Grommets, Britex Blogger, Glasses, Minnesota Meetup

This is a "miscellaneous" blog post!

TOC:

• Grommets
• Britex Blogger
• Minnesota Meetup!
• Glasses

Grommets

Thanks for all the kind feedback on my grommet coat! I wore it to work today and I do like it! The big pockets are so useful (and Pockets Are King). I was asked a few questions in the comments, so let me answer here:

Do the grommets make the coat heavy?

No. They give the coat some nice heft, but even 2 gross of grommets weighs very little.

Where do you buy grommets?

I bought mine from Seattle Fabrics, but I can also recommend Richard the Thread, who also sells white grommets. I used size 0 for the coat, except for the larger grommets on the pockets, which are size 2.

What is the difference between an eyelet and a grommet?

In my experience, an eyelet is smaller than a grommet and uses only one piece of metal. Eyelets are used on shoes for threading the laces, for example. Grommets are more heavy duty and use two pieces of metal. The backside also has a washer-type piece of metal. Both come in a variety of sizes, though grommets come in much larger sizes, intended for very heavy duty use. I googled "difference between eyelets and grommets" and found this and this. So, YMMV.

Britex Blogger

There was some nice fallout from my talk at Britex last month. They have asked me to become a Britex blogger! (You can now see the badge on my blog, which takes you to their site.) I picked up my first piece of fabric a couple weeks ago, but I haven't been able to start sewing it yet. I was going to start after finishing the grommet coat, then I realized that I didn't own the pattern I wanted to use as a springboard, so I had to order it. It's a really gorgeous piece of fabric, and I want to do it justice, so stay tuned!

Minnesota Meetup!

Minnesotans are such friendly people!

After posting that I would be spending a few days in the Minneapolis area (taking my daughter off to university), I received some nice emails. Several of those offered to arrange a meetup while I am there, and I decided to accept one of the lovely offers! However, there are limited spots available. The meetup is scheduled for Saturday, August 30th, at 3pm and will be held at Treadle Yard Goods in St Paul. Please send me email if you would like to come and I will get you on the list, on a first-come first-served basis.

THANKS to Treadle Yard Goods and to Alice M for arranging everything! I look forward to meeting some of you in St Paul!

Glasses

One of my favorite doctors is the eye doctor! Why, you ask? Well, how many doctors write a prescription for fashion accessories? (If a podiatrist wrote a prescription for, say, Trippens, I would go to that doctor!) I have two new pair of everyday glasses, and one even relates to sewing!

New glasses #1 - by a brand called Fish New glasses #2 - by Karl Lagerfeld

It might be hard to see, but the Karl Lagerfeld glasses feature (non-functioning) zippers on the sides! I love these. Here is another close up.

The zipper pull is on the left side only. I took this pic in the Google Coffee Lab and their counter features intentional coffee rings. It's a very cool effect!

And, just for fun...

One of the Google cafes is in a building that has a transportation theme. This VW bus is used by folks who want to hang out and work, or eat. I guess the tire lock is to discourage any pranks. ;)