Overseas Fabrics

In 1971 I went to work in Papua New Guinea.  At the end of the year I took my first overseas trip and visited the Phillipines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.  This was the start of the overseas pursuit of fabrics.  Since then every trip overseas includes fabric shopping.  With the help of the internet it is now possible to get maps with street locations of fabric shops.  Last year I found the fabric districts of Montreal and Athens and also bought fabrics in Italy.  This dress, made in January 1972, was made from a cotton batik purchased in Kuala Lumpur.

                                  Batik dress made from fabric purchased in Bali in 1985.

Red shirt/jacket made from screen
printedcotton bought in Samoa in
2001.  I spent one semester teaching
at the University of Samoa and bought
many beautiful printed cottons while

living in Apia.

                                        

                                     Shirt/jacket of Italian linen purchased in Bangkok in 2002.

Left: Skirt of Swiss cotton purchased
in Abu Dhabi in 2008.  Below:  Italian silks
purchased on the same trip.  These include fabrics by Prada and Roberto Cavalli.

These two skirts are made from fabrics
purchased in Japan in 2009.  The skirt on the left is a cotton yukata fabric from Kyoto and the skirt on the right is made from a vintage kimono purchased at a market in Tokyo.  The kimono was unpicked (easy because it was all handsewn) and resewn with black piping down the skirt panels.  The original kimono lining was used as a lining for the skirt.
The toggles on the belt also came from the kimono.

These Joseph Ribkoff fabrics were purchased in Montreal in 2010.
The fabric at the top of the picture is a knit overprinted with text and a pattern.   The fabric at the bottom of the picture is a mesh with a Jackson Pollock type design!!!

This dress, bought and modelled by my 

friend Jenny Archer, is made from 

a stretch cotton sateen, purchased 

in Bologna in 2010.