Shopping for Fabric

The idea was to find some fabric to make Christmas gifts. I had an address but my driver couldn't find it. We found a mall in the area but it didn't have any fabric, only women's coats (how do they all stay in business?). We found another shopping area and they sold fabric but it was silk, rayon, wool, cashmere, leather but not cotton. I needed cotton. After a few phone calls we finally found the shopping area but it was closing time and the traffic was "busy crazy." Called it a day and headed home.


The next week went back to the shopping area we found the week before. My friend said there was a wonderful shop that had all the cotton material I would need for sewing. She described the shop and so I looked for it. There was aisle after aisle.


And cross aisles after aisle. One whole section was nothing but buttons, probably 40 - 50 vendors just selling buttons, zippers, buckles and frogs. Didn't see anyone shopping in their shops. Just how do they stay in business?


Bolts of fabric were stacked outside the shops to give room to step in the shop to see the other bolts as well as advertise their wares.


Did I mention how cold it was? Beijing is windy which makes it even chillier.


One of the colorful shops.


This turned out to be the cotton shop my friend told me about, they carried a lot of Vera Bradley fabrics. They also had an upstairs room where there were many more bolts of fabric.


This was in one of the corners of the shopping area, notice the chickens (ducks or geese?) hanging up at the top? Not sure if they are already cooked or not. The red sleeve on the young girl is worn by many people. They slip these tubes over their regular clothes to keep the clothes clean. They are even sold in children's sizes so their clothes are kept cleaner.


It's common to see babies and little children in a shop. Parents bring them to work.