Finally,  the source of my sewing aggravation has been retired.  I got a Prym-Dritz magnetized pin holder.  I had originally sought  the Clover model, which comes in nicer and varied colors, but I couldn’t find it in an shop & didn’t want to pay for shipping.  I found the Dritz pin holder behind the counter at SIL Thread on 38th Street.  It came with a few green-headed pins, about 20, a few of which were defective.   As far as the holder is concerned, it’s wonderful.  So easy just to drop a pin on it, and then they line up all by themselves in a neat row.  It’s a fair weight and doesn’t move around, making two handed use unnecessary.  So, so long to the tomato, though I will keep that mini tomato for removing glue from pins.

1) 100% Wool, solid gray;

2) Gray t-shirt knit, 100% cotton;

3) Black knit, 100% cotton, “Lacoste.”

In the real world, they were or very much appear to be:

1) Wool blend, brown and blackish tweed-ish blend color.  Slightly shopworn.

2) Teal knit, synthetic blend (possibly rayon), very lightweight.

3) Black jersey, 100% polyester.  Very, very polyester.  Has that sparkly polyester look.

The matte card under the fabric is photo neutral medium gray.

I won’t mention the seller (for now), but I’m annoyed even further because I just received another order (I know, I know) of which half was “sold out” and not shipped.  I was never sent an e-mail about it, nor was I told when I later called customer service about the order.  Had I known that the items were not in stock, I would have cancelled the whole thing, but I suppose they know that.  Of course the “sold out” items were the reason I placed the order in the first place.  Lesson learned; resist the online bargain temptation.  Back to the real.

Impressions and Observations…

First of all, most of Jem’s apparent staff seems to be in a killing-time-at-a- friend’s-place with nothing-to-do mode.  Well, nothing to do but talk amongst themselves and listen to music. (Excluding the ladies at the cutting table – they seem to be usual fabric store staff).  There’s usually a number of other mostly younger employees who must be – I guess – either students or visitors from out-of-town. This is mostly evident at the cashier. All I can say is, count your change. At least two different employees did not initially return (even close to) accurate change. Cashiering and/or using a calculator seemed to be a rusty skill.  Or maybe it just reflects the state of the American educational system.  I wouldn’t have mentioned it except that it happened on two different occasions with different employees. To be clear, I don’t think it was intentional. Aside from the customer service issues, both seemed to be reasonably pleasant individuals.  But don’t ask them for prices; they don’t know, or didn’t in my case at least – even for the spools of thread at the cashier table.

As for the fabrics, it’s a mixed quality of stock, with a fair number of knits (cotton and especially synthetics) and linen. Cotton prints are somewhat sparse. I’ve been here several times to check out the fabrics, but never found something that I wanted to buy. I wouldn’t go there looking for basics, but a chance-find on something unusual may be possible here. Prices seem reasonable. I heard quotes of $5/yd on both woven cottons and knit blends. There’s also a bookshelf of trim. This too was a mixed up collection. I saw some nice novelty laces and the quality seemed fairly good. Again, though, not much in the way of basics, but if you are open to, let’s say, lingerie elastic in a arbitrary color – it’s worth stopping by if you happen to be downtown. I have purchased trims here a few times, and prices seem to vary according to who is cutting it. So be sure and ask first, though prices were generally reasonable on trim. (I did hear another customer haggling over a large quantity trim purchase, and so that seems to be a possibility).

To be frank, though, this shop has an “off” atmosphere and I didn’t feel particularly comfortable at Jem.  This may be because nearly every time I’ve been there, some kind of “construction” was going on. It didn’t seem to be structural changes, but rather, some kind of unrelated activity–like building furniture or just using the store’s space as a work area for something else. Anyway, what I mean is, loud power tools. Like circular saws, just a few yards away from the fabric bolts. Eardrum peril. It’s a fairly efficient way of getting customers out of the store and it seems to work well in that way. I have to wonder if this place is just someone’s hobby. I don’t know how the “business” could possibly pay the rent on the space. Or maybe it becomes a lounge or something at night.  Just wondering.

My take is, if you happen to be walking by, might as well check it out (so long as there’s no ear-shattering noise evident). Otherwise, it’s not worth a special trip downtown. Jem Fabric Warehouse is located on Broadway between White and Franklin, next to P & S Fabrics.

Above, wide stretch lace from Jem. Not sure what I’m going to do with it yet.

The exhibition finished on July 31st, but Design 21_21 Sight’s web page about the connection between the Tohoko region of Japan and Issey Miyake is still online.  I happened to run across it while doing a search on kogin style stitching.

One of the exhibition galleries had a display about Miyake’s collaboration with craftspeople in Tohoku and another showed examples of traditional clothing and techniques.  Wish I could have seen it!

Just a note about a few zippers I’ve spotted in the last few days…

This is probably old news for many, but Pacific Trimmings carries Riri zippers.  Riri are beautiful, high price-point Italian zippers.  Not just your ordinary zipper tapes and teeth, but these are often meant to be seen.  Anyway, I noticed that Pacific Trimings now has a wall of long separating Riris, which would be fantastic on a Fall jacket, for example…

Also, and perhaps more surprisingly, SIL Thread now has a new line of beautiful YKK Excella zippers that are certainly a rival to Riri.  They are in the back on their own display wall, teeth sparkling in the gallery lighting (or so it seemed).  Worth checking out.

Unexpectedly, I recently had the opportunity to revisited these old cognitions.  Last week (September 16th), “Japan Fashion Show” opened at the FIT Museum.  It’s downstairs in the special exhibition area and fills two good-size gallery rooms.  First, I will say that, in my view, the first room is by far the most interesting.  As you walk through the doorway into the exhibition space you first see Comme des Garçons–in the form of a dark cocoon shaped figure.  My internal vision has changed quite a bit in 20+ years and in that instant, I saw more and differently than I had years before.  Having been to Japan and also seen quite a bit of Japanese art (ukiyoe especially) since the 1980s, I have a clear sense now of the history and aesthetics of the culture that are present in that one garment.  In an odd way too, my unanticipated view of that layered figure was like suddenly finding myself back in a familiar place that I had forgotten was so wonderful.  Then, the dark natural fabrics created a “new” style, but now I see that they recreate the silhouettes of traditional Japanese figures.  The display of an antique sashiko worker’s jacket was a good historical reference point.

Along with Comme des Garçons (Rei Kawakubo), the dark figures of the first room also include the other members of the big 3.  That is, Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto.  They were the stars, but not the only participants in that innovative movement.
Excluding perhaps the color saturated Kenzo pieces in the far corner, these garments don’t look a bit retro–the statements that they made in 1982-4 are still clear and fresh today.  From a sewer’s perspective, they are remarkable garments–often focusing on the natural drape of cloth–yet the supporting construction must be extraordinary.

The second room, although bigger and flashier, was less interesting, primarily because much of it was more about fashion and trends.  There is more from the big 3 there, including the amusing contemporary “biker ballerina” by Comme des Garçons.  Much of the other side of the room was devoted to the Lolita variety of Cosplay-like fashion.  It is probably interesting to devotees–and admittedly, the pink wedding-cake like skirt of one dress was amazing for its intricacy and extravagant poufery–but generally it is a less interesting aspect of Japanese garment craft.  These pieces are really about an aesthetic of costumeness.

The show runs through January 2011 and is FREE admission.  The FIT Museum is located at 7th Avenue and 27th Street.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo to include and the ones on FIT’s website didn’t appeal me–I don’t think they represent the exhibition all that well–but the show is interesting for a variety of reasons and I recommend checking it out.

The incarceration of women activists at Occoquan seems to have been particularly harsh.  Unsanitary conditions and poor treatment sparked protests by the suffragist prisoners, including hunger strikes.  In 1917 a “night of terror” carried out by workhouse guards led to the beating and torturing of women prisoners, including Lucy Burns.

Other Resources:

Historical Marker Database, Women Suffrage Prisoners at Occoquan Workhouse (includes photographs of the site and briefly describes the poor conditions).

Turning Point Suffragists Memorial

Womensnews.org, Night of Terror Leads to Women’s Vote in 1917

I tried the usual suggestions, threading each spool through opposite sides of the upper tension wheel and keeping one thread outside of the last lower threading loop, but the same problematic result.  Finally, in an archived sewing discussion, I found the answer–at least the one that worked for my old Bernina–tissue paper.

I placed a strip of left over (orange!) gift wrapping tissue paper underneath the fabric and the resulting twin-needle hem was perfect.  Flat.  No waviness.  No skipped stitches.  No tangled thread.  Apparently there are commercial tear-away stabilizers that do the same thing.  I had no idea before, but I will have to look for that before my next double hem (or just use the orange tissue again).

Update:  see Twin Needle Peril, Resolved post.