Do You Like Your Velvet Shiny?

A few more thoughts on velvet today, following up on yesterday's post. I got several emails on the velvet slippers - I'm so happy to let you know about Stubbs & Wootton - their shoes are works of art. Check out the Scalamandre zebra slippers below.





I had such a funny (as in strange) experience with my velvet shopping trip yesterday that I just had to share it. So here it is, my first store review.

A fellow blogger raves about Haute Fabrics located in Marshall, Virginia and Arlington, Virginia. Marshall is so far out of the city I don't know where it is and don't even want to know where it is. I don't like Arlington - I avoid it like the plague even though it's the next city to me. There is no parking and I always get lost. But at least it's close by. I headed to Arlington and finally found Haute Fabrics and the "Parking in Rear" consisted of one customer parking space sandwiched between an Enterprise, a car dealership and a dumpster. My Audi was totally unamused. I had to promise it a car wash on the way home.

This is the only photo I could find of the shop

You enter a dark, dreary, and crowded galley space only a few feet wide lined with hundreds of bolts of fabric on ancient dirty carpet, a sole employee on the phone, and a sleeping poodle who looks very old and bored on a very funky dog bed. It is terribly depressing. The bolts are without tags as to manufacturer, pattern, color, fiber content, and most have no price tag. I'm glad I was not looking for Chinoiserie fabrics - there was not one in the place.

When the salesperson finally got off the phone she asked me what I was looking for and I said "velvets." She asked what kind of velvet and I said it could be cotton, linen, mohair, wool, or a blend. She responded, "I meant do you want it shiny?" I responded, "Do you mean like silk velvet?" And she responded, "No, like rayon."

She led me to her favorite shiny rayon velvet. Elvis would have loved it. When I asked for a swatch so I could take it and get the hell out of there, she was shocked that I wanted a swatch instead of just buying the shiny fabric on the spot. She cut me a swatch the size of a postage stamp and when I asked her the price out of curiosity since the bolt was of course unmarked, she checked out my outfit very carefully before responding that it was $28.00 a yard. I clearly should not have been wearing a Louis Vuitton handbag.

After escaping back to civilization in Alexandria, I popped into Calico Corners in Old Town on my way to get my hair done. In five minutes I found exactly the velvet I was looking for and even know the pattern name, color name, fiber content, width, country of origin, and price. And they were having a sale. And the swatch was huge. And the store was immaculate. And the velvet's not shiny.

I have learned something in my life I try to always remember. If you live in a wonderful community as I do, you will find the best of everything right in your own backyard. No need to traipse to Oz in search of it.

So I give Haute Fabrics 0 stars.