Fabric Fast Update: Broke the Fast Again (and scrap pack review)

Confession is good for the soul, right?

Ok, then it's time to make a fabric buying confession.  And as I sat to type this I remembered that I have TWO confessions.

First is the one without a picture.  I just remembered that I scored a cool piece of Star Wars fabric in the remnant bin at Joanne's a weekend ago.  To be brutally honest, fast or no fast I would have snapped that fabric up without any guilt whatsoever.  It was the Star Wars fabric that's printed with the blueprints for the different ships AND it was the green version (the "best" one in my opinion).  The piece is BIG, too, nearly a yard and it cost me. . .wait for it. . .LESS THAN $3 (it was two and change).

Yeah, so I feel zero guilt on that one.

The next purchase (which is also a scrap pack review) has a tiny bit of guilt to it but not really.  I have a "good reason" I bought this scrap pack.

BACKSTORY:  I did an email survey for eQuilter and they gave me a $5 gift certificate.  I had to use it by 4/18 and I simply couldn't let it go to waste.  That gift certificate made my shipping fees only $1 (a bit less, I think).  Hey, $1 shipping is sweet.

We all know I do love a scrap pack so I decided that was the best way to get a nice bit of fabric variety for my deeply discounted shipping.

SO. . .I bought the Retro Booty Pack.  I was torn between the animal one and the retro one and what pushed me over the edge for the retro was the description on the animal one.  The animal one included insects and shells and to be honest I didn't want to run the risk of getting a bunch of seashell prints (bor-ing!).  I've also been in a retro mood (30 reproduction to be exact--love the washed out colors) so that sealed the deal.

Ok, enough yapping.  Time for pictures!

I got 10 different fabrics (great variety!) and none of them are bad.

Four fabrics here.  The one on the left is one of the smallest cuts.  It includes four of the pinwheels and two sets of just the petals.  I think the bigger petals could make cute wings for a funky art doll.  Definitely potential with that piece.

The second pieces is the biggest.  It's really fun.  All the images are like vintage embroidery patterns and (click on that pic to see it bigger) there is a CHICK CARRYING A BASKET FULL OF FLOWERS.  I have a secret love of chicks being used as beasts of burden.  I blame it on my youth and the candy molds my mother had.  There was one where a chick was pulling a cart that contained a giant egg.  This fabric also has a super cute calf and just a lot of fun images.  I also think it might be big enough to use for a wacky 9 patch block (I have another fabric that's in a similar theme so they might go well together).  It's also very low volume which is something I'm kind of intrigued by right now.

The fabric in the upper right corner is super funky.  It's olden days patriotic and features some rather ugly children.  Ugly children with GOLD.  Yeah, there is fuquerie potential with that piece, you can be assured.

The bottom right fabric is Frenchy to the max.  It's a light cream color and has vintage images and text and is very nice.  Too busy to be low volume but still very nice (lot of different images useful for applique and the like).

Three fabrics here, all appearing to be from the same line.

The one on the left is a WOF strip featuring very "campbell's soup kid" looking children in their underclothes.  I'm fairly certain they're meant to be fabric paper dolls (judging by the other panel there in this set).  Some of the girls don't look like they're in undies.  Their slips look like little sun dresses.  So I'm thinking I might sew them up as little dolls and give them to the Fluff Project.  I might run the pic by they hostess first, just so she doesn't think I'm a mega weirdo giving kids dolls in their undies.

The top/middle fabric is actually four panels (two girl, two boy) of fabric paper dolls.  Again, the girls don't really look that much like they're in their underwear but the boys really do (and that boy in the pic has some very unfortunate hair! he reminds me of the baby in the Adams Family movies!).

The bottom/middle piece is just the same children (dressed) repeated over the fabric.  It's about two children long and WOF.  Very cute.

Two fabrics here, again from the same line.

The one on the left is an odd cut.  Instead of WOF it's length and it's just *this much* too small to include a dress for each girl.  I think there is still great potential for this piece, though.  The girls' heads could be fussy cut out (to avoid the weirdness of having undies clad children popping up) or the feet trimmed out for I Spy squares, stuff like that.  And just as I was typing this I realized the girls could be cut out in full and used to make Teesha patches.  Like a dress up TM patch.  That could be cute.

The fabric on the right is a coordinating print (children are clothed) in a really pretty light yellow.  BUT, I have to say I find this fabric line a tiny bit creepy.  The girls are made up and have very primped hair that I find creepy and (in the yellow print) some are dressed it what appears to be only an apron.  At least that's what I thought when I saw the dresses offered on the dress up doll print.  Tell me that blue and pink "dress" doesn't look like an apron?  In the yellow fabric, the girls are wearing that style of "dress" and they still look a bit "nude".  Combine that with their makeup and hair and it's just a creepy look.  Reminds me of those creepy Shirley Temple movies where Temple was all coquettish and such.  Just a little icky to me.

I already used a bit of the yellow fabric for a Teesha patch.  The girls' faces are very cute and when fussy cut are very nice.  The images are well done (clear and crisp) but some are just a bit creepier than others.

Last but not least is my absolute favorite of the pack.

POKEY LITTLE PUPPY PANEL!!!!

Technically I think it's a few pieces shy of the full panel.  As far as I can tell it's missing the front and back cover pieces but I can't say that I care about that much.  The puppies are so cute I can't wait to find something to use them in.  I didn't measure the squares but they are all pretty big (about 6 inches maybe).  Tons of uses for super cute images, never to worry.

I'm going to see if Kristy (Fluff Project founder/coordinator/great lady) would like these made into a few cute little pillows.  Or I might make a few dolls and make little quilts to go along with the dolls and use this fabric for the doll quilts.  I can definitely find uses for something this dang cute.

OK, so time to give an overall reaction/review to the eQuilter Retro Booty Pack.

Overall, I give it an A.

I got an eQuilter booty pack before (food theme) and this one was every bit as good as that one.  Nice variety, good size on the cuts, and high quality fabrics (no marks/stains, unwashed).

The price is reasonable, too.  $15.95 for this pack (some of the other themes are $17.95--fancier stuff like batiks and such).  It's a nice way to give yourself a reasonable fabric treat, especially if you have a discounted/free shipping OR you're already making an order (paying full shipping to get just one booty pack would be crazy, though--full shipping is around $5.95 which would make this booty pack $21.90 which would be too steep in my opinion).

I definitely keep eQuilter on my "good scrap packs" list.  (and they have fast shipping, too).