Dongmen Lu Fabric Market

Happy Wednesday! Time to get some fabric inspiration from the Dongmen Lu Fabric Market here in Shanghai!

Can't believe how quickly 2016 is flying by! Hope things are good with you... we're good, healthy and enjoying the summertime so far! It's been rainy season, so a bit hot and humid and just now a huge thunderstorm and rain making our house so dark at 10am!

Today I wanted to share with you a gorgeous fabric market tour I shared with Stacy a wonderful blogger & seamstress who contacted me a month or so back as she was in town for a work... and didn't want to be swept on the tourist tailoring trail ... which is the common 'fabric market' shopping tour here... where you can get your clothes tailor made with a small selection of fabric, and arguably a smaller selection of design finesse!

My favourite fabric market in Shanghai is on Dongmen Lu, the corner of Zhongshan Dong Er Lu in the Old Town (kind of - it's all kind of renovated now) of Shanghai... and I love it because it's eclectic, never the same and has a great range of different fabrics. Some cheap, varying quality and reasonable price... but you can still bargain for a better price if you buy a lot of fabric!

It's called Shi Liu Pu Cloth Market and can be your one stop shop if you're short of time in Shanghai! Stacy & I spent about 2 hours browsing the 4 floors, and on this last visit, I noticed the 'tunnel of fabric' has been extended wayyyyy back to the south side of the level 2... so there's even more fabric if you peep around the corner... but! You might get lost finding the right corner, for it feels a little endless inside! Neverending fabric shopping! Be wary if you shop alone!

Here's a few pieces I photographed along the way as we walked and talked and shared some sewing ideas! Looking at the photos again, I now wish I bought these pieces, but oh well! I can go back, and hope they're still in stock! The vendors seem to change stock every season!

What GORGEOUS flamingos!

Thanks for the lovely morning of fabric shopping Stacy! Here she is wearing all handmade, a beautiful jacket from another fabric market in China! And my not as exquisite handmade blouse (a Plantain Pattern) and my DIY gathered skirt!

And my new stash! Floaty cottons, some black and white scuba for cowl scarves to sell, and pinks and blue pears that I've started sewing a shift style dress with... but that was before we moved house and now everything is all over the place!

The address, with Chinese: 168 Dongmen Lu, near Zhongshan Dong Er Lu 东门路168号， 近中山东二路

Talk soon, but maybe not with any new sewn up pieces, unfortunately I have NO idea where the sewing machines will fit in our new (tiny) apartment... EEP. Any short of space solutions, please send my way! We have a lovely table for cutting, but NO sewing desk... I love sewing when the feeling calls, so don't want to set up the machines each time I have a project to sew. I'll take some photos of the house, and maybe you can help!

Bye for now!