Fabric Market : Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

Four days ago I was in Hong Kong for a family holiday. The highlight of the trip for me has got to be my shopping trip to Sham Shui Po (SSP), Hong Kong largest fabrics & DIY supplies. If I may quote from Hey Kumo blog “Indeed, the Fabric Street in Hong Kong is something to behold. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of textile shops in the area, with their samples hung out for your picking.”  Every crafter dream to be to in this side of  ‘paradise‘.

I went to SSP with a dear friend sans our husbands, just us with our babies  in our boba babycarrier – (I swear this carrier is very comfortable for a long walkabout!)  Since it was our last day in HK and we had to check-out by 12pm, so husbands stayed back to do some packing while us ladies head to fabric shopping. No way I’m gonna miss going to this much talk about fabric market while I’m in Hong Kong.

I am so blessed Mukhriz is an easy baby. He slept the moment I step into MTR and all the while during mommy-going-oooo-aaa-over-fabrics , he slept soundly. Alhamdulillah.

Alrighty – brace yourself diyer & fabrics lovers as I will present to you one of largest fabric town I have been to- Sham Shui Po.

Our Regal Kowloon Hotel (where we stayed for three nights) situated nearby Tsim Sha Shui MTR and it took us about 3 minutes walk. We took the Tsuen Wan Line and head to Sham Shui Po MTR ( very important to get to the right exit – take exit A2) .

By 9 am we arrived SSP. *A tip I read in blogsphere it is better to go on a weekday because on Saturday & Sunday most shops are closed. I’m glad we decided to go on a Monday morning. Traffic was good and weather was kind too 🙂 . Since we were early, we roamed around Yu Chaun Street where we saw ribbons, trims & beads shops. Choices choices choices!

Before we began to overspent on tons of beautiful ribbons & trims we quickly walk away (of course with our loots!)  from the shop (heavy heartily)  to locate Ki Lung Street and we found it! It was just a row behind the first lane from where we got off from the MTR exit.

Sellers are getting ready to take out their stacks of fabrics. It’s nice to be there early.

Weee…blardly excited ! Tee Hee

Words could not described how stoked I was to finally arrived and experienced the awesomeness of the SSP fabrics town. My hands kept touching every fabrics I saw to get the feel – there’s jersey knits, cottons, lace, polyester, silk every types of fabrics one could imagine.

Samples of fabrics are displayed for customers to choose. However, most of it are sold as wholesale. I took couple of samples, didn’t asked further as I know I will have to wait a day or two before getting them so I head to available ones on Ki Lung Street.

I have a thing with scissors. I love to collect them whenever I travel abroad. This uncle was seating in this cute corner shop selling nothing but scissors. He didn’t talk much but understood what I was looking for. I picked a size 10 scissors and he helped out to sharpen it and let me test to snip on scraps. He sure is an expert.

Three hours passed by very quickly when we’re having too much fun picking our materials to your heart contents. I did get discounts from this one auntie (didnt get to snap her photo) since we bought A LOT from her. She has the nicest collections too I must say. *All shops sells in yards , some put up a minimum of 5yards , some at 3 yards and certain doesn’t mind at all. Try to negotiate and ask nicely 🙂

I wish we brought our roller luggage but what to do, it was our last day in HK and hubster need to use it to pack our stuff. My shoulders were overload with yards & yards of fabby furthermore with a sleeping baby it was quite unbearable to be standing and walking . No doubt both of us were exhausted but we were happy with our purchases.

Price wise I would say very afforable even compared to Ringgits. Definitely a must go for every crafter & sewist …you won’t regret it.

Many thanks to HeyKumo blog, Katharine Yeung and TravellersYarn for their informative stories about sham shui po fabric market. Other related blogs you can read here, here , here, here and here.

And finally , here are stuff I bought – yards of cottons, oil cloth, knits, sequins, beads, ribbons and leather . Not in pictures are some ribbons, rick racks and lace. All worth the walk & sweat to SSP!

I have been to Chinatown Bangkok (blogged here) but nothing beats Sham Shui Po market. Definitely coming back for sure! Who’s with me? 😉