Monday, January 3, 2011

Oh, Amazon, how I love thee.

I'm posting to keep the head rush of making my first big wedding-related purchase from making me spazz out at the circ desk.
I think I've mentioned before that I've been hankering to get started on my fabric flowers while it's still winter, while I have snow days to work on some of my more time-consuming projects. But -- it's hard to make something without the stuff to do it, and it's kind of hard for me to just waltz out and buy fabric. The nearest fabric store is in Johnson City, and I'd been itching for weeks to make a trip to Hancock's. This weekend, I had a chance to run in while on the way to dinner with my future-outlaws-family. I burst through the doors thinking I was going to find everything I needed right then -- but nope. Maybe it was just that I felt rushed, but I didn't see anything that really matched what I had in my mind, and I've made it a cardinal rule for myself not to put money into something that I don't know for certain that I'll want and use. So, I decided to wait.
I was contemplating other places to buy fabric when Mom asked me if I'd looked online. Why no, I hadn't... and so, I did.
After about an hour of surfing fabric websites and not feeling entirely sure where to plunk down my cash (though at least I was finding options of stuff that looked just like what I needed), I started wondering if I could buy fabric through Amazon. And guess what? You can!
I found a pretty good selection of synthetics and blends in colors that fit (to keep the edges of the petals from fraying, you have to toast the edges over a candle flame, and that doesn't really work unless the fabric is at least half synthetic), and the prices were great. I went ahead and ordered fabric for all the bouquets and the reception centerpieces, along with some felt for making felt flowers for the reception as well. I bought most of the extras, too -- some more needles since Mom's are all rusty, thread, cloth-covered florists' wire, glue sticks for the glue gun.
For $111 (including shipping), I think I've got most of the flowers taken care of (which is pretty good for seven bouquets, seven boutonnieres, and reception flowers!). There are a few odds and ends that I'm going to buy in-person at stores, such as buttons to go with some of the flowers (which I plan to buy at a local independent craft store that has just what I want) and ribbon (Amazon's ribbon selection was teh suck for me, but that's okay). I'll probably end up ordering wheat to go in the bouts/maybe in the bouquets/in the centerpieces when I order manzanita branches for the picture tree. And Mom has a ton of lace she'll let me use, which is fantastic.
So! Project Flowers is on the way. I also got some great encouragement about it over the weekend from Joy, one of my bridesmaids, who said she liked the idea of not killing flowers so they can be pretty just for one day. A woman after my own heart... and the fact that she said that helped J wrap his brain around it being an acceptable flouting of tradition :)
For my own reference, I started a list of what supplies I've bought and what I still need. My DIY project list has morphed some more, but I'll save another post on that for when I'm pretty sure it's set.
In the meantime, here's an idea of what I look forward to making:

Weddingbee's Mrs. Locket's DIY Fabric Flowers Series:
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