We went to China for No 1 sons wedding part 2 and it was amazing, we landed back home on Friday so I am just aout getting back to normal.
There were an amazing amount of costumes in total over 2 weddings ( 1st n France with us in Sept and then this one in China) my daughter in Law had on 11 dresses !!! only 2 were purchased the rest were hired which is a blessing. From white and classy to very traditional with lots of wonderful Chinese embroidery and everything in between.
We had a really wonderful trip and were totally looked after something organised for us every day. Great Wall, Forbidden City, Olympic Stadium, UNESCO World Heritage sites. Our trip was split between 2 cities, were spoilt for choice for what to do.
I managed to ask to be taken to shop for fabric , and was escorted to somewhere by 3 Chinese ladies one of whom spoke some english who then rushed me through my list of the type of things I wanted to buy, I had prepared a list which my daughter in law translated to Chinese for me. These ladies took me at my word a or list and ran around only getting what was on the list.
The area was amazing I could have stayed all day, but we only had a couple of hours. I got some good printed cotton for spring dresses for girls a couple of pieces for children's aprons and only 1 price for me for a summer skirt. I didn't get any of the amazing satin and silk pieces because although they were stunning I have no idea what I would use them for. I managed to get needles for myself and mum for our normal sewing machines but was stymied by the more complicated needles for the metallic embroidery thread and the SUK needles for the coverlock machine. I found plenty of reels of embroidery thread for Mum who sent me with a list and thread colours . Some colours I couldn't get but what I did get was an amazing price .16 reels of 5000m of embroidery thread and a 15000 reels of bobbin thread for 10 Yaun which is about 15?uros.
There were shops dedicated to buttons others for just thread and zips. Each shop tended to be a production point also so one was making suits and I could have purchased wool suiting, another sports T shirts so I could have got that sports fabric. The printed cotton I got was from a shop making sheets , pillow cases and duvets. Jersey T shirt fabric turned out to be the same price as at home so not everything worked out cheaper.
Made it home without excess baggage, Phew. Now to wash it all and start planning my spring dresses.