Hong Kong: Fabric Shopping in Sham Shui Po

In anticipation of our trip to Hong Kong, I did a little bit of research on fabric shopping, figuring it could be a jackpot for that type of thing.  Sure enough, it was!  

Thanks to bloggers here, here, here and here for leading me to this fabric Valhalla! 

Relative to the big, shiny skyscrapers elsewhere in Hong Kong, like Kowloon or Central, the Sham Shui Po area has a very throw-back feel to it... lots of old buildings and street markets. Check out all the crazy signage... looks like something out of a movie:

Apparently it was one of the first areas in Hong Kong that was settled back in the day and is now where many working class Hong Kong folks live.

Ok, back to the fabric shopping. There are a ton of fabric shops in the Sham Shui Po area.  Some are regular stores with bolts of fabric:

Many of them, though, only have fabric swatches. They seem more geared towards wholesale shoppers:

Lots of leather, button and findings stores, crammed to the gills with product:

Most of my shopping, though, was from carts and makeshift booths in the street out in front of the shops. There was fabric on rolls and pre-cut pieces, all being sold for crazy cheap prices. Mostly garment fabrics- nary a piece of quilting cotton to be seen!

What did I buy? A lot. 

I came home with a ton of lovely stretch wovens: 

- stretch denim in two colors

- cool grey stripey stuff

- weird, but awesome silver-on-black stuff

I also got some nice knits: 

- an enormous piece of super soft black ponte (some of which I already used to make my Tilly and the Buttons Coco tunic

-some light blue and grey heather jersey

All super cheap: nothing more than $3/yard!

In the pile on the right:

- two pieces of seersucker, one striped and one small checks

- a piece of bright coral gauze

- pretty mustard lawn

- gorgeous blue and green floral voile

- lightweight chambray

- some linen-y bottomweight stuff... maybe a blend?

What did Tim get out of this trip? Practice with the camera and dim sum.

I read about a great dim sum place, Tim Ho Wan, not far from the fabric district and used this as leverage to convince Tim to join me in fabric shopping. Plus, dim sum.  Mmm.

This place was no frills, but had the best BBQ pork bun I've ever had.  It was baked rather than steamed and had this amazing sweet, crispy crust on the outside... after we inhaled our first order, we got a second:

Also, "phoenix talons" might be the best euphemism for chicken feet I've seen:

Silk City

Another fabric field trip for me this week: the Jim Thompson Factory Outlet. 

I'd read that the outlet is the place to find high quality, but discounted silk fabric.  Yes, please!  The outlet did not disappoint:

 

The best part about the whole Jim Thompson thing, though, is the interesting back story: 

During WWII, Jim Thompson was an American operative in the OSS (the pre-cursor to the CIA), which brought him to Thailand.  Eventually he left the government and founded the Thai Silk Company, which is credited with rejuvenating Thailand's hand-woven silk industry, which had been floudering in the face of the rise of cheaper, machines-produced textiles. 

But the most interesting part of the Jim Thompson story is his mysterious disappearance in 1967 while on vacation in Malaysia's highlands.  There are lots of conspiracy theories about the cause of his disappearance: Attacked by wild animals while walking in the jungle?  A murder connected to his past in the CIA?  A government hit to silence his vocal criticisms of the Vietnam War?  Jealous business rivals eliminating the competition?  It's like a real-life, unsolved Scooby-Doo episode!

Lihat-Lihat di Pasar Mayestik

Inspired by the beautiful photos at this website, driven by a need for pink buttons for a dress I am working on for Zoe, and buoyed by the enthusiasm of a new friend, I set out to lihat-lihat (browse) a little at Pasar Mayestik, a local/traditional market in my neighborhood.

While the market itself was a little bit strange and somewhat empty (it has been recently renovated and we think perhaps all the vendors have not yet returned), the market is surrounded on all sides by haberdashery shops selling hundreds of different kinds of fabric and all the little sewing do-dads you could ever want (except 1/4" elastic, boo).

I didn't get any photos of the fabric shops as I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of fabric as well as the overzealous salesmanship of the shopkeepers.   However, at the slightly more low-key, albeit quite claustrophobia-inducing Toko Maju, I was able to take a bunch of shots.  

This place is crazy, dude.  It's like a rabbit hole of sewing and crafting paraphernalia... buttons (soooo many buttons), ribbon, zippers, hooks, needles, beads, wire, elastic, strangely worded patches, toggles, lace, sequins... the list goes on and on.

The aisles are really narrow.  Not made for giant bule butts like mine.

As you can see from the photo above, there is an upstairs.  And an upstairs above that, too.  I went up for a moment, but it was eerily quiet up there and I was worried that I would get lost, starve to death and no one would ever find me, buried amongst the sewing notions.

 

So, yeah, let me know if you need buttons.  They've got a few here.

They had a lot, a lot of these strips of hook and eye closures.  I think they're used for the traditional kebaya, a blouse/dress that is worn with a batik sarong:

Ribbons galore, as well as lots of elastic waistband material in case you want to create your own knock-off Nike shorts, Tommy Hilfiger underwear or other such name brand items.

All around the market were lots of food vendors selling lunch, sweet snacks, and fruit, including this fruit that neither Brooke nor I could identify.  Anyone?

This guy was making these waffle/funnel cake hybrids (final result in back row of the next photo):

Aaaand, some more street art I saw on the way home, to cap it off.

We needed a couch; we bought a bar

Tim and I did some shopping this weekend... a big grocery run to Grand Lucky, a trip to Ace Hardware for stuff like voltage regulators and a grill, and finally some furniture shopping in the Kemang neighborhood in Jakarta. We needed to buy a couch, but we ended up with a sweet leather and wood lounge chair and a bar.  Oops!

We bought a bar!  Please send booze!

The bar, all closed up.

Can you see my ass groove on this chair yet?  It's forming quickly because we got our cable installed and I have access to the Asian Food Channel now... I am soaking up the various shows to know what to eat and what to cook when I get my equipment!  Very educational. None of that semi-homemade shit.