The week before I left for the east coast, I decided the black twill slacks I had made were probably going to be too hot, so I whipped down to the Mill End Store and found a great piece of fabric: light weight, tiny bit of stretch (6" stretches to 6.75"), extremely smooth hand, and the tiniest black and white houndstooth check, I think each pattern is only 4 threads wide, 64" wide, and only $6.49/yard. However, the bolt end had *no* information on fiber content, and the clerks were all guessing different things. The bolt was located in the "100% cotton quilting" rack, but I was certain it's not 100% cotton. Taking a chance, I bought enough for one pair of slacks, laundered it, got it made up, and off I went. Good thing I did, too, because as I had suspected the black twill slacks were sucking up rays and making me *very* uncomfortable, so I ended up wearing the houndstooth slacks almost every day. I washed them in the sink, hung them over the tub, and they were ready to wear after about 12 hours, with the creases as sharp as when I pressed them in!
To make a looooong story short, I just went back to the Mill End Store with a scrap, and spent about an hour searching all over for that fabric. Several clerks tried to help, but each thought it was "in another department". One clerk actually took a snip of my swatch and did a burn test. Her best guess is that it's a rayon-poly blend, but it was nowhere to be found in that department. I was just about to give up and leave, when I took one more look on the "stretch cotton twill" area, and lo and behold, there it was!!!
Happy Dancing!! I took a quick look at patterns to be sure I bought enough to make another pair of slacks, PLUS a jacket, and maybe a skirt. If they had had another color or even a plain navy in that fabric I would have bought some of it, too.
AND, I used the gift certificate Susan A. from the SewBiz List sent me after I helped her locate some Chantilly lace at the Mill End Store for a custom wedding gown for a client. I thought it was spectacularly gracious of Susan to send me a gift certificate. The result was, I bought plenty of fabric, and my out-of-pocket cost was only $13.94, making the average cost for three more garments $4.65 each (not including notions). :-)
Beverly, who still wonders what the heck the fabric is made of....