https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/design/2012-01-26/the-fabric-of-reality-tv/

The Fabric of Reality (TV)?

By Wayne Alan Brenner, January 26, 2012, 10:57am, Chronique

Okay, you know that
one strip mall on Airport Boulevard,
the one that looks like it was designed to evoke
the Art Deco brilliance of the Jazz Age?

Yeah, exactly: Concorde Center.

(Concorde with an "e," yes, oh boy.)

Where the hipsters and working folk alike
go to buy their Dickies or shoot some pool
or drop off their friends who attend, ah,
what was the name of that beauty school, again?

But you know the mall we're talking about –
the one sitting right there in all its magenta'd majesty
as you head toward ColdTowne Theater or Quality Seafood.

Listen: The newest tenant in that strip is Fabricker,
a tiny treasure trove of material for fashionistas,
run by entrepreneurial fabric fan April Kling Meyer.

But why?

"It was time to open a great fabric store here," says Meyer.
"Especially after Project Runway came out.
There were a couple of contestants who lived here,
and there was really no outlet for them to buy what they needed,
they had to go to other cities. And now they don't have to leave anymore,
because here's Fabricker, and here's a few other indie stores that have
popped up in Austin the past few years."

So, then: A typical Austinite's I-don't-see-enough-of-it-being-done-
so-I'mma-bloody-well-do-it-myself kind of response. Sure, sure.

But the big-box stores, bless their hearts,
weren't they doing a good enough job already?

"Well, I worked at Hancock Fabrics for a number of years," says Meyer.
"Since 2000, actually. And we had so many customers come in and ask us
'Where's the good apparel fabric? Where's the silks? Where are the things
that I can make dresses out of, for a special occasion, that aren't polyester?'
They were looking for things that are on the higher end, y'know?
And I always had to turn those people away. Of course, they could always go
to Dallas or Houston or New York for that kind of thing. You know – hop a flight?
Get in your car and spend the gas money, right?" She rolls her eyes.
"That's why I opened Fabricker."

Okay, so she's got these "higher-end" things.
So the prices must be, like, what, does she cater to the One Percent?

Meyer shakes her head, gestures at the colorful bolts of material
arranged in bright verticals and horizontals throughout the small shop.

"My price range goes all the way down to four or five bucks a yard,"
she says, "and up to 30 bucks a yard for the, like, vintage silks.
I'm trying to make just enough of a profit to run a business, you know?
I try not to gouge anybody."

Well, that sounds decent enough. That sounds – wait.
Vintage silks? As opposed to the ubiquitous modern-day crap?
Where does someone get vintage silks?

"I have a vendor who specializes in vintage fabrics," says Meyer.
He's not only the kind of guy who can find things, but he collects fabric
and sells it in bulk. He's sold me some vintage silks that are from the '40s,
linings from fur-coat manufacturers from the '20s, Japanese vintage silk,
things that just aren't made anymore ..."

Well, hell, there you go: Fabricker.
Right there in the venerable Airport Boulevard strip mall
with the facade that looks like things that just aren't made anymore.

As a certain starship captain might say: Make it sew.