Shopping in Singapore

The fabric shops on Arab Street in Singapore

Singapore is a very modern city that has been a place for trade where cultures have mixed for centuries.  The largest population is probably the Chinese, but there are strong communities of Malaysian, Indonesian and Indian people as well. I'm not sure if any fabric actually gets manufactured in Singapore, but there is lots and lots of fabric one can buy from many different countries.  

And I am very lucky to have a cousin who has lived in Singapore for 14 years and knew all the places to go.  She took me in hand for a full day and I want to share that day with you.

We started on Arab Street.  This is a neat old neighborhood where the shops are in old two story buildings, very different from most of Singapore. The neighborhood is Arab and a very large and famous mosque is only a block away.

There was shop after shop stocked with beautiful cottons, silks and synthetics ... no wool or wooly fabrics though. Singapore is right on the equator and it is hot there all year round. Check out the fans near the ceiling. All shops are open to the outside with no A/C.

These metal shapes are the stamps used to print wax onto fabric when making batiks.

Which of these eyelets should I buy??? The colors are SO bright ... hmmm ...

I chose white. I can dye it any color. The saleslady burned some of the embroidery thread to see if it was cotton so if I dye it the thread will dye as well.

Here are my Arab Street purchases ... White eyelet with a border on both sides.  And two hand printed cottons from India with borders on one selvage.  I'm not sure what these fabrics will become.  Stay tuned.

Time for a potty break, but you have to buy toilet paper with a coin from a dispenser BEFORE you go into the bathroom.  Oh well ... when in Rome ...

Now off to Chinatown.  The shops here are all jammed into a couple of buildings with 4 or 5 floors.  Most of this complex sells ready-to-wear clothing, housewares, food you name it. There are also travel agents and money exchange offices, probably banks, but we were focused on finding fabric. It took a few false turns and asking a few people, but we finally found the area with fabric and craft stores. The shops are similar to the ones on Arab Street.  They are all open to the hallways, but all indoors.

Much of the stuff is made in China and similar to what you can find in the US, but I found a store with some really nice Japanese fabrics and I bought an indigo print linen I hope to make into a skirt or pair of pants. Could be a jacket though, would look nice with jeans. hmmmmm

Then my cousin know of an area with craft and notion stores.  That required more asking and a few wrong turns.  Really we weren't that lost.  She has shopped here many times before, but once you start walking around it is like a maze and all the floors start looking the same.

Here I really felt like a kid in a candy shop!! But I had to remind myself, I had a small suitcase and my vacation was only half over.  I still had Cambodia and Bangkok to shop in!  But, I did buy a few things.  Velcro in colors I can't find.  A neat hand crocheted collar for $1 and some nice hand bag findings ... see ...

The day went by SO fast. If I go back, or shall I say when I go back, I will make a list!  And maybe ship stuff back.

But, what fun.