I went wedding dress fabric shopping in the spring and summer of 2005. It was not a good season for bridal fabric.  Or even for bridesmaid fabric. Everything was deadly boring. I looked, and looked, and looked.  I looked in Wellington.  I looked online.  I looked in San Francisco.  I looked in Oakland.  I looked in Palo Alto. New York City was my last resort. So, when I wasn’t visiting museums and taking photos of flowers*, I scoured the fabric district. I’d seen a piece of stonewashed silk charmeuse in Oakland, and I was in love with the fabric (not the colour though – it was bright coral).  But there was no stonewashed silk to be found, and the only things that I found that I liked even half as much were over $60 a yard – too much to pay. Finally, digging in a huge pile of rolls in a little tiny designer ends fabric store , I found the holy grain – a roll of palest ivory stonewashed silk charmeuse. It was a …