LA Fabric Shopping

LA is one of the greatest places to go fabric shopping. We made a trek this past weekend to downtown LA where I stocked up on fabric for all my Christmas projects!

Our first stop was the FIDM Scholarship Store, a store run by and benefiting students at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. All of merchandise at the store is donated by retailers, and the proceeds go toward funding scholarships for students. They have tons of inexpensive clothing and accessories for sale, but my favorite part of the store is the back area where they sell fabric! Most of the fabrics are only $1/yard! We also picked up some new ties for Dean for only $2/piece. Score!

Our next stop was in the Fashion District at the Michael Levine Loft, where all of the fabric is $2/pound! Ridiculous. They have all sorts of fabrics here - chiffon, lining, jersey, knit, and plenty of fancier fabrics too. The one thing they don't have are cute cotton prints....

But you can find plenty of those at the main Michael Levine store, right across the street! The fabrics here tend to be more like regular retail prices (think: Joann's), but they have a huuuge selection. They do have some good bargains for trim, thread, and sewing notions though.

My loot from the day:


And since we were downtown, we took the opportunity to visit one of our favorite restaurants in LA - Bottega Louie. Eating at this place is always such a treat. Aside from their mouth-watering pizzas and infamous portobello fries, the big stand-out about this place is the impeccable service. From the moment you walk in the door until the moment you leave, you get the feeling that you are well-taken care of. The waiters are attentive, but not smothering; friendly, but not overly chatty, and overall, just super professional and not to mention, good-looking. Seriously, when my brother-in-law visited, he even made the comment that it seemed like one of those places where all the aspiring Hollywood actors work when they're not busy doing auditions.

Speaking of Hollywood actors, we had the pleasant surprise of being seated at Bottega Louie right next to The Office's Oscar Nunez. He was literally sitting two feet away from me on the same booth/bench. His jacket was in my seat and had to be moved for me to get into my booth! It was pretty hilarious. He was so close to us that Dean and I couldn't talk about sitting next to him without him overhearing us, so we spent half of our lunch writing notes to each other and texting back and forth. Haha! Well, our LA experience is now complete - we have seen our first celebrity!

Some photos:

amazing portobello fries with aioli

desserts and candies

pizza!