Fabric Shopping Day

Made a trip to the cloth wholesalers in Arab street today. It's been years since I last visited this place. Arab street is like Moods in Project Runway. It has every style, colour and fabric possibly available at wholesale prices. The shop owners are happy to sell by the yard to accomodate students. But, most cater to the bulk buyer for re-selling or people with special events like weddings. In case you didn't know, it's also the come to place for haute couture fabric. Most Arabian merchants carry lines from the suppliers to haute couture houses (e.g. Christian Dior) and are happy to show you their pricey merchandise hidden upstairs. My mom and I have purchased these before and can say you WILL receive compliments. Sometimes even from the tailor. Prices start from several hundreds of dollers per yard, definitely not cheap, but, a bargain for those finicky about quality.

Today, I am trying to get material for a new piano cover. Something in lace or silk tulle, similar to my last few covers. No velvet or dark colours for me. There were a couple of Baju Kurung shops that had lovely lace at affordable prices and a couple of Chinese-run wholesale outlets with uncut machine-made lace that we commonly buy (pre-cut) for tables. After looking at the gorgeous french lace, I simply cannot settle for less. I managed to get some nice Raw Silk in pastels and a peacock blue, coloured tulle and lovely matte satin scraps (comes in 1 or 2 metre packs). Finally, I got lucky when one shopowner offered me his last bolt of french tulle at clearance prices. I took the whole thing - 12 metres of silk tulle with light pink flowers & faux pearls embroidered on, scallopped gold edging on both sides. It simply cannot go wrong. Now, I really want to turn it into curtains for my room. Let's see how the sewing goes =)