Zinck’s Fabric Haul

Musings of a Seamstress - Zinck's Fabric Outlet

At the end of September I finally got a chance to go to a fabric store that I have been dying to go to for over a year now.  Zinck’s Fabric Outlet is in Ligonier on my way back to my hometown.  It is about 2 hours away from me now.  Every time Eric and I have gone back home over the last year I have wanted to stop there, but never have.  We have either been coming through on a Sunday, when they are not open, or Eric is driving and he refuses to stop and aid in my fabric hoarding.  I don’t blame him for that either.  I mean, have you seen the size of my stash?  Septembers purchases officially put me 5.5 yards in hole for the year, with a grand total of 103.75 yards purchased and only 98.25 yards used.  Time to really get sewing in these last three months of the year.

Musings of a Seamstress - Zinck's Fabric Outlet

Let’s get back to the fabric goodness and ignore my hoarding addiction.  Zinick’s is huge!  The store is located in close proximity to a large Amish and Mennonite population, so they do have a large selection of basic solid color wovens.  However, that color organized wall above is all knits!  Every color and shade in a variety of different knits.  I may have went over this wall three or four times to make sure I saw everything.

Musings of a Seamstress - Zinck's Fabric Outlet

Then, when you turn around there are more printed knits, which is what the chevrons are, and a wide selection of printed chiffons.  There was a glen plaid chiffon that I am now regretting not getting.  I couldn’t picture what I would make with it, so I didn’t get it.  Maybe I was too overwhelmed by all the awesomeness, because now I can think of several things that could be great with that print.

Musings of a Seamstress - Zinck's Fabric Outlet

They did have a small selection of sparkly fabrics, which included the matte black solid sequin above.  With the population I mentioned earlier, this is just not the market for this kind of fabric.  That being said, that 3.99 is the cost per yard!  Umm…hello, that is a steal for solid sequins. I didn’t get any of this since I already have so much sequin fabric.  It was hard to pass it up at that price though.  It almost felt like I had to buy it, because you know, sequins.

Musings of a Seamstress - Zinck's Fabric Outlet

There was an entire wall of plaid flannels.  Also, very very tempting, but I wasn’t sure of any upcoming projects that I could use it for.  I passed on it for now.

Musings of a Seamstress - Zinck's Fabric Outlet

Most importantly, the 100% wool section. Do you see that red price sticker?  You sure are reading that right, $2.99 per yard.  Let me repeat that, 100% woo for less than $3 a yard! Sequins I can pass up at that price, but this…this must come home with me.  This is all pretty lightweight wool’s with a crisp hand.  Definitely not heavyweight coating fabric, but it will work great for a skirt or dress.

They also stock a very large selection of cotton quilting fabrics, including Homespun cotton prints, and a large selection of fleeces.  I even saw some great stretch denim, but they only had black and bright pink, neither of which I could see myself wearing.  At the front of the store are bins full of remnants that are all marked for under $2 a yard and bulk button purchases.  Just over a quarter of the store was filled with drapery and home decor fabrics, including all the trims  you could want to choose from too.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get pictures of  any of this, because I was too busy touching all the fabrics.  Maybe next time.

Are you wondering what I did buy?

Musings of a Seamstress - Zinck's Fabric Outlet

Well, I picked up two floral print chiffons at 3 yards each.  The one on the left is a crinkle chiffon with gold thread and a fuchsia and black watercolor floral that was $3.99 per yard ($11.97 total).  The one on the right is a tighter weave chiffon with a bright floral print that feels a little Asian inspired to me, for $2.99 per yard ($8.97 total).  Great prices for great prints that will make great pieces in my wardrobe.  

Musings of a Seamstress - Zinck's Fabric Outlet

Then there are all those knits that I spent so much time looking at.  I picked up three different knits at three yards each.  The first one on the left is a teal jersey for $1.96 a yard ($5.88 total) that is so incredibly soft I want to be wrapped up in it all the time.  When they were cutting this one there was a small hole in it, so they did give me the option of an extra quarter of a yard or she could re cut it at the hole. I took the extra quarter of a yard because the hole is small enough I think I can work around it.  I thought that was pretty awesome customer service of them to let me make the decision.  The dusty lilac in the center is also a jersey knit for a whooping $1.99 a yard ($5.97 total).  The blue on the right is a ponte knit for $1.96 a yard ($5.88 total), that has some tiny dye specks that are barely noticeable.  I almost squealed when I found this one, though.  Ponte is one of my new favorite knits and the color on this one is perfect.  It is more of a steely blue, which did not translate well in this picture.  In fact, none of the knits photographed well in terms of color.  I foresee some new fall dresses in the next month or so.

Musings of a Seamstress - Zinck's Fabric OutletLastly, I could not pass up the $2.99 a yard wool.  I picked up three yards of this army green wool for a total of $8.97.  That price is insane to me!  Again this is not the true color in this photo.  Silly camera phone.  I also grabbed a couple of silver separating zippers to go with the wool.  I think I either want to make some sort of moto jacket incorporating the zippers or a version of the Sewaholic Minoru Jacket.  Which would you make?

Final thoughts

All in all they have some amazing prices.  I am going to try to wash the knits here in the next couple of days and try them out, so I will let you know how the quality is once I make them up.  Maybe pick up some of those plaid flannels and some more knits.  The store didn’t have the best lighting. I had to take some bolts to other parts of the store to get a good idea of the true color.  I am guessing the building was was built in the 50’s or 60’s based on the massive light orbs hanging from the ceiling, so I expected it to have pretty poor lighting. I wish I would have gotten some pictures of the orbs though.  There were only two women working and they were very polite.   I am definitely going to try to stop here again sometime.

The Great Destashing

Oh my gosh!!  I am blown away by the response to this post.  I seriously anticipated maybe 10-20 donations.  As of right now, we have received nearly 100 donations.  Seriously, thank you for all the support!!  Because of the overwhelming response I am going to have to put a hold on any more donations until I can get caught up.  This is possibly going to take me a few weeks to get everything double checked, packed, and shipped.  I want to make sure I am not leaving anyone off.  Plus, I don’t think I could fit this many packages in my car to take to the post office. 

Stay tuned for future destashings!

Let me get straight to the point.  I want to give you my fabric!  Yes, you read that right! Take my fabric!  Please!  You know you want it!

Why am I giving you my stash?  A couple of nights ago on Twitter I shared a pic of my sewing room and the maybe 6 feet of space I had to walk around in.  Then yesterday, I was trying to locate some particular fabric, which I never did find, and was stabbed in the toe by a straight pin in my fabric.  Oh and I was wearing shoes at the time.  Not cool.

  My stash is getting out of control!  I have been stressing about it and have not bought a great deal of fabric this year as a result.  Now, I am not saying that is bad by any means, but I don’t want to stress about it anymore.  Sewing is supposed to be relaxing and fun.  I don’t want to feel like I can never keep up.

 I am out of space to put my fabric away so it goes on top of any flat surface I can find.  For real!  These lovelies deserve to go to a seamstress who will actually use them.

So here is what I am proposing.  If you want a fun mystery box of fabric from my stash, it is yours!  I will pick a few pieces of goodies from my stash and ship it to you.  Each box will have at least 3 yards of fabric plus some other fun sample fabrics.  I am guessing that I can put some sort of sequin fabric in every box too!  I am going to make that a personal challenge.

 

Now this can get expensive on my end for shipping all of these lovely goodies to you to make gorgeous things out of.  I estimated it to be between $7-$10 based on weight for domestic.  So what I am asking is that you make a small donation of $5.00 to our adoption fund to help cover shipping costs. I am willing to do international shipments with a larger donation.  All the donations will stay in our adoption fund and shipping will still come out of my own pocket.

So what do you say?  Are you in?  I hope so, because of all these pics you see it does not even show all of my fabric stash.  There is more! Can you believe it!

 So, if you want some make a donation of $5.00 or more click on the Paypal link on the sidebar.  Make sure you enter the address you want it shipped too and a note saying “Share your stash”.

Please help get the word out and share this post as well!  I really want to de-stash and raise money for our adoption!