Hello,

I wanted to buy some fabric to take back home and sew myself. I've seen many threads on how much suits, dresses, etc cost, but does anyone have a rough idea of how much a yard or meter of silk, cotton, etc should cost?

thanks!

just know about silk : 35rmb per meter and 40rmb per meter for embroided silk.
don't know how much is cotton, but for a men shirt, long sleeves I pay 100rmb in tottal, so it must be around 30, 40rmb/meter.

hope it helps.

thanks! that's very helpful.

I paid 22rmb/meter for good quality linen. but I'm new, white and I'm not that much of a bargainer. take it for what its worth.

There is a huge fabric...and yarn, buttons and lots more, market called: Qing Fang Market, 1618 Cao An Lu. I was there on Thursday and bought a metre of flannel for 10 RMB and 4 different cottons for patchworking at 12RMB a metre. Both were 2m wide. I spent so long looking at everything...they have every type of fabric you could imagine, from silks, felts, sheeting...I didn't have time to bargain!

the 'embroidered' silk, which is really polyester, used to be only 11rmb/meter. but since a lot of foreigners buy them without much bargaining, they go for way much more.

thai silk should be about 40/meter

and just make sure the 'silk' you buy is not satin. vendors will swear such and such is silk, or something is cashmere. 99% of the time it's not.

jersey cotton (not bought at the lujiabang lu market) goes for about 13/meter. at the market, they charge foreigners more than double that.

lining should be no more than 10/meter

any cottons should def be no more than 20/meter

the cao an place is really really far. so the taxi ride alone makes up for what you may be overpaying at the closer markets. so, unless you are buying in bulk, i would double think going to cao an lu. ...unless you have a driver, then it's ok!

Dude you are in China where everything is MADE IN CHINA these days. Why are you taking it back home to make it yourself when you can save the time and have someone else do it for you for a good price?

Well, I enjoy designing and sewing simple things on the side, kind of a hobby I guess. Plus, all the things I've had made so far are wayyyy different from the pictures, examples, directions, etc I've given. I think the style is just different and sometimes there's no way to translate to them the subtleties. Plus, no matter what I say, they think they're right and they just do it whatever way they want anyway.

I live in Xu Jia Hui, the Qing Fang market on Cao An lu is about 40 min and 35-40 RMB by taxi, well worth the trip IMO, have a huge selection for home sewers. Plus lots of other market stuff. Closer for those in Hongqiuo and Gubei

Quokka, can you tell me if there's a Metro station nearby this QingFang Market?
I want to go there, but have no clue where it is as I live in Pudong
...
thanks

Iara, i've only ever caught a taxi but it looks like you can take either Line 2 to Beixinjing Station or Line 3/4 to Caoyang Rd station and taxi it from there! Might save some time...you will need lots of time when there....it's huge! I'ts above and to the left of Changfeng Park on a map of Shanghai. Hope that helps!

I want to try to get to the QingFang market, but may not have time before I leave. Are there any fabric markets closer to town or a subway stop?

South Bund Spinning Market

Inside the market (cotton) by yard about 20 to 25 RMB/meter
Outside the market (wool) 35 to 50 RMB/meter

See here for more info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv7DerL6Bk8

I see that the last comment was almost a year ago. Has anyone been to the fabric markets recently (the last two months or so), and knows how much per meter fabric costs?

1) wool
2) wool blend
3) cotton
4) linen
5) flannel
6) velvet
7) cordouroy
tweed
etc

I'm gonna be in China soon - Kunshan.
So I'd like to know you, like blondesands, is this fabric market is still open and solid? Prices gone more up or what do you think?

As the OP - I like designing and sewing myself, so I don't mind going in the city once and awhile, stock up on fabrics and have a sewing marathon.

thanks!

tymse wrote:I'm gonna be in China soon - Kunshan.
So I'd like to know you, like blondesands, is this fabric market is still open and solid? Prices gone more up or what do you think?

As the OP - I like designing and sewing myself, so I don't mind going in the city once and awhile, stock up on fabrics and have a sewing marathon.

thanks!

The market at 399 Lujiabang lu is still open but really not the place to buy fabric. At that market, you just have sales stalls of people that go into the textile district and contract for any clothing you order and buy any fabric you want there and mark it up accordingly. The best bet is to go through the several blocks of the textile district which is found right behind this market and buy your fabric directly form the fabric vendors and save a bundle.

Renovator, thanks for such quick answer!

I will take a stroll around the block then

tymse wrote:Renovator, thanks for such quick answer!

I will take a stroll around the block then

Hey Tymse, please post here after you've been there. Prices, info, anything that would be useful.
Thanks!

What time (roughly) is this place open?

What time (roughly) is this place open?

they close at 6 PM

Generally I find the "Shi Luo Pu" fabric market has better quality material than the others, is at the corner of Zhonghua Lu & Dongmen Lu, near the river. There's a few shops with export quality stuff, particularly a place on the third floor which has "easy iron" cotton. Tailoring is variable (as everywhere) but choice and quality of some of the fabrics is better than the main fabric market. Also a lot more Chinese go there which I guess must be a good sign.

I'm hoping someone's got some updates on how much fabric costs nowadays?
(Last post is about two years old now....)

Especially interested in cotton, silk, linen and cashmere!

Thanks

Shanghai_scientist wrote:I'm hoping someone's got some updates on how much fabric costs nowadays?
(Last post is about two years old now....)

Especially interested in cotton, silk, linen and cashmere!

Thanks

Cotton: 40-45
Silk: 55
Thai silk: 80
linen: 35 (I'm not 100% sure)
cashemere:cheapest I found is 200-250 (with this fabric is always cheaper to get the stuff done with the same store that sells you the fabric). Also 'double' cashemere costs more, there are several qualities & thicknesses.