MY FRIEND LORETTA

My friend Loretta and I met around Easter time of 2003. My memory has retreated into places unknown and I cannot remember the exact date. We first "met" online through a Chatty Cathy collectors club based in Texas. When we found out we lived not far from one another, we eventually decided to meet in person. Being nervous about meeting people we "met" online, we decided a big mall would be the safest way to go about the meeting. So we decided to meet for lunch and we each brought some of our Chatties along to show one another and so that we would recognize one another (I mean really, how often does one see grown women walking around with dolls at the mall?) So we met at the food court. Both of us had also been dabbling in sewing for our dolls also and you can imagine our surprise when we both showed up with dolls wearing almost identical dresses!! Same material, same style even the same sort of trim, and so began our friendship of kindred spirits. I should also mention Loretta's parents were also nervous of this "online" friendship so they also were at the mall to make sure I wasn't some hatchet wielding nut case after their daughter...haha... But all was well. I met her parents, they admired the dolls and then they retreated to observe from afar....

Through the years we have enjoyed one anothers company through teas at Loretta's house (I dubbed her Martha Stewart of the North as no one can throw a tea party like Loretta), get togethers at the mall, movie dates, and all sorts of other occasions. We eventually also became travelling buddies and ventured to far off places like Disneyland. But we started small...when Loretta found out I lived so close to Vancouver yet never WENT to Vancouver, she began to educate me on the big city and we ventured out on the Skytrain (rapid transit) to exotic locals like downtown Vancouver, North Vancouver, and recently we went the other way and spent a day at White Rock beach with a side trip to Crescent Beach so she could see the place I lived in for my teenage years.

Yesterday we went on one of our adventures to the big city. Loretta lives on the Skytrain route (actually so do I but I am a big chicken and she is brave). So I drive to her house and then we walk to the Skytrain which gets us into town way quicker than we could ever hope to get there by car and with all the traffic these days, it is much easier on the nervous system to take the train. There is a huge fabric store downtown. She started taking me there a few years back when all our little local fabric stores began to disappear. I guess folks don't sew much anymore. This store is a treasure trove of stuff...not all fabric...right now it is Halloween Central.The are two huge floors and the top floor has seasonal stuff and fabric...lots of fabric...but right now there is every thing you could possibly require to put together any outfit you imagination can come up with. Micheal Jackson clothing and accessories are just inside the door...need a red Thriller jacket? Sunglasses like his? Sequined glove? the black hat? It is all here. There is an entire back wall filled with every hat you could ever imagine, there are rows and rows of accessories. If it isn't here, it doesn't exist I would bet. I hear a lot of folks in the film industry shop for unusual fabric, vintage items, and other stuff in this store. You never know quite what you will find there. They buy out stores that are going out of business, selling off inventory and some from manufactures as well. They sell all kinds of lace and trims at great prices and often we find stuff there that you can't find anywhere else. The stores name is Dressew. I found another person's blog and she has some great pictures and descriptions of this store
http://www.thimble.ca/?p=187
According to a store employee and I also confirmed online, the store has been in business since 1961. I think some of the stuff in there has been there that long also as there seems to be a fair amount of vintage stuff there if you look around a lot. You could literally spend days in there pouring through the isles. It is always a fun outing. After we spend a couple of hours pouring through the isles we go to lunch. Yesterday we went to Tim Horton's which is a Canadian based donut shop that has ventured into reasonable lunches.

Here are a few photos of the front windows of Dressew. In the top picture is my friend Loretta.

This is outside of the food court we ate at. Note the bird in the middle of the picture....and look where he goes in the next two photos. Not only humans walk the mall areas on two feet here!

Some birds fly...this one prefers to walk...see his progress going up the stairs

And here he poses sideways to catch his breath and so I can get a better picture...lol

This lovely fountain is also outside the food court.

And who would believe the impatience plants would still be in full bloom almost at the end of October!!

After lunch we headed back to Loretta's to admire our treasures. My Chatty pattern has been in shreds for quite some time so I bought some interfacing to trace the pattern onto so I can sew again. Now, this is going to sound odd...I am left handed but when I cut I use my right hand and nothing ever comes out very straight. Loretta kindly offered to cut out the pattern pieces for me (I am getting more pathetic by the minute I think). And as her sewing machine was handily set up on the table, she even hemmed the skirt for me...I love her machine...it is so much more useful than mine...if I remember correctly, the last time I had mine out, the tension wouldn't work right and I was ready to put it in the drive way and run it over with the truck which is one of the reasons (besides exhaustion from taking care of toddlers) that I am not in a big hurry to get it out again.

Recently Loretta has become enchanted with a "new to us" doll named Bleuette. She recently sold some of her Chatties (gasp) so she could buy one. She named her Yvette Marie and Yvette Marie was sitting on the table watching us cut and sew for her Nemesis Chatty Cathy.

Eventually she got a little bored with all this Chatty stuff and helped herself to a candy from the candy dish....but she was trying very hard to do it without us noticing..

And here she is offering me a taste, what a sweet little dolly. She is wearing a very lovely school dress Loretta is working on in vintage style from vintage material from her late mother in laws large fabric stash. I have to admit, Yvette Marie is growing on me...sigh...just what I need is yet another doll obsession!!! And so ends another great day with a great friend!