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!

Shanghai Fabric Market Tour #4

Time for another tour of Shanghai's Fabric Markets! As you can probably tell, Shanghai has LOTS of markets, for all kinds of things! While home sewing and DIY culture hasn't really taken off in China as much as the western world, sewing unique pieces of clothing is very popular and this market is the second offshoot/location of the famous 'South Bund Fabric Market' ... as far as I can tell... and more modern and brightly lit as you'll see!

So let's go have a look at the outside first, helps when you know what you're looking for when you see a gigantic sewing machine statue!

This market is on the southside of the large Lujiabang Lu and covers the entire block opposite the original 399 Lujiabang Lu Fabric Market that you can read about here and confirm the original address here... but I'm yet to buy fabric from there yet... I did get my cashmere purple jacket made there last year but for fabric shopping or fabric browsing, I find it dark and busy (with tourists) but I will get there to photograph a tour there for you one day!

But if you have a look southside, you'll find this quiet & well lit fabric market and it's a good introduction to seeing what's on offer. Usually the same businesses have shop fronts here, across the road and at Dongmen Lu (my favourite fabric market in Shanghai), so there are some similarities in fabrics & garments - if you're looking to get tailormade clothing!

So, you can see all the tailor made clothing first, and vendors will try their English but it's not pushy here. It's a quiet space for you to look around, and take it all in. I find that I need some quiet to have a poke around first in places, and it's tricky if everyone is after your attention. Of course, if you're looking for something made, I'm pretty sure the sewing people here are pretty good... however I would suggest knowing exactly what you want and checking out other things they've made to see the overall quality.

There is fabric for sale though and it's not too pricey, mostly the same as the other markets... you can ask 'EE MEE?' for 'one metre' and they'll give you a price and you can haggle a bit I'm sure. I've bought fabric here - can't remember what kind now - and I've had some stretchy dresses made - a few months ago - when I was deciding whether to start selling some self designed dressed. And the quality was good, both in workmanship and fabric!

I do really like this strange plasticy fabric shop! I've been thinking of getting my bike apron made up here to see what it could look like as well! In case I can sell some at the markets here. Do you remember that neon blur I made in 2011? Never not thinking of projects!

And see the funny photos below! I told you it was quiet here! However people nap in Shanghai anytime of day whether it's quiet or noisy! So there's also a few shops with embellishments and haberdashery, not as many to choose as the Embellishment Market on Renmin Lu but still things to look at.

So there you have it! Another Fabric Market, but probably the cleanest and brightest one in Shanghai for fabric browsing or choosing tailor made clothes!

I've been looking for the address, and found it's 378 Lujiabang Rd, Huangpu, Shanghai, China - the SOUTH side of the overpass. It's close to the Nanpu Bridge Metro, and of course look for that giant sewing machine statue. But the only Chinese address I can find is the northside market of:

399 Lujiabang Lu,

near Nancang Jie

南外滩轻纺面料市场, 陆家浜路399号, 近南仓街

Have a great week, maybe dreaming of Shanghai!?

Where to Buy Sewing Supplies in Shanghai: Online!

This post has been writing itself since I arrived over a year ago, and I bet it'll continue to grow! Firstly, it was hard to find sewing supplies when I first got to China, mostly because the brand name sewing stores (in Australia it's the Spotlight and Lincraft usually are the go to places if you're new to town etc) just don't exist in Shanghai. Home sewing isn't a thing yet, and as you can imagine with the cultural revolution, a city like Shanghai has so many new 'western world luxuries' (IKEA is very popular here) but not the DIY culture yet. So where do you buy sewing supplies in China? Online of course: TAOBAO!

The joke here is when asking friends where you buy stuff, any stuff, the answer is always Taobao or IKEA (and there's certainly some sewing stuff and fabric there too), so for this post, I thought I'd gather up all the Taobao shops I've used, with reasonable quality. My sewing school has also recommended some good Taobao shops, so here goes!

A whole bunch of smaller items for your machine and stacks of cutting tools - AKA A crazy mini market of sewing!

Do you want:

Rulers? Here's a metric ruler.

Maybe you need thread? I bought here and didn't get tacky plasticy stuff.

Pens for Fabric Marking, these work and disappear ok!

Maybe you need a rolled hem sewing foot, works on on thin fabric.

A French Curve ruler.

A sewing twin needle, I accidentally bought too many! Maybe this is bulk?

Tracing paper, I've tried this ok!

The pink mat for cutting, I got the A4 size and it's very good.

An invisible zipper foot, it's plastic and works fine.

The little tools for making bias tape.

These bobbins & case are good value.

Little brushes for cleaning the sewing machine.

More pins, the plastic ones on the ends.

Very light interfacing: white & black... it's very light though... not thick for collars, more for airy fabric and putting along the button section of a blouse or something.

Another ruler.

Fusible tape, good for everything.

Fabric shops on Taobao - tested by Teacher Cathy at Couture Nomad *Updated!*:

https://shop33926927.world.taobao.com/?spm=a312a.7728559.2015080705.4.KEFeQo

https://shop62468062.world.taobao.com/?spm=a312a.7728556.2015080705.4.twynmh

https://shop57738657.world.taobao.com/?spm=a312a.7728556.2015080705.4.mWpTtP

https://nami.world.taobao.com/?spm=a312a.7700824.0.0.py19dc

https://shop34393705.world.taobao.com/?spm=a312a.7728556.2015080705.4.ag1Ysa

https://shop68356643.world.taobao.com/?spm=a312a.7700824.0.0.8hPbaU

https://shop34393705.world.taobao.com/?spm=a312a.7728556.2015080705.4.A64P1K

https://shop33435643.world.taobao.com/?spm=a312a.7728556.2015080705.4.xiSYkt

https://wangjian888.world.taobao.com/index.htm?spm=a312a.7700824.w5002-2331462653.2.fzyJIC

https://nengmao1018.world.taobao.com/?spm=a312a.7700824.0.0.Y9HL8O

https://shop109067610.world.taobao.com/?spm=a312a.7728556.2015080705.3.jyvLF1

https://linglanjjyp.world.tmall.com/index.htm?spm=a312a.7700718.w5001-11459714121.5.rB83oJ&scene=taobao_shop

Phew! If you have used any online shops in China, please send the links my way! I'll build them all into this post! Happy sewing!

Shanghai Fabric Market Tour #3

Hi! Welcome to you Fabric Loving Friends! Haberdashery Heaven Seekers! Here's my latest tour of Shanghai's Fabric Market, and today we'll go behind the Embellishment Market (as I've seen it called) of 388 Renmin Lu! My previous tours are here and here... and have lots of photos! Often it's hard to find exactly what you're after in Shanghai when searching online, so my fabric tours hope to cover a lot of what *I'm* searching for but what you're searching for too... so let me know if you're in town or coming to town, and I'll be totally happy to help you out!

As I said earlier this week, I was poking around the Renmin Lu Haberdashery market as my son was keen on finding materials to make a fishing rod. We rode our bikes through the old town, and came south via Sichuan Lu to Renmin Lu, but instead of going around the front of the building, we parked around back on Xinyong'an Lu. I found my interfacing and some more zippers inside and then we walked around that street outside where it was ROPE CITY and lingerie-making central...

Now I'm not making bras or swimsuits right now, but at least I know where to go! I had to take a lot of photos in this shop, because how gorgeous is that colour of the cabinets? There's a lot more little shops along Xinyong'an Road, but just not as bright at cheery. Do you see stuff you'd like? So many tools and useful little things!

Often things aren't so beautifully presented, it is China after all, so there's a LOT of stuff, and usually you can just see it all out on the street. I love it, even thought it's so hodge podge, there's certainly no place like it!

More lingerie stuff for you!

Most of these little shops behind the bigger building just have different stock, lacey and fringe things galore, and because there's a bit more space for looking around you can see a lot more too. Inside the Haberdashery Market, as I've mentioned before, is not for the faint hearted, I could hardly fit the small pram down some of the aisles (there's 2 floors of chaos and tiny stalls). But, out back of the building on Xinyong'an Lu it's a lot quieter.

We strolled up and down and there were people selling street food, lots of people standing around a road being dug up and we stopped off at the rope shop (in the first photos above) and I bought the largest ball of rope for 40RMB/$AUD 8.33/$UD 6.44/UK 4.10 ... and I have made so many little rope bowls, I still have at least half of it left. My besties will hopefully get theirs in the mail soon!

Here's the back of the big Embellishment Market:

And to finish, here's a little pushchair near a zipper shop... I've seen them around town here and there, but hadn't got a photo of one... it's SO cute! Of course all the modern ones are plastic and are now scooters or little bikes, but these vintage-esque ones are so darling. Lots of grandparents mind the children in China, and I often see little kids getting wheeled around town as the oldies go on their shopping runs or head to the park. Of course there's the usual prams and buggies too, but I love a lot of these unique useful objects!

So again, please email or leave a comment if you're stuck searching for sewing things in Shanghai! This week I helped a local cruise ship team find sparkly costume material - or I hope I did! So I've turned into a real Western local!

Here's an address I found in English:

Weiwei Textile, 42 Xinyong'an Rd, Huangpu, Shanghai, China

But the street is directly behind this building... The Embellishment Market:

388 Renmin Lu,
near Sichuan Nan Lu
人民路388号,
近四川南路

Shanghai Fabric Market Tour #2

 

How's your week going? I haven't been sewing much, just sightseeing when the weather is good and eating our way around the city! So while I'm touring around, you can have a squizz of another visit to the Renmin Lu's Haberdashery Market because the first time I visited, it was very overwhelming! I'm not the best at shopping for fabric or notions because of my opshopping days... when you scour over actually trying to find things to sew with... having so much on show like this makes me completely stunned about what to buy, what to make and how to actually choose stuff. Having a shopping list is definitely better at these markets, but you can still feel very overwhelmed... I  remember feeling very shy about asking for prices and saying what I wanted.

So this market is your one stop shop for embellishments, notions, elastics, ropes, buttons and all things about sewing but no fabric... there is some lace, sequined fabric, felt and some low quality knits... but have a look around... everything is negotiable and cheap... and definitely cheaper if you buy more.

But overall this visit was a little easier than my first trip, even though I had my two year old with me. As I knew where the markets were and knew roughly a bit more Chinese, especially to ask the price and to understand the price. That's handy!

I found the elastic I needed for the child’s smocking dress at 15 kwai for a large bobbin (what’s that called then?) so I got 2. One of my sewing school friends suggested just BUY things when you’re AT the market, because you’ll regret it later. That's one way to build my stash & supplies I guess, because it IS a big adventure getting across town (even more with a little one).

But let's keep sticky-beaking around... belt buckles, more zippers... and then tulle!

The market is all indoors, and the stalls are very small and you squeeze through tiny aisles to get around. After the elastic, we turned a few corners, and found the tulle that was ‘not in available in China’ according to a woman (at a costume shop) who sold me a lot of ribbons a few months back. At 6 kwai a metre, I bought yellow for a friend & blue for Felix… for tutus! Then I bought the wide elastic that was 2 kwai a metre, so got 10 metres just in case for future projects.

After that Felix was getting a little bit loud playing with the cardboard tubes/bolts (the shopkeepers were gushing over him and giving him lots to play with) and I bought 10 zippers at 1 kuai a zip (that’s about 20 cents Australian a zip) and went to leave but saw overlocker threads for 3 for 10 kuai and thought that was a deal as they were nicer quality than the plastic ones I bought the first time! I have no idea what plastic thread is for... any clues and do you want some?

We had a play in the park and went on to the Dongmen Lu Fabric Market, where most people get their clothes made. I had seen a cotton shop there last time, and went straight there, and spent most of my cashola. The cottons were 58 kwai a metre, and I tried hard to bargain and we settled for 50 kwai a metre if I bought 6 different ones… one of the gingham fabrics we negotiated 40 kuai as it was lesser quality. I am really trying to get better at knowing my fabrics, I guess I have to just buy and sew with them to get the feel. She said that an English woman remarked recently that she’d seen some in the UK for 15 pounds a metre, but you just can’t tell and I don’t want to be cagey all the time when shopping. You should bargain a bit, and I’m guessing $2 bucks off for a larger quantity is better than no discount.

So all this for around 1000 kwai, 200 Aud, 150 American, 100 pounds. At the time of shopping last month. SMILEY FACE.

The blue swallows turned quickly into a Sophia Dress, and I've sewn the tulle for tutus for the children and the gingham and glasses fabric for Felix. The black and white wallpaper fabric became my lovely Spring for Cotton 1970s dress.

So! There you go! I'm not sure if you've followed Jen at Cashmerette's tour of all the sewing stores in Japan (here's her Kyoto update), but after seeing all her photos, I'm just a little jealous of how clean and organised Japan can be... our markets in Shanghai are very dirty and chaotic and just old... of course, the whole experience is hilarious and I wouldn't swap it... but I actually can't wait to have a little spare cash to go to Japan again. I didn't really sew that much when I last visited, so I'll totally be using Jen's links!

Anyways, for now, the tour is over, and details below! Hope you have a lovely week!

Markets I visited, for you to show the taxi driver the street address in Chinese when you're next visiting Shanghai... (!) (please let me know when you're visiting)...

The Embellishment Market:

388 Renmin Lu,
near Sichuan Nan Lu
人民路388号,
近四川南路

and the fabric was from Shi Liu Pu Cloth Market:

168 Dongmen Lu,
near Zhongshan Dong Er Lu
东门路168号，
近中山东二路

 

Shanghai Fabric Market Tour #1

Happy Monday to you all! TIME TO GO SHOPPING! Today I thought I'd start my tour/blog post series of the Shanghai Markets... mostly the good ones if you're a sewing enthusiast/reader of my blog... I'll tailor it just for you! There are markets for everything here, and streets full of stuff... So if you ever are in Shanghai, you can find fabric, haberdashery odds and ends and I hope to bring you what I find as I go snooping around town trying to find my stuff! 

LOOK AT MY GLEEFUL FACE above. This was back in November last year, very happy to talk my 2 year old to kindergarten because I was going FABRIC MARKET ADVENTURING. I dropped him off, and I jumped on the metro to a couple of markets people had recommended on the Shanghai Mamas website, a great resource for sharing the WTF (that's "where to find", mind you!) stuff! So the first stop was to find Renmin Lu Haberdashery Market... near the older Yu Yuan Gardens.

What I've discovered about being here in Shanghai, is that everything never looks like what it should be, and signs are all in Chinse. I'm used to navigating around Australia looking for the over advertised and familiar billboards (in English) of Australia. SPOTLIGHT LINCRAFT RATHDOWNE REMNANTS is very understandable and easy to spot, plus in your home town you are familiar with their locations anywayzzz ... here in Shanghai, street names are in English, and numbers of course but not much else... and here is the haberdashery market... not very obvious, right?

And if all the wares weren't outside I could have walked straight past!

I could not even think, let alone decide what to buy. If you’re new to my blog, you might not know that I usually sew with a vintage fabrics and rarely buy new stuff to sew with, so still shopping lok this for me is weird and super daunting already let alone crazy shanghai ways of bargaining for a better price (I don't do that yet too scared and things are kinda cheap!)

My main goal on this first visit was to find where to buy zippers & threads and then get some basic fabric for cushion covers… i wanted to design some fabric, or make my own textiles from the vintage tea towels I’d brought from Australia… that project did turn out, I’ll show you soon… but it’s way different for a different couch than I intended!

So after walking in a few big circles, gaping at everything with my mouth open, I bought some overlocker thread (on the bigger spools that the little ones) and several zips, and I think it was all less than 40RMB.

The stalls are really squished in at the Haberdashery Market, so I only took a few photos because I was just way too overwhelmed, I'll get more photos another time for you too...

Next:

A little more obvious, in English! I trotted down Renmin Lu to Dongmen Lu to the lesser known fabric market… most of these gigantic fabric markets in Shanghai are actually set up for you to take your ideas & measurements, and they will sew for you. So you go with photos, recommendations of stalls (who has the best service and results) and then describe what you want. The South Bund Fabric Market is the most touristy spot in Shanghai for tailor made clothing… it seems fabric is pricey but labour is cheap, especially tailoring… maybe not as cheap as Thailand or places like that, but still very affordable. 

But why don't you have a look around *waves hand like a tour guide*:

Really I was just stickybeaking at this stage, so I went to all the floors to see what actually was for sale, what fabric I could sound out… that’s where I bought the scuba for my Pinky Space Explosion Skirt and the basic cotton drill & linen pieces for the cushion covers. I just pointed at things mostly and nodded a lot very basic browsing, for back then I only really knew how to say 'Thanks' 'Very Good' and 'Hello' and it was toward my last lap of the place, as I was leaving a French woman, who was walking around very pregnant, said to me ‘Ee Mee - that’s one metre’. Yi Mi. So that helps, a LOT. I now know numbers a lot better than my first trip too, so can say two metres, and three metres. Important!

I found some interfacing down in the basement, but it looked like it was the glue/iron stuff but it doesn’t really work like that. Definitely better quality interfacing is on my (never-ending Shanghai) shopping list because the stuff I bought online locally was terrible… I'll show you it this week, as I've got a finished dress again! Yay!

So with that first trip, I was suitably scared off for a while - not being able to communicate was very hard... and a lot of fabrics were wintery and a little daunting for me to 'begin' sewing again, but eventually I ventured back so I’ll post a few more Market Tours blog posts again soon...

In googling these markets, I found it VERY difficult to unearth any information... so if you need anything in particular, or need to know where the address for these markets are in Chinese (handy to show Taxi drivers) let me know... I'm going to get a little better at the format as I go along... just leave me a comment or a question...

Talk soon!