Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Dutch fabric markets



Sunday afternoon, we went to the fabric market. DH and the kids went for ice cream, I went for fabric. Luckily, fabric markets are usually held in the town squares, where there are ice cream cafés nearby!




I was a little disappointed. Having mentioned the fabric markets before, I wanted to bring you really nice pictures that capture all the fabric goodness. Not quite.





One, I had the impression there wasn't as much fabric goodness at this market than at other markets I've been to. This might have something to do with the fact that I went with a budget in mind and had hoped to find good deals on staples such as cotton prints, denim, linen, jerseys. Lots and lots of prints in cotton and jersey, yes, at a price, but very few solids and none of the fabric market stalls I'd met elsewhere, with jerseys in all colors of the rainbow (and cottons, linens, woollens...) at cut-rate prices.



Second, it was hard to capture the size and atmosphere of the place in photos without climbing a tree (there were none) (not that I would have)... or being a really good photographer, I guess.

Still, these fabric markets are a great invention, Dutch as far as I know (roughly 2/3 of the dealers are from Holland), and I know of regions in Germany that don't have them and envy us greatly! I'd guess that there are about 30-40 stalls in all, between 2 and 10 yards long, and packed with fabric. A lot of these are "trendy" prints and brands, and I did not see competitive prices here - they were all more or less the same.




A sight to behold: the big notions stall. You almost get vertigo trying to tell which side is up in there!
Oh, and these are my fabric market stash additions.

4 comments:

  1. Looks like you found something after all! This open-air market looks like fun--all those trims, notions and fabric. What are those huge zippers on photo #4?

    I'd like to hear you post about the fabric stores in Germany. And what about sewing machine dealers?

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  2. Wow, that looks like so much fun! I love the European open air markets. In DC we only have farmer's (fruit and vegetable) markets--which are wonderful, but I'd love to go to a fabric market!

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  3. This looks wonderful! What a great concept.

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