Mary Jo's (and) Fabric Giveaway #2

I guess I'm giving away fabric so that I can buy more....which is exactly what I did Friday. My daughter and I rode up to Mary Jo's Cloth Shop in Gastonia, NC , which is just outside of Charlotte and just a bit more than an hour away from us. When I go to Mary Jo's my palms sweat, my stomach gets jumpy, my heart races and my blood pressure rises. I leave there planning to sew 24/7. I can conquer the world!






When my sister married 25 years ago, she and her husband lived within minutes of this shop and when I visited we would always go to Mary Jo's. I imagine my brother-in-law broke out in a sweat when we mentioned we were going there and I'm sure he knew he wouldn't see us again until nightfall.

Mary Jo's has the lowest prices I've seen anywhere, from the high quality cottons to wool felt (yes they carry wool felt at $9.99/yd - solids and two-color) to linen to.... they carry everything! Some cottons are grouped by pattern like these coordinating dots and stripes, and this picture shows only part of that group.

They have groupings by category like sports, florals, babies, Christmas, fall, etc. and also groupings by color. Then there are groupings by design name like Aunt Grace, and these by Loralie. (I had to have some of the "Bathing Beautys" here.)



Batiks...






...and look at the Michael Miller group. These Michael Miller fabrics are all priced from $5.49 - $5.69 per yard!! I bought several of these for projects and some for tops I'll be making my DD.





This photo doesn't let you see how amazing the Bridal department is. I purchased the fabric and laces for my wedding gown here nearly 20 years ago and still when I go to Mary Jo's there are always young women and their mothers in this department planning their formal gowns or wedding gowns.





And my 2nd sewing obsession after fabric is..............rick rack! And look at the rolls of rick rack! Every color you can hope for! When I told DD I was headed to the rick rack, she just sat down on a bench. She knew I would busy for a while.

Oh how I love this store. I wish all of you who sew could visit it. They are online too at http://www.maryjos.com/ and for now you can order from them by email. The nice lady who helped me Friday (and they are ALL very nice - seriously) said it won't be long before the fabrics are on their website to see, but for now you can link to a fabric manufacturer like Marcus Brothers or Free Spirit, etc. and tell Mary Jo's the design name you're looking for and they will order it and mail it to you. I had ordered some yardage of a particular Michael Miller design and they called me last week when it came in, so I had a GOOD reason to drive up there Friday instead of having them mail it to me.

I hope ya'll don't mind my promotion of Mary Jo's Cloth Shop but I just want you to know there IS somewhere to pay reasonable prices for these beautiful cottons that so many of us love. I don't personally know anyone at Mary Jo's but I do know their prices and I know their service, which is top notch.

Looking at all of this fabric at Mary Jo's makes my fabric giveaway look pretty puny, but I'll give it a whirl anyway. If you're interested in helping me make room for my new fabric, leave a comment and I'll draw a number on Tuesday.

This will include:

- about 1.5 yds. of Mary Englebreit cotton (this is the 2nd piece that I have. Yes I had an obsession.)

- about 1.5 yds. of "Crazy Patch" by Daisy Kingdom

- a small piece of cotton with cute kittys

- about .5 yd. of multi-color cotton with gold design