The plight of the vicarious shopper

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent Sunday afternoon with my Queens-dwelling doppelganger, the notorious Johanna.  Johanna will spend hours digging in the most claustrophobic, packed-to-the-gills fabric stores, and come out buying...bias tape.  I'm not kidding.  I think she is, like me, primarily a vicarious shopper (and much less blurry in real life, btw).

It's not that Johanna particularly likes purchasing nothing -- I mean, hello, this woman owns nine vintage sewing machines -- but rather, she prefers to make her purchases alone.  Still, she enjoys the social aspects of the group-shop -- it's fun.  Of course, this is conjecture on my part.  Hopefully Johanna will check in today and speak for herself.

The only problem is that if you put two vicarious shoppers together with nobody buying much of anything, it can put a real damper on the local economy (and it certainly doesn't endear you to shop owners).  Plus you can't make smug judgments like, " She's buying another three yards of polyester knit?"  That's when you need to call the Bloggettes.  They buy everything.
 

On Sunday, Johanna introduced me to some of Lower Manhattan's most renown, if somewhat frozen-in-time, fabric stores:  Belraf on Orchard Street, P&S Fabrics on Lower Broadway, and Fabric Warehouse (right next door), the latter two on the edge of Chinatown, just south of Canal Street.  Pretty snazzy, huh?

I admired the sequined trim, but I don't need any right now.

I found this box of patterns for $1 each, but there was nothing that struck my fancy.

I almost bought a soft, corduroy-like animal print with a short nap, but I wasn't going to pay $8 a yard for it.
 

So three hours later, here's what I actually DID buy:

 

How's that for a scintillating shopping adventure?  I'm sorry, readers; I feel I've let you down somehow.

Oh, btw, if anyone is in the market for a Senger sewing machine, just let me know:

In closing, I ask you, my friends:  Are you a vicarious shopper?  Do you enjoy watching others shop more than (or as much as) shopping yourself?  If so, when do you shop for yourself (if at all)?

Do you find others resenting you for your apparent self-discipline?  Do you refuse to shop publicly but rather prefer the stealth private purchase -- your dirty little secret, like keeping chocolates stashed in your bedside table drawer?

Confess and be healed!  We know you're getting your fabric somewhere.