Upon looking through my NYC photos, I realized I'm going to have to split up Day 2 into 2 posts because there's too much to talk about! And too many photos. So this post will be about The Garment District and Bryant Park.
I must preface this by saying that I spent alot of time shopping on this trip. Back when we used to go to NYC, we did mostly sight-seeing type stuff.. but not much shopping. We shopped a little in Chinatown picking up little kitschy stuff here and there, but I never did you know, the GIRL-type shopping in NYC. No going to big name stores. It's just not me. I'm not into name brands and high price tags and designer clothes. I can definitely appreciate them, but I can't bring myself to paying the high price! And anyway, shopping for clothes is definitely not something i associate GOOD things with since i'm not my skinny self I used to be (you girls know what I'm talking about! ;-)
A perfect example of this is when I recently bought the recent issue of Weddings by Martha Stewart (of course, just for the inspiration!), and the first thing I said when I saw the cover was "Look at those lovely colored velvet boxes!" And the second thing I said was "Wow, those rings are pretty amazing too." Ethan was standing next to me and said "See, that's what I love about you, you didn't noticed the diamond rings first." :-)
BUT these trips to NYC were all before I was hugely into crafting and reading so many design and craft blogs out there on a daily basis. The information is at your fingertips these days, so much more than it was even a few years ago. I did alot of research before our trip to find all the great off-the-beaten-path stores in NYC that I would love. Luckily I stumbled on to MANY very generous strangers online that offered up lots of suggestions on the subject of good shopping for a crafter/designer. And many people offered suggestions on my blog and on my Flickr when I asked for some! :-) SO THANK YOU!
One person, I'm not sure how I stumbled onto her site, but she provided alot of content for the list-of-shops-I-wanted-to-see-3-page-printout that I took with me. Ask Ethan, I referred to that list many MANY times. Lol! (This blogger sells the cutest contemporary sewing patterns for children!)
(....and as an aside, I was just reading through her blog after re-finding it, and read this post. Read the comments people left. It is very enlightening on the subject of ripping off creative ideas from crafters and designers. It's such a fine line when you think about "inspiration".. it is such a hard thing in the creative world... and figuring out when things are obviously ripped off, or just inspired, or if it's just a case of people across the globe from each other thinking of the exact same idea at the same time. I don't sell my work, but have thought about it for the maybe-not-so-near-future. I've enjoyed not having to think about these icky issues. Makes me sad.)
So anyway, definitely check out her list of stores if you are heading to NYC anytime soon!
We went to the Garment district that first morning and hit B&J fabrics first. Needless to say, I totally felt like I was in an episode of Project Runway here. Lol! lots of student-looking-folks buying fabric. It was really cool. And to see a ton of Liberty of London in PERSON was a treat. (um, holy cow that stuff is pricey, but beautiful!) Rolls and rolls.
And Japanese patterns too. Such fun!
Loved the inspiration boards all over the store.
Here are some more photos from this shop.
Candy colored tulle. :-)
We then hit some trim and ribbon stores. The first was Tinsel Trading which was recommended to me over and over, so I was most excited to see this one! And I wasn't dissapointed! I think it was my best experience in this area. The owners were SO nice. And friendly. And I would say that that is a rare thing in ANY store, much less a store in NYC. Not snooty at all. They told me about the history of the store and how it had been in the one girl's family since her grandfather originally owned it. Read about the history here.
I took lots of photos. (and this is another topic which I find very interesting, especially after going on this trip and taking lots of photos inside stores. Some people were totally cool with it. Some people, NOT SO MUCH. Personally, I *usually* ask first before taking photos if it's ok, because I understand it's their perogative to say no. Or I might take some pics and see if anyone objects to it. Most of the places I went to didn't object at all. The way I see it, it's free advertising for them since I'm using the photos on my blog. But I also understand that some people may use the photos in negative ways, of which my naive mind can't wrap my head around.... but obviously there are reasons, or people wouldn't care. Maybe I'm too trusting of people?
Also, I don't own a business, and if I did, I would probably know these reasons, of which I'm sure there are legal issues, etc. The only place where there was an OBVIOUS aversion to photos being taken was in the Nolita area. They wouldn't even let me take photos of their outside shop windows that were open to the street.. which to me, is almost like public property... They actually yelled at me from inside the store through the open door. Lol! My whole reason for taking photos is obviously to record my memories of this trip. I want to remember these amazing stores. Also, for inspiration... for *personal* inspiration on *personal* projects. But also to be able to share with you guys! :-) And in turn, it's free advertising for them, no matter how small my blog is. One customer is a customer, right?
Dang, i'm digressing way too much. Can you tell I've spent the past 3 days in my home, haven't left the house because of a very sick baby, that is thankfully finally well?! And I FINALLY have some time to myself! :-)
Here are some pics from Tinsel Trading. I actually made some purchases here that I'll share once I photograph all my loot from this trip! They have some of their inventory in their online shop, but of course not everything. So i'm sure if you see anything in these photos, you could shoot them an email and they would ship it to you!
Yes, me in front of the store. I have no idea why I had Ethan take this.
Look at those HUGE felted balls!!
My favorite part. A whole wall dedicated to vintage and reproduction flowers/millinery treats, organized according to color. :::SWOON:::
Oh yes, I was coveting those little dark turquoise velvet flowers.
Buttons and beads organized by color.
On the other side of the shop, they had lots of cute gifts you could purchase.
Loved these velvet carrots! I'm so into velvet these days!
I'm not giving myself a "thumbs-up" here.. i'm holding my camera but it doesn't look like it. Lol.
These cute little birdy-baskets.. you can buy these in their online shop.
Almost died from the cuteness of these pom-pom animals in this vintage box of drawers. CUUUTE!
Birds in amazing colors. I took one of those little pink birdies home with me.
After picking myself up off the floor, we went to 2 other trim/ribbon stores. The first was Hyman Hendler and Sons, which wasn't as warm as Tinsel and Trading as far as the staff and atmosphere went, but they had some incredibly beautiful trims for sure. And it was a HUGE shop.. wall to wall with trim and ribbon.
Then we went to So-Good inc.... which was a pretty hilarious experience in contrast to the more refined stores we just went to. Smaller place with not as much of a great inventory, but GREAT prices. I got some great velvet ribbon there. When we first got there, it was super cramped and the owner was haggling with this older lady on a price. She was a persistent little woman! But he wasn't bending to her roos to get a better price! He must have liked us though b/c we didn't haggle, so he gave me very generous yards when he was cutting. ;-) I just had to take a pic of the wall of photos in the back where we checked out. You can tell these guys have been working at this store for MANY years!
So that's it for the Garment District. And i still have so many stores I want to go see the next time we go. And I also have to mention how AWESOME Ethan was on this trip about shopping. He generally enjoys walking around at places and going into boutiques with me. I mean rather, he doesn't mind it. But if i try and buy something, he might give me the stink-eye and say "Do you really need that?" But on this trip he didn't say ONE THING about any of my shopping. He in fact made this trip almost all about me b/c he himself is going on a guy's trip soon to Cincinnatti for the Home Brewer's Association competition of which he and his friends entered some of their homebrew (and they even placed and are in competition to win a bigger award at this convention! Their FIRST time entering!) So this was sort of my special trip to his special trip coming up.
So yes, even though he was alleviating his guilt of leaving me alone with the boys for days (as he said), he really didn't have to go out of his way like he did... he really went above and beyond. I don't think alot of guys would've searched high and low for button and trim shops all over the city. So I'm lucky, and thankful to have him. ;-)
Last, I have some pics from Bryant Park which I think fits so well with the garment theme here. The park was SO much more beautiful than I had imagined. I really had no idea what to expect. All I had heard of it was from Project Runway. And since we were there on a regular work day for most people, it was cool seeing people in their daily element. Eating their lunch in Bryant park, surrounded by beautiful trees and skyscrapers. Such a dichotomy.
I loved this cool Parisian looking carousel in the park. I played around with these images in Photoshop. The wallpaper is actually a photo taken from our hotel room in Midtown NYC.
