February 27, 2020

Fabric and pattern lovers, we've got great news for you!

Just when we thought there was no way we could top last year's fabulous fabric finds, we heard through the grapevine that a local home fabric mega store was having a hush-hush backroom liquidation sale of years — decades, even — of old inventory, including designer fabrics and luxury fabrics like silk taffeta, shantung and dupioni, velvets, velveteens, polished cottons, linens, a few wools and racks and racks of amazing faux suedes and leathers.

Pearl dropped everything, grabbed a wad of cash and raced out to the sale the next morning.

Pearl has now loaded and un-loaded the Pearl-mobile twice. As you read this, she's probably back at the sale, loading up again. She may be back next week as well. There are just SO MANY fabrics, piled so high, that there's no way to tell what glories might still be available on the lower layers, waiting to be unearthed.

Here are some of the beautiful textiles we've already brought back to the Lee & Pearl workroom, and can't wait to share with you...

Look for gorgeous new fabric listings to start appearing in the Fabric & Trim section of the Lee & Pearl Etsy store soon.

And I think we can already say that the 2020 edition of our fan-favorite Mystery Bag Sale is going to be AWESOME.

But beautiful fabrics aren't the only interesting things Pearl found in that backroom...

In the sale area, the bolts of fabric were piled around and on top of an assortment of industrial machines. Standing magnificent sentry over the whole collection was this amazing antique loom.

Isn't that spectacular?

And just look at the fabric produced by this marvelous machine. It's soft and flexible, too, and made with rich and beautiful colors.

Don't look at that price tag, though. Pearl was informed that that was a vintage price tag, and that the current cost for this textile would be much more.

Looking at all those tiny heddles, we believe it!

Near the loom, Pearl spotted this trio of Measuregraph rolling, measuring and cutting machines.

Pearl has wanted a Measuregraph machine for ages. They are such a time saver! Here's a video of one in use. And here's another.

So half-joking, Pearl asked if they would sell her one.

They would.

And they did!

That's our new baby, comfortably settled in the Lee & Pearl Workroom Annex (the space formerly known as "the garage").

And that's a fun piece of vintage shirting about to get measured and rolled on the machine, by the way. Wouldn't that make a great trip-to-Vegas suit? Or maybe a vintage '50s bridge party frock? The machine says we have four yards of it, which at 60 inches wide, is a nice big piece.

In case you're wondering, the antique loom is also for sale. It could be yours, if you have a spare $25,000 lying around — and a much larger garage.

And now for the pattern news part of this newsletter!

Pearl is still hard at work on our COMING SOON 2020 exclusive pattern for mailing list subscribers.

We spare no effort when creating these subscriber patterns. We treasure our mailing list members, so these are never simple freebies. They are signature works for us, involving hours and days and weeks of research, design and testing.

The COMING SOON 2020 pattern will be no exception. We hope that you love it as much as we already do.

Here's our second sneak peek at this fun, youthful new design...

This photo is from the process pictures that Pearl just finished. It shows the moment a key accessory becomes part of the main garment.

Intriguing, no...?

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