SINGAPORE,THAILAND, MALAYSIA,INDONESIA, (BALI,) HONG KONG, FIJI
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ORCHARD ROAD AREA
Quilts 'N Calicos
163, Tanglin Road O3-13 Tanglin Mall
Singapore
Tel: 65 - 6887 4708
www.quiltsncalicoes.com/
Fabrics $18 a metre but beautiful. It is only a little shop but the owner is bubbly warm and friendly.
A small shop, but with many fabrics, books and notions. A class was being held at the back of the store while I was there.
Tanglin Mall is a shopping centre where a lot of the expat wives tend to frequent and just down the road from "Quilts n' Sew Forth". There are many different shops to wander around in - you really could be shopping in Australia!<
Website: http://www.quiltsncalicoessg.homestead.com
(B)
Has quite a good range of fabrics. Generally prices are between S$18 & $24 which is good with favourable A$ exchange rate. Lots of brights and batiks. Many from the US, but she doesn�t always stock an entire range. Lots of patterns with an Asian flavour..
There is a hand quilting service which takes between 2 & 6 months and is used by customers all over the world. Owner is very helpful and friendly, but sometimes her young staff are not quite so knowledgable..
Also one of the few cafes in Singapore (Caf� Beviamo) which can make a decent cup of coffee and sandwich is downstairs.
Patch Magic
1 Scotts Road
#04-30 Shaw Centre
Tel: +65 6738 9312
Mon-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat 11am-6pm
www.patchmagicsingapore.com
Some really stunning old kimono fabrics here, plus lots of bags, clothing and other gift ideas made from the fabrics. A really lovely shop.
Jenny�s Craft House
NO CREDIT CARDS
1 Scotts Road
#04-56 Shaw Centre
Tel: 65 67352021
Mon-Sat 11am-6pm, Sun & Hols closed
Japanese owner and all dusky Japanese fabrics. 1000�s of tiny hexagons hit your senses when you enter this shop.
Embroidery Collection
1 Scotts Road
#04-52 Shaw Centre
Tel: +65 6738 7680
Not strictly quilting, but a beautiful collection of embroidered and smocked products, all handmade. Some really nice gift ideas..
Art Friend
Takashimaya Shopping Centre
#04-20 Ngee Ann City (Orchard Road)
Open 10.30am � 9pm
As well as art supplies, very good prices for threads, haberdashery, buttons, beads etc..
Kinokiniya Books
Level 3 of Takashimaya SC, Ngee Ann City.
Huge Japanese book store. Good range of all craft, sewing and quilting books. Separate Japanese book section with lots of quilting, embroidery, hardanger, sewing books � all in Japanese of course. Way better than Borders (IMHO of course)
Not always a lot of magazines available though
Borders Books
Ground level, Wheelock Place
Opposite Shaw Centre
The same as other Borders stores, although stocks don�t seem as good now the company has been sold
Spotlight
Plaza Singapura
Level 5, 68 Orchard Road
above Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, Open 10am � 10pm every day.
Exactly the same as Spotlight in Australia, down to the catalogues.
The other decent coffee available is downstairs at the bratwurst sausage stall, run by Asian Aussies from Melbourne
Raffles Hotel Shopping Arcade
Upstairs on 2nd or 3rd level there is a shop selling clothing made from Batiks and a small amount of batik fabric as well.
Jim Thompson � Thai Silks
Ground Level of Raffles Hotel Arcade. this has beautiful items made from Thai Silks
Spotlight
12 Tampines Central 1
Dbs Tampines Centre *
Tel: 65 6788 5884
Fax: 65 6788 4894
Good ol' Australian Spotlight.Quilting cottons usually priced S$9 per metre but has a regular bin of specials where bolts go for S$4.50. Does stock thick Chinese brocades for S$18 per metre. On the level below is a shop (I forget the name) that specialises in Pergamano.
2)found the fabric/notions selection was much the same as in New Zealand
BUT they did have very cheap wire quilt hangers (I had to hunt around
a bit). They sell for big $$ here in NZ so it was quite a savings. The
Spotlight was very messy so it was a bit of an adventure.
ARAB STREET AREA
You could easily spend a couple of hours walking up and down this textile mecca in Arab Street (no pun intended). Thousands of fabrics, trims, beads etc .
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Arab Street
A long street of Malay shops, stocking brass/copperware, leather bags and of course material. Famous for batik and silks. Cotton batiks start at S$6 per metre. Haggling permitted.
Quilts n' Sew Forth
64 Aliwal Street
Singapore 199940
Tel: 6736 2108, Fax: 6291 1296
This shop is a 5-10min walk from Bugis MRT and easily accessed by bus and taxi as well. This is the Malay quarter and very close to Arab Street.
Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30 pm
Located in a lively area with lots of charm and character. With shops offering fabrics for clothing, home decoration, as well as beads, trims and many other embellishments. Good food and lots more! Nearby is the Mid Sultan Mosque, Bussorah Street, the Malay Heritage Centre; after visiting the shop discover the surroundings.
Small shop with varied ranges of fabrics. Again not always an entire range is stocked. Staff are all knowledgable and helpful.
You either drive in from Victoria Street or Beach Road, take North Bridge Road which is a one way street and turn to your right into Aliwal Street. There are plenty of parking places in the street itself or further down in the nearby car park. Make sure you have parking coupons, 50cnts per 1/2 hours. (You also can purchase them at 7/11 in Aliwal Street.)
www.quiltsnsewforth.com.sg
(Has 10,000 bolts of fabric)
Prices range from S$15 to S$18 per metre. Fat Qtrs are S$4.50 and Fat 16's are S$0.50. Annual sales are in first week of May and in November/December with discounts 10% (half the stock), 50% (four-fifths of stock) and 70% (remaining stock). This shop is a must see.
2) They had some nice kits
and also quite a few specials when I was there, so check it out.
Textile Centre:
200 Jalan Sultan �
a multi storey centre chock full of all sorts of fabrics � you could spend hours trawling through here finding what you want.
LITTLE INDIA
This is a suburb of Indian shops, selling everything from Spices,dresses to sari material. Great for that latest dress. You have to search. Beautiful material is mixed in with uglies. Prices start at S$6 per length (ie 5m of sari material) upwards. You have polyester, cotton and silk. For S$35, you can even buy 5m of chiffon. Blousy Indian cotton blouses cost S$10. You can haggle. Great Indian cotton tablecloths, cheap.
2)If you get a chance, definitely go to the Mustafa Centre in Little
India. Seriously, you have never seen anything like it. It's a HUGE
indoor market that sells EVERYTHING (and I do mean everything). In the
basement is a sari fabric shop that I could have spent hours going
through.
Mustafa Centre:
145 Syed Alwi Road
Tel: +65 6295 5855
6 levels, open 24 hours a day. You can change currency here and buy just about anything else you could ever need or want. One Scquilter I know loves Mustafa for real Indonesian batik fabrics..
CHINATOWN
Golden Dragon Store
The People's Park Centre" Shopping Mall (pink
building),( on the second floor)
Chinatown
Tel: (+65)
Has about four hundred fabrics and sells
Clover products.
Some quilting cottons, good for beads and sequins.
GEYLANG AREA
Dreams in Quilts
511 Guillemard Road
#03-07 Grandlink Square, Tel 6743 8177
CHECK TIMES!only open for a few hours, I think Friday afternoon and Saturday
A bit off the beaten track, a taxi driver may wonder why you wish to travel through the redlight district to this shopping centre. This is the agent for Bernina machines and has a small but good range of Japanese fabrics, threads and sewing notions. They run classes, and the bag classes and patterns are apparently excellent. Very helpful and knowledgable. Shop hours are variable so worth phoning to check if they are open.
HOLLAND VILLAGE AREA
Embroidery - Can�t remember the name of the shop!
#02-12 Holland Road SC, Holland Village, 211 Holland Avenue
Embroidery threads, a few kits & patterns � this funny little shop is piled to the rafters with all sorts of threads.
Creative Dimensions
#03-35 Holland Road SC, Holland Village
If you love beads you will love this place. There is stunning clothing, cushions, homewares, jewellery, stationery � really beautiful things here.
Fabric House
World Trade Centre,Shopping Complex
I have been visiting this little shop for four years
and they have gradually gotten a better stock of
cottons,mostly florals(very pretty),loads of elephant
fabric.Christmas fabric is out all year round.
This shop is worth a visit fabric prices range from
BHT75-BHT95 ($AU3.20-$AU4.00)per metre,you can only
buy fabric by the metre,but at these prices it is easy.
Macy's
Petaling Street,
Beads, DMC Threads, ribbons and fabric leaves Beads and sequins are M$0.50 per packet. Go for bulk. a 1/4 lb of seed pearls will cost you MS$22 per packet. Embroidery threads were M$30 a skein last time I looked. Double-sided ribbon is MS$2.50 per roll.. Polyester gift wrap ribbon is similarly-priced.
Batu Road,
A whole road of shops. Fabric. Name it, they've got it.
Carol Hoh ....Anyone coming to Singapore is welcome to call me at (+65) 3856774 (home)
(+65) 235-9966 (work) or (+65) 96546096 (mobile).
PENANG
Hearts & Hands Cottage Craft
98, Jalan Gajah, Tanjung Bunga 11200 Penang.
phone = 604 890 2241
[email protected]
It's a great shop, must visit while in Penang.It's located in residential area with no sign board but very easy to access.Had been in the quilting field for 10 years now. It's just like walking into Alladin cave till, you'll find out yourself.
It's the biggest and stocks the most patchwork fabric in Penang.
BALI
Aloha-I have a friend who went to Bali last spring thinking she would be able to buy some of those lucious fabrics for less there. Guess what, her guide took her to where the Bali artist had whole bolts of fabric stretched out in these fields painting the fabric--fabrics with many colors took more than one day. She said it was a very wonderful sight but the rude reality is, they are contracted by Hoffman to produce this fabric and it was not available for sale. She did find some other interesting stuff to bring back though
Densapar
You can get nice batiks in Bali for much less. I went last year and there are two large stores on Sulawesi Street in Densapar (a street teeming with fabric shops) that had thousands of batiks, some cotton, some rayon, some cotton knit, some on canvas. The cottons (which ranged in weave and quality) were from $1.50 U.S. to 1.75 per metre. The "Hoffmans" that were available for sale were rejects that had been batiked over (and were pretty awful). I had a wonderful (but very long) trip and while I certainly came home with fabric, if one counts in the cost of traveling, it was rather expensive yardage--but I'd go again in a heartbeat.
Hong Kong is no longer a bargain centre, but a glamorous place full of designer shops (I counted 10 Louis Vuitton outlets).
For shopping, everyone now goes to Shenzhen, a 40-minute train ride from Hong Kong into China.
There is a 5-storey shopping centre just across from the train station which has everything you could imagine.
See this website for info
http://www.shopinshenzhen.com/
There is a large floor of fabrics and you need to spend time going through all the fabrics, because it is not a specific quilting outlet and they know nothing about quilting. But the fabric is cheap! Watch out for faults in the prints, and perhaps buy more than you need
