm really not trying to name drop designers, but the plethora of really fine fabrics seemed to be the designer fabrics more than anything else.
This all brings up shopping at fine fabric stores. There are several things I've learned through the decades that have served me well. Here ya go, not in any particular order:
- Make a list - or have a pin folder on Pinterest, something because the minute you walk in the door you will be inundated. Expect it. You'll step back and wonder what wonderland have you stepped into. So you've got to be organized.
- If you pick it up more than twice, you're probably going to buy it. If you
happen to think you don't need it or it's not working for you, take a photo of the stock number with the fabric on the bolt, so you can call back later and order it and they will ship it to you.
- Quality costs. Don't be surprised when you pick up the most expensive items. There's a reason for that. You know quality and fine design and it will show in the price. I put down that Oscar de la Renta piece twice, and then
finally picked it up the third time and got it. Now that I'm home I'm happy it's with me. I have NEVER, EVER been upset about spending the extra $$$ on the quality fabric and I have been upset about getting the lessor quality.
- Buttons - if you like it buy it! It's that simple. Good creative buttons aren't what they used to be, and they are hard to find. Most often this will be the one give-away that your garment is
made because RTW does not like unique, unusual or creative buttons. They only put the most bland button possible on the garment. We don't have to worry about marketing because the garment is for us. And Boom! We like it and that's the only test it has to survive.
- Too many times, I have come home and berated myself that I have spent way too much (I'm going through that right now - what was I thinking?...what have I
done with buying all this fabric?...I'll never sew this up? Yeah, all of those are rumbling in my head). But the minute the boxes come (yes, there's more than one), I'll be thanking myself, and in 6 m onths I'll be berating myself with, "What was I thinking? I should have bought way more!!!!" Get used to this. There's not a sewist out there who doesn't think this way and hear these voices!
With the closure of so many fabrics stores now, to come across a new GOOD one, is really a treat. You don't have to be in Houston, cause these really great stores abound.
- Mood in New York City
- Mood in Miami
- Mood in Los Angeles
- Mood in Houston - now!
- Vogue Fabrics in Chicago
- Britex in San Francisco
- Promenade in New Orlean
These are just some of the great stores that have a terrific choice of fabrics from the nicer sources of fabric. Yes they are more expensive. And yes it's always worth it. There's nothing worse that getting home and finding a flaw or a big hole
or some other horror in between the folds of a fabric. I know that won't happen cause I watched Elizabeth and Dawon (sp?) roll out everything and examine there on the cutting table.
My new best friend, Davon, who volunteered to cut and roll my fabrics for shipping!
My friend with her stack. They thoughtfully put a sign on our stack "Still shopping," so that we wouldn't have to go find it again!
And here are my Armani-esque wools. Houston (being in the south and all) has many warm (OK, hot, humid beyond belief), days, and so here's the fabulous lightweight wools that I will probably be ordering. The nice thing is that I can send this photo
with the one circled, if I want to get more. These are the kind of pictures that can make your shopping very fast, because you know you can always call and they can ship it to you.
Even a little social media in the mix. She had Davon on super fast speed, because he is fast, but efficient after all!
And here's our wonderful guru that found everything and made it all so easy for us!
|
This is a sad day - the loss of a classic tradition. Armani held the line
to fashion style that ...
Tracking a fashion trend isn't all that hard after seeing a few of them.
Living from Mid-Century Modern through Twiggy...
It's worth the time to look at these styles, particularly today as
there is a group of that wants to look....
This is the way fashion used to be -- pretty, flattering and I can't wait to make some of...
NOTE: There are some folks who can't get my email, or it's sporadic, or something is hinky. I will always respond to any of you who send a private message, whether it's about the topic of the week or something else. If you don't get anything
from me, it's probably because the support@sewingartistry.com email is blocked, and even a private message can't get through. In that case, I'm on Instagram often, and you can always PM me at @sewingartistry.
As a precaution,
please ensure I'm in your email Address Book and check your spam, junk, and trash folders. Some email clients get extra excited when they see emails coming into the Inbox that go to many other receivers. They automatically think it's trash or spam, and it never makes it to the Inbox. I must constantly check my spam and junk folders to ensure I'm getting the emails I subscribe to.
To view in browser along with past emails, click here. We respect your email privacy. |
Tracking a fashion trend isn't all that hard after seeing a few of them.
Living from Mid-Century Modern through Twiggy...
It's worth the time to look at these styles, particularly today as
there is a group of that wants to look....
This is the way fashion used to be -- pretty, flattering and I can't wait to make some of...
NOTE: There are some folks who can't get my email, or it's sporadic, or something is hinky. I will always respond to any of you who send a private message, whether it's about the topic of the week or something else. If you don't get anything
from me, it's probably because the support@sewingartistry.com email is blocked, and even a private message can't get through. In that case, I'm on Instagram often, and you can always PM me at @sewingartistry.
As a precaution,
please ensure I'm in your email Address Book and check your spam, junk, and trash folders. Some email clients get extra excited when they see emails coming into the Inbox that go to many other receivers. They automatically think it's trash or spam, and it never makes it to the Inbox. I must constantly check my spam and junk folders to ensure I'm getting the emails I subscribe to.
To view in browser along with past emails, click here. We respect your email privacy. |
|
|
