Black and Pink Stripes?

Despite my own penchant for bright grass green, which I would venture to guess is the Anti-Goth color (brimming as it is with life and vulgar cheerfulness), I have a not-so-secret fondness and admiration for the Full-On Goth. I really, really love Goth fashion, in all its varieties, but probably my Favorite Goth is the Lady of the Manners, who runs Gothic Charm School. (That's her, right there on the left.)

And because the Lady of the Manners has such exquisite fashion sense, she is often hindered by the lack of availability of certain items, since manufacturers are either unaware of the demand for such things, or unwilling to cater to those so far avant of the garde. So she asked me for help in tracking down a particular fabric, and I, in turn, am asking all of you.

Does anyone know of a source for black and "cupcake pink" (see why the Lady is my favorite Goth?) WIDE striped fabric? The stripes, ideally, would be more than 3/8th of an inch wide.

The Lady of the Manners needs at least five yards, because the envisioned dress includes a bustle. (Oh, my heart!)

It has been suggested that the Lady of the Manners buy black and WHITE fabric, and dye it, but, perfectionist that she is, she is afraid that she wouldn't be able to dye it evenly. So she waits for the right fabric to come along.

And -- this request got me thinking. If I put up a quick-wiki/bulletin board page of "fabric requests" would you folks visit it, both to post requests and to help fulfill them? Does such a thing exist anywhere else? I wouldn't provide any kind of ecommerce support -- you'd have to email each other and make arrangements for sales and swaps yourselves -- but would simply having such a space be helpful? Let me know in the comments.

Comments

[Caroline T]

Hi Erin,A bulletin board would be wonderful for fabrics and dress patterns. Our 'pin' board, if you like! I wish I could help out with the black and pink fabric but I know I don't have that in my stockpile. What I do have, if anyone is interested, is piles of novelty print/floral print 40s and 50s and 60s barkcloth fabrics, some of which I'm willing to swap. Email carolineturnerathome@yahoo.co.uk (I'm in London, UK) for more info.Thanks! Caroline

[Anonymous]

Erin, Could you (or Miss Manners) elaborate on "cupcake pink?" Are we talking FFCCCC? Or more FF66CC? Hello Kitty Pink? Lemme know and I'll keep my eyes peeled.--Lydia

[Frowner]

In an emergency, I would say that washing-machine dying works pretty well with pink. Here's how I would do it:I would make sure my fabric was all-cotton and for preference not too sateen-y.I would run a test dye job in the washing machine with the pink I intended on using.Then I would fill the washing machine with hot water and slowly add small amounts of the correctly mixed dye, testing with bits of white cloth, until I got a color slightly lighter than what I wanted. It seems like "cupcake pink" would be hard to mix up exactly, but something pretty close could be done.

[Latter-Day Flapper]

I'm sure a bulletin board or listserve or something would be invaluable. I know they have been for some of my other hobbies.Hmm, no luck finding pink-and-black, or even white-and-black (Rit and I are good friends), plain stripes. Dang.

[Anna]

There are ongoing fabric swaps on Craftster, but I like this idea better. I think it would be very helpful for those hard-to-find prints and unusual colors.

[Miz Shoes]

Fashion Fabric Club (naiaw) has 700+ stripes. Surely one of them will appeal to the Lady of the Manners.

[Nora]

I think the bulletin board is a great idea. And I also love the goths, despite green being my favorite color. I haven't seen the fabric the Lady requests, but I'm sure it must exist and will keep an eye peeled for it (I'm thinking decorator fabric...did she specify weight/content at all? I'm imagining it in a nice heavy silk.)

[sara jane]

oh yes please - the "pin board" is a fabulous idea...I've dyed lots of cotton stuff with Procion dyes from Dharma Trading in the washing machine. It's got a few more steps and additives than Rit, but tons more color choices. Pink shouldn't be a problem. Dark red, that's another whole ball of wax.And frowner, I think if you want to do the test patches, they should be slightly darker when wet, as things turn lighter when dried.

[Kristen]

I think a pin board would be great - although in all honesty i'm not sure how much i would actually use it. And for LotM, I live in LA not far from that bustling haven of blocks and blocks of fabrics that it the Fashion District.... i could look. I mean, ANY excuse to go down there, without the kids. ;) What kind of fabric are you looking for?

[Theresa]

I love the pin board idea. My 14 year old daughter is somewhat goth and her favorite colors are cotton candy pink and blue.

[Heather]

Hi,FYI, I ordered the Butterick 4790 pattern from a couple of days ago for .99 cents at Hancock! The shipping was more expensive. I think I'm going to make it reversible so that I don't have to do all of that crazy binding!!Thanks for the info.Heatherknittingontherocks.blogspot.com

[Hilatron]

I am just now desperately searching for more of a fabric I stupidly bought only 2 yards of, when *obviously* it needs to be a full-skirted dress. Duh. So count me in as a pin board participant!

[Beth]

Pink and black stripes might also be found in home decorating fabrics, if she hasn't already thought to look there.

[julia]

I love the pin board idea. Features that would make it extremely usable for me would be to be able to reference hex color codes like Lydia did above or maybe paint chip codes from one of the online paint stores, for color matching. It would also be great to be able to link to or upload an image of the fabric being hunted.Great idea!

[Juno]

http://www.lucysfabrics.com/detail.aspx?ID=327It is unfortunately a ploy/spandex knit, so probably not suitable. But where there is one........

[Jillian]

You darling! Thank you so much for posting this. And for the record, a fabric request board is a fabulous idea.Lydia, "cupcake pink" is somewhere between FF66CC and FF99FF. Any shade of pink between those two would work, actually. As to those that asked about fabric weight: the Lady of the Manners is pretty certain that a mid- to heavy-weight fabric would work, because the bustle would be supported with a wire bustle cage. Juno, thank you so much for that link! While that fabric might not work for the gothy-goth bustle-y gown, it WILL work for the eleventy-billion other pink & black clothing projects the Lady of the Manners has been plotting.

[lorrwill]

fabric.com has a fabric wanted bulletin board.

[pirate]

I hope these links are live: Black and pink striped fabric sources:Black stripes and pink stripes with black dots alternate and repeat. Part of the Glam Girl Collection from Free Spirit.$8.25 yd at http://www.alwaysquiltingonline.com/ : http://www.alwaysquiltingonline.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi?product=freespiritmisc&productid=fsd1116-630&pid=1#fsd1116-630Pink Stripes on Black. This coordinate from Loralie Designs' Pink Cats collection is 44" wide, 100% cotton and sells for $ 8.98 per yard. Not necessarily the stripe you're looking for but you might think "outside the box". http://www.creations-online.com/fabrics/loralie_girls.htm (scroll almost all the way to the bottom of the page)These two are negatives of each other and might be too narrow a stripe:Tiny black stripes on pink. From the Wilmington Essentials Color Shapes collection. These stripes run parallel to the selvage, so you can have borders as long as you like. Our price-$7.89 per yard. http://www.craftconn.com/Main.asp?Task=Custom&Step=Fabric+Details&productID=17248Thin pink stripes on black. From the Wilmington Essentials Color Shapes collection. These stripes run parallel to the selvage, so you can have borders as long as you like. Our price-$7.89 per yard http://www.craftconn.com/Main.asp?Task=Custom&Step=Fabric+Details&productID=17249Is Lycra OK? Striped Pink & Black Spandex with LYCRA Item # SP7 Price: $11.45 yard (10 yard minimum) http://spandexfabrics.com/StripesPrintsSpandexFabric.htmCotton Lycra Jersey Stripes. Price:$8.95. Price:$8.95 http://dollarfabric.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=5561-06&Category_Code=5561

[lorrwill]

Total oops, I mean fabrics.nethttp://www.fabrics.net/swatch/newthrd.asp

[knitgirl]

Please, isn't it time for a new Secret Lives of Dresses? Just reread #11. Beautiful!

[Anonymous]

If the lady is really determined, she might try the folks at Angus International:http://www.angelfire.com/biz2/angussilkshongkong/Supposedly they can have silk fabric custom woven for you, at a reasonable price. For the amount needed for a bustle gown, it might be worth it.

[Frowner]

Sarah Jane, when I do washing machine test patches, I find that after sloshing around in a strong dye bath the fabric gets darker than it is on the initial, quick dye--I would be especially cautious with a light pink, because it would be so easy to dye too deeply. But that may be unique to RIT, which is all I ever use.

[Erin]

A reader who can't comment suggested www.missingfabrics.comSeems to be geared to quilters, but worth a shot!

[mamafrog]

I, too, love the idea of a pin board for help in looking for a desired fabric! Especially since I have tons that could be used for this. I'm having trouble finding Oxford shirting for my hubby's shirts. I can only find industrial lengths (way more than I need), or even something we used to call kettlecloth, but is now called rodeo cloth(?). And I have very fond memories of a gold, double-knit, lacy-like cloth from the late 60's that I would love to have some more of!

[Anonymous]

I would find a bulletin board deliciously helpful -- it could have helped me out big time one more than one occasion.