Linking Surtex, the National Stationery Show and the Garment District

I've finally found a computer to use for a few minutes - thank heavens for the Public Library System!   Now I can tell you about the Garment District and how it all links completely back to Surtex, Surface Design, and the National Stationery Show.

The morning after walking the shows, I headed out to 38th and 39th streets to check out the New York Garment District.  The most surprising thing is that many of the shops were already open at 8:00, so I plunged right in...

Take a look at the juicy things I found at Pacific Trimmings:

There  were aisles and aisles of Buttons!

And zippers, the likes of which I have never seen:

These are Riri Zippers, and I find them to be absolutely Drool Worthy...
http://www.riri.com/

There was a complete wall of ribbons...

Thankfully, I'm not captivated by ribbons like I was a year ago - otherwise I would have wasted  precious time staring  at this wall and designing "Ribbon Things" on the fly.

The aisles and aisles of Buttons in small boxes that went from floor to ceiling were what just overwhelmed me and made me sigh to the person sweeping escapee buttons off the floor, "I'll have to come back when I know what I really need, because what I really want is ALL of these".  He nodded sagely, and continued to sweep for a few moments.  Resting his broom, he looked me in the eye and said, "You need to bring your patterns and any materials you are already working with; otherwise you will not be happy with your purchases."  Sound advice for a starry-eyed tourist who was living the dream, if only for a few hours.  He probably gives that same advice several times a day.

I walked around the Garment District and visited many shops, and the thing that kept reverberating inside me was that all this three-dimensional texture was the same two-dimensional texture that I had looked at the day before.  Only this time, the lines, dots, curly-cues and color combinations I saw at Surtex were now on fabrics, zippers, buttons, and a million other things that were probably produced thousands of miles away...all from drawings just a few blocks down the street.  Isn't it fabulous to be able to imagine something and then make it happen?

I can hardly wait to have my design time back - as soon as the Beach Cottage Renovation is finished, I am diving into my studio, and may miss the Summer altogether!  Speaking of which, as soon as the painters, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, tile and granite folks are gone, I'll hook the computer back up and show you the Renovation photos.