Shopping in NYC for Creatives

 

Last weekend I went on a little adventure in New York City with my family.  My husband and I both went for work, and with the holiday weekend and the end of school near we decided it would be a good time to take the kids to see the City. I have only been to NYC one other time 11 years ago, so I felt like it was all new to me too.

I’ll share a bit more with you about what we did later this week- but in the mean time I thought you’d enjoy some gratuitous photographs of fabric and lace!

I knew that NYC was a creative bloggers dream shopping destination, however the pressure of knowing this stressed me out. Such a big city and SO much to see and only a short time to do it in.  Plus I had my kids with me the whole time (most of the time by myself as my husband was in class). I narrowed down the list to 3 must see shopping places, although I’m sure there were more, I knew I could not drag my kids to every fabric and ribbon shop in the city.  I read this post from Amy Smart and this post by Gretchen Black to help me decide where to go.

In the end I settled on M&J Trimming, Tinsel Trading Company and Purl Soho. Turns out our hotel was in the fabric district, which even though my husband does not believe me I found out when we got there (not when I booked the hotel).  So M&J and Tinsel Trading were just a few blocks away.  Purl Soho was further away.

First up M&J

 

 

 

I loved M&J Trimming.  Easy to see where everything was, and it there were plenty of employees to help.

I adored browsing all of the lace and trims. After a bit though I did get slightly irritated that all of this great stuff was in one place, and it was so far from me. I remember looking for a certain style of lace last year and coming up completely empty shopping for it locally. Then I walked into M&J and there it was right up front. uuugggghhh.

My daughter help me dream up a few projects while in the store and we managed to pick up some fun lace and trims.  You’ll be seeing all of these this summer on projects!

 

Next up was Tinsel Trading Company, which is very close to M&J just a few blocks away.  I’ve wanted to go to this store FOREVER! It did not disappoint. It was all glitter and vintage. Heaven. So inspiring.

I picked up some fun vintage baubles and a bolt of very thick bakers twine.

 

Last up was Purl Soho. We decided to go to this one on Saturday and it turns out that the Subway from near our hotel to Soho did not run on the weekends, so we hopped in a cab. My son was THRILLED that we were going to another fabric store (can you sense the sarcasm in that sentence?) but he was really nice to sit by and let me shop.

I didn’t take any photos in the store as they said that they do not allow bloggers to take pictures. But I’ll share with you what I picked up.

I could not resist the lovely Liberty Fabrics there! It was the splurge of the trip for me, 2 yards all together.  I’ve got fun plans for this fabric.

I also picked up an assortment of trims, at $1 and $2.50 a yard these were one of the bargains of the day. I just adore all of the bright colors, I’m not sure what I’ll do with any of it yet, but shopped for everything in a few specific colors so they would match when I got home.

Anyone else have any favorite spots in NYC to shop?  I don’t know if we’ll be back soon, but I like to keep a list handy just in case.