Success!

Over this past weekend I helped organize a large vintage fabric sale. It was a considerable amount of work, but looking at the end results and the funds raised, I would say it was more than worth my while. Through the church, I was connected with a family who had inherited a large fabric collection from a seamstress. When I say large, that is an understatement. The amount of fabric is truly mind-boggling. Perhaps what's more astounding is that one person amassed all of it! There were receipts dating back to the 1960's!

We had to use a trailer to transport the fabric which had been stored in produce boxes and Rubbermaid totes. We had a number of people help unload the fabric and it ended up taking about 8 ladies 4 hours to unpack all of it! The church had 15 large folding tables and we used every single one of them, and we could have used more.

We had originally planned to sort the fabric based upon type, but once the boxes started opening, we noticed two things. First, it was primarily polyester blends (remember, it is vintage fabric). Second, there was just so much it would have been impossible to efficiently sort. I still look at the pictures and can hardly believe it.

The tables ran the length of the churches foyer which is a good distance. I'd say this is 6-8 tables end to end, stacked about 10 layers of fabric high. And that means we still had another 7-8 tables filled with more fabric. We also dedicated a room off the foyer to sewing notions and patterns. The number of patterns was incredible!

Beyond Fabricland, I've never seen anything like this. And what's more remarkable is that it was a private collection!

Loads and loads of drapery fabric.
Of course, a perk of unloading the fabric and helping out with the sale is that we got first dibs on the fabric. Rob's Mom came in to help with the sale as well. While it was a lot of work, I think we also got to pick out some fairly fantastic fabrics. These are a few of my faves.

Seriously...have you seen anything like this before?

I'm thinking this has cute throw pillow potential. I got two of them.

While I've never sewn clothing, I love this print and would love to make a long flowy dress out of it.

The fabric on the left says slinky dress or skirt. The red polka dot screams sexy 192o's style dress. Super cute.

I'm loving this hot pink plaid. I've love to recover a little chair or bench in Abbi's room with this. I'm sure in 1970 a man would have had a suit jacket made out of this.

And this. Well this. I have no idea what I'd do with it, but the pattern was just so fantastic, I had to have it. Seriously fantastic!

These three fabrics are likely best used for upholstery. All great. I do love the floral pattern. I'd love to see another little chair or bench done up in this for Abbi's room.

On the Friday we were open for only 4 hours and it was so busy! Saturday wasn't as busy, but the sale was still a great success overall. All the sales were by donation and it was wonderful to see just how generous people could be. We raised funds for Cystic Fibrosis Canada, and in total, we ended up raising $1565! Unbelievable!

So a big thank you to everyone who came out, helped, shopped, and supported this great cause. Now I've got some sewing to get to!