Leah Duncan Ladder

Last week I went to The Sewcial Lounge to buy some Leah Duncan fabric.  I left with a couple of ideas I wanted to incorporate in my sewing room.  First, the fabric.

These are all by Leah Duncan for Art Gallery Fabrics.  Some are from her first collection, Tule; some are from her second collection, Meadow.

In my opinion, Art Gallery is one of the best fabric companies around.  Not only do they have extremely  high-quality fabric with a beautiful hand, they have a lively blog, and do a fabulous job supporting and promoting their fabric designers.

In Leah's case, there's a Tule video and a Meadow lookbook.

The Sewcial Lounge uses vintage ladders to display fabric.  I liked that idea a lot, and spent several days trying to come up with something similar without spending any money.  I tried ladders from the garage - nope!  I tried making do with other ladderlike objects laying around and finally gave in to a trip to a home improvement store.  

After considering many options, some of them totally out-of-the-box, I settled on a package of six 6-foot wooden garden stakes.  My husband built two "ladders" for me for less than $7.  The best part is, he custom made them to the exact height and width I needed.

The ladders are nice and light, yet strong enough to hold these half-yard cuts.

I didn't plan on buying so much Leah Duncan when I entered the store.  I was only going to buy material for this tunic.  You know how that goes.

The other thing that was a wow factor for me at The Sewcial Lounge was her display of new fabric.  As soon as you walk into the store, you see a large table tastefully and invitingly arranged with new items.  

That got my adrenaline going and my brain to  thinking.  Wouldn't it be nice to see something like that every time I walk into my sewing room?, I asked myself.   I didn't have room for a separate table, but I do have room for the two ladders.  They're leaning against either side of the entryway, hung with the new fabric.  So inviting!!!