All right, so long story short: I went to Fabric Warehouse (the one in Warren) on Dec. 14th after my office party (which was held at Dave& Busters, else I wouldn't have gone out that way voluntarily).   At said party I was given a gift from my boss: a $50 Visa gift card.

I wasn't planning on using it quite so soon; I was just going to look around and see if anything jumped out at me at the fabric shop.  Well, depending on your perspective, I was either very lucky or very unlucky.  I hadn't planned to spend the whole gift card, like I said.  I thought that, should I find something worthy, I'd get enough for a new gown and be done with it.

Instead I found two bolts of gorgeous fabric: one a medium blue floral brocade, the other a dark orange-red with a small diamond pattern woven into it.  I couldn't decide.  I called everyone I knew for advice and wasn't able to get anything useful... so I bought 10 yards each.  Yeah, the whole gift card (and then some) was spent less than two hours after I got it.

At least I don't have to worry about buying any more gown fabric for a year or so... and I'll have two new gowns (hopefully) for this upcoming season!