Fabric in Singapore

Our next foray was to Singapore. Singapore has about 5.3 million people despite the fact that it's less than 300 square miles (or 72,000 hectacres, for my overseas readers).

We were lucky enough that the train system was amazing and we took it everywhere...and I saw Singaporeans love to sew, too! This lady was sewing by hand on a moving train! 

When the urge to sew strikes, you seize it, even if it's hand-appliqueing on a fast-moving train!

Once we'd seen some other sights, we visited a couple textile markets; Mustafa Centre and the People's Park Market. 

Let's talk about the People's Park Market - I've found when people say "Chinatown" in Singapore that they probably mean the People's Park Market. I realized this the hard way. We literally walked the streets of Chinatown in Singapore looking for it. 

Now, this was not without benefits, as we saw the Buddha's Tooth Relic Temple and Museum and walked the streets lined with markets, stalls, and food galore.

But unfortunately the lovely store I heard has Liberty of London fabrics that I've been dying to see in person was closed, as it was a Sunday. 

This was my first view of the textile floor - using the word fabric gets you sent to the clothing section.

Again, since it was Sunday a lot appeared to be closed, but there was still plenty open!

You have to be a bit careful here, because if you live somewhere that already has a great fabric selection, Singapore is kind of pricey already. 

So if you pick up a pretty bolt of Cotton & Steel you may find yourself looking at the equivalent of $20 USD/metre.  No thanks!

However, stumble into the right store (like the one pictured just below) and you'll find not only a cute little quilt shop, but one with great prices too! 

This one didn't have a name that I could see posted, but it's in the very back corner right before you get to the restrooms (take your own toilet paper!) and the stairs. If you enter from the long side of the building it's back left.

It's also very obvious from outside as well because you can see white shelving and they have fabrics on the outside but there's something...quilt-store-esqe about this cute little booth that I rarely see in this part of the world. 

No material on the floor, everything beautifully organized, and kind, smiling staff. 

I picked up 5 yards of peach with little white plus signs (this one vendor was yards, the rest are metres) for only $30USD! 

That made me happy enough to run to an ATM for more Singaporean dollars. 

This next store was just down the way on the same side and had a lovely lady who greeted me more cheerfully than most of the shops in the market.

She was kind enough to permit me to take a few photos, and when I mentioned I quilt she immediately said "so this market is like candy to you!"

Her store was also beautifully organized, and I just had to have a few prints from here too!

My other fabric stop was at Mustafa Centre, which you have to see to believe. It's five stories tall, located in Singapore's Little India, and a combination of Walmart and Costco on steroids!

It crosses a road and takes up several city blocks. Everything in that store has a massive wing and things are available at all price points.

Here's a first shot of the fabric section...!!! Unlike the People's Park Market, this place is very slightly less expensive for fabric, depending on what you're looking for.

Here's another small shot of the fabric section - it was at least 4-5 times the size of this photo. 

And some pretty shots of the bolts...

Here was my haul for the day...

I've already got plans to use those awesome grey dots in a quilt pattern I'm designing!

Here are some other highlights of the trip...the Singapore Art Science Museum had an M.C. Escher exhibit. I always love to see other artists' works in any mediums, and it was a true honor to see the work of such a famous one in person.

Above is his famous "Drawing Hands," 1948, Lithograph. It's hard to tell in the photos, but this is a very three dimensional drawing. The hands appear to come off the page!

And here is his "Relativity," 1943, also via Lithograph. 

Below are a few photos of quilts I forgot to show you in my posts on Kuala Lumpur.

My husband and I enjoy experiencing other cultures, to include learning about different religions, and when we visited the Islamic Arts Museum these hung in the gift shop... 

All of these pretty pieces were sewn by hand and reflect designs traditional to many places around the world that practice the Islam religion.

My favorite part was all the detail and looking closely at the needle-turned applique pillow. It reminds me that the sewing world is able to transcend any boundaries.

Malay batiks

I love visiting fabric stores wherever I go, and my most recent trip started in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Admittedly, I didn't do as much research as I should have on where to go to buy fabric because sometimes I forget quilt stores aren't as easy as Google like they are in the US.

I visited the Central Market in KL, which is full of vendors from all over. 

It's a massive market that I actually find more interesting than Istanbul's Grand Bazaar because people of all nationalities get together and sell their goods.

Admittedly, it's expensive compared to individual stores in KL, but still cheap for western travelers the experience alone was worth it.

There are rows of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, and even Western goods that leave you certain to find something for everyone! I could have spent all my money and my time there, but seeing as we had 2 other countries (that also had fabric!) to see, I took a more conservative route.

The clothing here is why I thought I wasn't going to find fabric...

I initially walked past this store, as everyone seemed to think "batik" meant clothes already made. I assumed those lovely fabrics hanging were sarongs, but when I visited the shop next door it turned out the lady owned both. 

When I mentioned I was looking for fabric because I'm a quilter, she got very excited and took me next door to Noor Arfa.  I realized then that this store has very little clothing and a lot of fabric!

And then I saw this row right behind that clothing!

All the beautiful batiks!

Admittedly, I only bought a bag of assorted batiks around mini-charm or charm square size because these batiks came from Indonesia, a later stop. But I still loved chatting with her and talking about how they make their quilts there.

 After our conversation and my purchase she showed me the above and below curtains they made - much more detailed than I would get with curtains - that they made from scraps from batik clothing. 

The clothing on the right above is an example of traditional Malaysian clothing and surprisingly enough, wearing batiks is a status symbol there! The more fine, elaborate batiks you wear the higher your status in Malay culture. 

But personally, I'm still looking at those beautiful curtains!

Next post will cover my trip to a batik boutique where they paint and sell boutiques! I'll cover the process they use to make batiks and show you the lovely batiks I just had to bring home.