Pages

Friday 8 April 2011

The Fabric

I have 3 go to places for fabric here in Hong Kong;

1) Sham Shui Po textile market - cheap as chips but you never know what is going to be there and you have to be prepared to rummage. Great fun, but not so good for evening fabrics or when you are looking for something in particular.

2) Western Market in Sheung Wan - in particular a stall called Yau Fat, a mouthwatering selection of designer silks and far more stock than it seems possible for a small place to have. Relatively expensive, but fantastic quality.

3) Li Yuen St East in Central - sort of a middle ground between the above two. I decided to start my hunt here and move on to Western Market if I couldn't find anything. Since I last visited they have completely reorganised their shop and now they only have one floor but a huge number of their fabrics are now displayed as 1/2 yard cuts on hangers so browsing is much easier and although there is half the retail space there seems to be twice as much stock. Success!

Anyway after that long winded introduction I hope my fabric choice isn't going to be a big anticlimax, I'm going with sophistication rather than WOW!

Blue/black shot silk taffeta - not easy to photograph!

If all else fails maybe I can just drape it round me and fasten with a bulldog clip!

Of course all this easy browsing meant I picked up a couple of other pieces for summer dress sewing. The orange is for a Burda dress and the red for the Donna Karan shirtdress. Sorry, too lazy to link to photos now, but I will do when I get to these projects next. Besides I have a ball dress to make!

18 comments:

  1. Gorgeous colour! You could just clip it as you say - it already looks fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful choice! I have been to the Li Yuen St East shop several times but have never seen anything of interest...but I didn't know there was an upstairs! Missed that one :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely fabric! and very appropriate for the pattern. I can't wait to see it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful fabric! Perfect for your pattern and a nice colour on you too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The dress can be nothing less than stunning. Your fabric is gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The fabric is great and I have to say it looks great as draped and pinned with a bulldog clip.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The way you have it draped on the dressform looks like it would work to me. I really like the color, that's probably one I would have chosen too. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is going to be an amazing dress. I just adore the pattern you chose. Good luck - you'll have a fun 2 weeks ahead of you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You have procured the perfect fabric for your dress! It is drop-dead gorgeous.
    And I really liked hearing about your fabric resources in Hong Kong. A friend of DH comes from Hong Kong and we talked about it last night. I dream of visiting some day.
    And it seems really efficient to display fabric the way you described, with short lengths on display. Interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I LOVE the bow! Can't wait to see the finished product.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Why bother sewing? I love the bull dog clip look! If only making fabulous dresses were so easy...

    ReplyDelete
  12. The fabric looks beautiful! Can't wait to see the dress.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Just beautiful - you will look great in the color and style!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I hope I get the chance to go back to Sham Shui Po someday. It was so much fun! Love the fabric, it's going to be so sophisticated.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Beautiful fabric! Now, that bulldog clip is a great idea.....

    ReplyDelete
  16. That color is just beautiful! Best of luck getting the dress all sewn up! :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Gorgeous dress.
    It looked very nice on you.

    ReplyDelete