It had not been my intention only to go to Mood.  I actually trekked down to the garment district with a Post-It with several addresses on it.  But once in Mood I found everything my selfish little heart could desire and more (plus more than my selfish little arms could carry, making further shopping impossible.) I skipped out on the silk organzas and velvets, the gorgeous silk and cotton jersey prints that would inevitably languish unused on the shelf were I to take them home with me, and headed straight for wool.

After so much guessing with wools purchased online (and they vary so much in hand and quality), it was a joy to wander through the aisles stacked up the the ceiling and pet every fabric picking only the softest. Here’s my haul of wool suitings up close.  A super soft heathered taupe flannel:

A chocolate-y tweed in a fine herringbone pattern, darker in real life than in the photo:

And a lightweight soft tweed in various shades of brown:

You may be looking at these and thinking that The Selfish Seamstress sure does have predictable taste.  A year ago I myself would probably have only picked one of these and then substituted the other two with something a little wilder. But I think this is just me maturing as a stasher, knowing that these are the kinds of fabric I wish I had when they’re missing from my collection, and knowing that these are the things that I ultimately want to sew and wear. Plus I’ve done a lot of grey wool in the last year or so, and good browns are often hard to find. And ohhhhhh the quality!  These wools are so soft and rich and fine, they could probably be worn right against the skin without any itching at all. But I’ll line them anyway because they deserve it!

Then I went to pick out some knits, which is a bit of a gamble since sewing knits is sort of new to me and building up a big stash right away might not be the safest of bets.  But at least all of these are earmarked for specific patterns, so that increases the chances that they’ll get used. First I found that most elusive of fabrics- black wool double knit.  They had so many different black wool knits and it was a luxury to pick out the softest and smoothest rather than settling for whatever I could find.  (No picture because it just looks like black fabric when I photograph it).  Then a lovely eggplant (or grape?) ponte double knit:

And the softest, silkiest bamboo jersey in French blue:

I’m not necessarily done with my fabric shopping in New York, and I’ve got quite a few more days in the city.  Thank goodness that I have status on United, which means that Dan and I can check a total of four suitcases on the trip back :) Dan plans to fill some with sporting equipment, but he may be mistaken in that assumption.

I left Mood with my wallet about $130* lighter, and yet I still can’t help but think about a particular mulberry sweater knit I passed up, and a wine-colored wool jersey. Fortunately, it just so happens that I have this afternoon blocked off in my datebook with the words, “Make you even MORE jealous.”  I’ll get right on that.

* This number is a lie.