Fabric Shopping In Riyadh

As I recently said I would take pics on my next fabric shopping trip and I did. I bought DD along to be my camera girl, so these are all taken by her. These are of just one store, I don't know the name but all the fabrics in here are 10SAR per meter which translates to $2.67 USD per meter or 1.70 GBP.  I did visit a couple of other shops but I did not get the time that I needed since it was late and shops were starting to close up as a matter of fact I didn't even make it to the notions shop. 

There is no cutting table in the store, you just call one of the 3 or 4 men that are walking around and they just cut it right there and send it to the front for you.

While it is mostly some form of polyester and light weight cottons I have found some gems since I found this shop a few months ago. They do have a large selection of fabrics from chiffon to faux leather, knits, poly velvets, lace, and corduroy. 

Until next time, happy sewing...

I Got Real Muslin

Before I  left America three years ago this month I knew I would have a hard time getting the things that I was use to back home for my sewing for several reasons but the main reason language. So I bought with me some samples, one of them being a large piece of muslin. I was using some cheap cotton and poly mix that I could find easily at the souk, only problem is that it is not very wide and is extremely off grain. Since I had decided to get back into my patternmaking, I knew I would need the real deal. So I asked DH if he could take to the souk that sells a lott of things whole which includes fabric and notion shops. I was hoping I could find something there, I didn't know for sure. I took my large piece (read: more than one yard) of muslin with me. I walked into one of the wholesale fabric shops and first asked if they spoke English which they did not, and then just handed them my piece of muslin to sales help and he took it to his boss he felt it asked me if it had been washed, which it hadn't then told his clerk what to get and bought it to me. I asked was it 100% cotton and he told me that was it so I got it. You can see how it came in the pic above its a folded continuous piece. Its unbleached and cost me 80sar per pack which is the equivalent to $21.30 usd for 20 yards of 59inch wide, I got two packs so this should last me a couple of months.

I took pics of the fabric shop to give you an idea of what the wholesale shops look like here.

This is where the owner was seated. Those books are books of swatches of everything he has, and there is a lot of fabric cramped into a small space.

This is the aisle where he got my muslin.

No trip to my favorite souk is complete without some fabric shopping. The two prints at the bottom are poly knits, the blue is a sweater knit, the grey at 12o'clock is a cotton twill and the beige is poly crepe ( I THINK).











Until next time, happy sewing...

A Visit To The Fabric Store

 Last night I got a chance to pop in on one of my favorite fabric stores to pick up some fabric for my LBD. I decided to take some picks so others can see where I shop here. There are others but this is one of my favorites because his prices are reasonable has a good selection within such a small space and its easy for me to pop in and out of sometimes unlike some of the other stores that are hidden within the walls of the souk. The man who runs the shop does not speak English so I just have to go on touch and drape or sometimes the salvage of the fabric to tell me what it is and my fabric knowledge is VERY limited, but can tell me in English how much per meter everything is and if not I have learned my numbers by now so even if he belts it out in Arabic I understand.

So a quick tour, this is the view from the door from the main road side. It has two entrances one off the main street and then the back which is within the walls of the souk.

This pointing in the direction of the door from the first photo, on the left are some of his knits.

 Again this is pointing in the direction of the main entrance that I was standing in in the first pic.

This is looking at the other entrance to the souk. Think of it as an "L" shape and I am standing right where the corner is and this is the other way I'm looking from the one above.Is that clear as mud?

 Again looking at the second entrance but the other side behind the counter and the fabric they have laid out all over the counter. These are some of the cottons and cotton satins all shirt or dress weight.












This is behind the counter, mostly cotton satins here, this is the corner of the "L" shaped store behind the counter so standing where I am you can see both entrances to each of my sides. Also if you look at the roll on the counter or the bottom of the pic, it is one of the pieces of fabric he showed me when I was looking for my fabric it is a black cotton satin., I did not get it since I wanted something with a bit more drape and a little more weight to it also something that would not wrinkle like crazy.

Close up of some of the knits and don't be surprised if you see some of these pop up on here sometime in the near future.





 So this is what I ended up with, 3 meters of I don't know what. It looks a little like a linen but I can tell its not and it has some weight but not stiff. I tried to give you and idea of the drape and texture in the next two pics. I did a burn test but again still not sure.


































As for my pattern I'm still not sure and I need to make up my mind soon. The Simplicity Project Runway pattern 2359 has just gone missing and I have not idea where it can be. So now to keep looking. As far as my jeans are concerned they have been put on hold for a minute, I had some issues with the fit and I have been trying to figure out how to save them and I think I have found a way but I need to walk away from them for a minute and then come back.

Until next time, happy sewing...

No sewing machine but I did find Fabric

Well still no sewing machine but I did find fabric and a nice selection too. I was in the downtown souk area with my family while we shopped for a desk for my husband and with my mind constantly on sewing again I quickly found few shops that sell fabric. At first glance it looks like a dress shop but I quickly realized its just the fabric draped over dressforms to look like dresses, it seems that a lot of shops do this. I tried to find denim and twill as this is my favorite fabric for bottoms but what I found was not the quality I wanted. I did find a lot of great fabric for tops and dresses. I see that I am going to have to learn my arabic numbers real quickly. Here in the sook most things are bought using a lot of haggaling and most merchants don't speak in English and also I think that once they find out your not a native or american then tend to see dollar signs and up the starting price. This is not one of my favorite ways to shop but I guess I need to get use to it. Oh well I guess another time for the sewing machine, I really want to get started soon. I'm quickly starting to feel lonely and all I can think about is getting back to a hobby I so enjoy.