Knitters generally love texture. Here are some beauties, imported from France in four colorways and three sizes. 5/8", 3/4", and 7/8".
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Storm over, let the buttoning begin!
With all the knitting that has taken place since Hurricane Sandy was expected, we're getting a slew (seems like an appropriate colloquialism) of calls for buttons. Glad to know that at least knitters could get something done in the dark!
Knitters generally love texture. Here are some beauties, imported from France in four colorways and three sizes. 5/8", 3/4", and 7/8".
Knitters generally love texture. Here are some beauties, imported from France in four colorways and three sizes. 5/8", 3/4", and 7/8".
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Book review
I finished a biography Rudolf Nureyev called "Nureyev: the Life" by Julie Kavanaugh. Ms. Kavanaugh was given access to archives of the foundations left behind by Nureyev, along with large volumes of personal correspondence from his various friends and associates. The book is absorbing, and well written. I could have done without the overt recollections about the very personal parts of his life, but those are not a large part of the book. Kavanaugh was able to reconstruct large pieces of his life as it unfolded in his birthplace in the old USSR, through his time at the Kirov, his post-defection life in London, his travels all over Europe. She touched on some of his times in New York, and a little of California, but only briefly mentioned his "farm" in Virginia.
Why does a book about Nureyev interest us? Because he was a lover of fabrics and textiles, and he brightened up our shop with his presence at both our Watergate and our K Street locations. Although his temperament lives on in the biography and is some people's memories, I'm happy to say that we saw only his delightful side. He would make the fabrics dance with joy as he handled them gently to see if they had a certain float-y or drap-y quality that he liked--but he loved stiff, waxy batiks too.
I'm not a balletomane, and Kavanaugh is probably writing to a more learned audience than I on the subject, so I learned a lot from this book. She communicated his focus and his dedication to ballet (both as a dancer and as a choreographer), his lack of regard for hierarchy at times, and his passion for simple things away from the stage. His (irrational) fear of a return to poverty was an interesting part of his character, as was his attachment to gentle characters and his rage against bureaucracy. All these traits almost point to a well-rounded individual!
Nureyev's dance transcended dance. Films exist that convey some of the power and wildness that he brought to dance, but film also catches and preserves imperfections. It's not very interesting to watch certain ballets on film. But in short clips, one can see what enthralled audiences and the dance world--his pauses in mid-air during his leaps, his acting chemistry with Dame Margot Fonteyn, his athleticism. Dame Margot herself looks as if she is suspended from a string. They certainly were a great pairing.
Here's an early "Giselle" for your enjoyment. Stay safe during the stormy weekend to come! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucWxfvoIi7E
Why does a book about Nureyev interest us? Because he was a lover of fabrics and textiles, and he brightened up our shop with his presence at both our Watergate and our K Street locations. Although his temperament lives on in the biography and is some people's memories, I'm happy to say that we saw only his delightful side. He would make the fabrics dance with joy as he handled them gently to see if they had a certain float-y or drap-y quality that he liked--but he loved stiff, waxy batiks too.
I'm not a balletomane, and Kavanaugh is probably writing to a more learned audience than I on the subject, so I learned a lot from this book. She communicated his focus and his dedication to ballet (both as a dancer and as a choreographer), his lack of regard for hierarchy at times, and his passion for simple things away from the stage. His (irrational) fear of a return to poverty was an interesting part of his character, as was his attachment to gentle characters and his rage against bureaucracy. All these traits almost point to a well-rounded individual!
Nureyev's dance transcended dance. Films exist that convey some of the power and wildness that he brought to dance, but film also catches and preserves imperfections. It's not very interesting to watch certain ballets on film. But in short clips, one can see what enthralled audiences and the dance world--his pauses in mid-air during his leaps, his acting chemistry with Dame Margot Fonteyn, his athleticism. Dame Margot herself looks as if she is suspended from a string. They certainly were a great pairing.
Here's an early "Giselle" for your enjoyment. Stay safe during the stormy weekend to come! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucWxfvoIi7E
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Shoulder pads, blouse buttons now online
Thank you for the feedback about what you would like to order online at Exqfabrics.com!
Shoulder pads, zippers, and a selection of colorful blouse buttons are now available!
More to come...
Shoulder pads, zippers, and a selection of colorful blouse buttons are now available!
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Buttons in amber and pistachio
How do you like these buttons? They're imported from the Netherlands. We call them "amber" and "pistachio." Soon to appear on our website, but available now in person!
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The joys and pains of websites!
We now have a website for two reasons--for information for our customers (our location, hours, contact info), and for e-commerce. Having a website of multiple layers and pages requires a big time commitment, and lots of creative energy, learning-as-one-goes, and sometimes, frustration. But all in all, the website is evolving into a good vehicle for selling for Exquisite Fabrics.
Our customers urged us to sell online ages ago--almost as soon as you-know-who "invented the internet." We have always felt that customers should be able to touch the fabric, because touch is also so important to us when we buy our fabric supply. We realize, however, that there are certain of our suppliers on whom we can rely if we see something online that we like, and by the same token, our customers are familiar with our quality and would appreciate an "online presence" from us. The availability of "good stuff" in the fabric world is becoming more and more limited at the consumer level, as more and more stores decrease inventory of dressmaking fabrics and turn to the more-profitable quilting and crafts sectors.
We still love silks, woolens, cashmeres, fine imported cottons, the seasonal variety of fashion fabrics, and extra special haute couture fabrics for eveningwear. It's lots more work for us than it would be to simply order the latest quilting fabric lines, but we love it.
Creating the website is an important way to bring enjoyment to customers who can't reach our store. As much as we enjoy the colors, textures, and tactile qualities of fabrics, we love to try to translate that to photographs for our customers to enjoy. It's a joy to see how beautiful some fabrics drape and to be able to capture that feeling in a picture! You might have noticed that the pictures on our site are quite a big larger than those on some "e-commerce" sites. That's because we are building the site ourselves instead of using a template. We think it's important to have nice large pictures--it's more like being face to face with the fabric in our store!
Progress is slow on the website, though. We wish it could be faster, but there seem to be lots of "issues" in the e-commerce hosting world, and we just have to wait for the issues to be addressed and resolved, one by one. The "skeleton" of the site is in place, though, so you can see how it will eventually guide you through a whole world of fabrics and buttons and trims to dream about....your 24-hour fabric store!
One issue seems to be with the Firefox browser. One customer reports that the website looks truncated on her browser. The website is optimized for IE and for Google Chrome browsers, so if you have a choice you might try using one of those browsers until the host gets back to us.
Another issue is "blank pages." This is part of the process of building the skeleton of the site. Not all the pages will have content until later. You can help by suggesting what you would like to see on the site...our site is very "organic"...we give high priority to customer requests!
Happy postscript: Many issues have been solved (thank you Intuit) and many pages now appear where there was "nothing" before! Dig in!
Our customers urged us to sell online ages ago--almost as soon as you-know-who "invented the internet." We have always felt that customers should be able to touch the fabric, because touch is also so important to us when we buy our fabric supply. We realize, however, that there are certain of our suppliers on whom we can rely if we see something online that we like, and by the same token, our customers are familiar with our quality and would appreciate an "online presence" from us. The availability of "good stuff" in the fabric world is becoming more and more limited at the consumer level, as more and more stores decrease inventory of dressmaking fabrics and turn to the more-profitable quilting and crafts sectors.
We still love silks, woolens, cashmeres, fine imported cottons, the seasonal variety of fashion fabrics, and extra special haute couture fabrics for eveningwear. It's lots more work for us than it would be to simply order the latest quilting fabric lines, but we love it.
Creating the website is an important way to bring enjoyment to customers who can't reach our store. As much as we enjoy the colors, textures, and tactile qualities of fabrics, we love to try to translate that to photographs for our customers to enjoy. It's a joy to see how beautiful some fabrics drape and to be able to capture that feeling in a picture! You might have noticed that the pictures on our site are quite a big larger than those on some "e-commerce" sites. That's because we are building the site ourselves instead of using a template. We think it's important to have nice large pictures--it's more like being face to face with the fabric in our store!
Progress is slow on the website, though. We wish it could be faster, but there seem to be lots of "issues" in the e-commerce hosting world, and we just have to wait for the issues to be addressed and resolved, one by one. The "skeleton" of the site is in place, though, so you can see how it will eventually guide you through a whole world of fabrics and buttons and trims to dream about....your 24-hour fabric store!
One issue seems to be with the Firefox browser. One customer reports that the website looks truncated on her browser. The website is optimized for IE and for Google Chrome browsers, so if you have a choice you might try using one of those browsers until the host gets back to us.
Another issue is "blank pages." This is part of the process of building the skeleton of the site. Not all the pages will have content until later. You can help by suggesting what you would like to see on the site...our site is very "organic"...we give high priority to customer requests!
Happy postscript: Many issues have been solved (thank you Intuit) and many pages now appear where there was "nothing" before! Dig in!
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