I am starting to lose my enchantment with fabric shopping. WHY does my fabric store not even stock the basics: broadcloth, twill, gauze and linen and a variety of colors?

I met Tommy at the fabric store after work last night, for our date night outing. With the exception of a miracle find of blue cotton gauze, for less than $3/yd, (not what we were there looking for, but I bought it anyway since it's perfect for chemises) we found diddly and squat that pleased us for pirate coat fabric. At one point, Tommy was considering just some basic cotton but couldn't decide between two colors. I told him which I liked best, but that it was possibly just because it was closest in color to his old coat and I was used to seeing him in it. So, he went off to ask one of the little old ladies employed there for their unbiased opinion while I dug up some muslin for interlining (I also found some nice black cotton sateen for the lining of my coat, so it wasn't a total waste.)

Did Tommy find a nice elderly lady, who works at the fabric store to support her quilting habit, to ask which color he looked better in? No. He found some redneck, toothless, wanna-be-queen who immediately traipsed over to me. Despite his obvious lack of knowledge about history, historical costuming, pirates or the practical considerations needed for Faire costuming (i.e. breathability, durability, washability, how it looks when all covered in dust, etc.), he proceeded to lecture me about how people in that time period "wore their wealth" so they all wore fabric as dark as they could find. And how if you're going to do something, do it right, even if you're using cheap fabric. And design this, and Ben Franklin that, and all this other crap that for the most part, truly was crap.

I managed to refrain from throttling the little bastard, but I was HIGHLY offended by his assumption that I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I've been a stitcher for 16 years. I've been sewing garb for 10. Have I made mistakes? Sure, tons. Do I know everything or am I an expert? No, of course not. I'm a skilled amateur, and I learn more from every piece I do. But, I have been doing this for ten years, and I don't need someone who has never even been to a Renaissance Festival lecturing me on how to make my garb look good!

The end result of this little lecture was that Tommy and I decided not to purchase fabric we weren't thrilled with. We bought the muslin, gauze and sateen and left the coat fabric. Then we went to this online fabric store and ordered some nice linen, instead. (As a side note, why does the linen section of the fabric store only contain polyester?)

And I think I will not be returning to that fabric store. The selection sucks donkey balls. And Tommy just wanted an opinion on fabric color. I did not need an aimless (and in may respects incorrect) lecture on proper garb construction from someone who wouldn't know a corded bodice, or good tights if they bit him on the nose!

The leaves are sprouting much more quickly than the flowers did. It's sort of interesting.