LA Fabric Shopping & Science Geekery

We've visited LA several times in the past and spent most of our time eating.  For this particular trip, we decided to DO something as well as eat (ahem, priorities!).

Fabric Shopping - LA Fashion District
While the kids napped and my husband was mindlessly playing soccer games on his phone, I got to spend a precious hour at Michael Levine, a fantastically large (70,000 sq. ft.) fabric store in the heart of LA's Fashion District.  ML is split into 3 stores - the main store (pictured below), a home decor fabrics store across the street, and The Loft (also across the street) that sells a POUND of fabric for $2.50.  Unfortunately, the Loft was closed when I went, but I will definitely be checking it out on my next trip.

 Fabric Heaven - prices ranged from $3/yd and up

Well-priced zippers and 6000 yard cones of thread were only $2.25

Designer fabric options include Armani, Liberty of London, and more

Storefront

The Loft and a peek at other fabric stores (so many!) in the area.  I could spend days here if given the opportunity.  

My loot:

Soft neutral jersey, $5/yd

Brushstrokes chiffon, $3.50/yd

Chain print knit, $5/yd

Navy Stripes Knit, $5/yd

Navy stripes cotton, $5.50/yd

Science Geekery
I am a tried and true science nerd.  I loved the hand-me-down chemistry set my cousin gave me (though all the "cool" chemicals were used up) and spent many years working in Pharmaceuticals as a Chemist.  So I was delighted when the rest of the family was as excited as I was about visiting Griffith Observatory (no admission charge, but I'd recommend making a donation to help support such a wonderful facility):

Periodic Table display

V learning about the stars

Both kids were intrigued by the exhibits

Nice views of the city on their decks

Hollywood sign nearby

 What are your go-to places when traveling?

Travel Maxi Dress DIY

On a whim, we decided to road trip to LA and visit some family.  In preparation for the 6 hour drive, I decided to slap together a maxi on the serger.  The words "slap together" did not work for me as my attempt to quickie sew backfired and I wound up tearing the dress apart 3 times (working up till 2 am the night before the trip).  I still need to properly hem the thing (right now it's narrow hemmed by my serger which is too visible of a hem for me), but this works for now and it lived up to my needs of comfy travel garb.

Machines: Regular sewing machine w/ twin needle for gathering and serger for all other construction.  LOVE the built-in stretch of serger stitching on knits!

Materials: 2 yards red ponte roma fabric (this is quite heavy, but very stretchy - modal might have been a better choice, but I wanted to use something I had on hand)

Difficulty: Easy if you don't try to shortcut it (I eyeballed instead of pinning - bad idea)

Dress Pattern: Modified bodice from McCall's M5893 (cut the neckline extra high then drew the asymmetry and cut), self-drafted skirt, bodice edges finished with facings rather than full lining to make sure it didn't get too thick / hot (ponte)

Another asymmetrical neckline

Long and drape-y with gathers at the center front and back.  This helps with tummy camouflage and I think the vertical lines look elongating (at least I hope so).  Belting it made it seem slimmer IRL, but the pictures here don't seem to look that great.

 The color IRL is more like this bright red from my original instagram

Will post about the fabric stores and food here soon!