Hello everyone, welcome back to a new post. Today, I would like to take you along with me for fabric shopping in Brussels, show you my finds and the fabric shops that I visited. As well as some photos of the city, of course. We visited Belgium from the 2 to the 12 of September. It was a wonderful trip, but still far too hot. We were sweating a lot XD.
Note from the editor: Well, that was in 2022… It’s now the 12 of September in 2023. I completely forgot to upload this post. I also completely stopped sewing. I gained another 10 kilos within a short amount of time and I struggle to get all the weight off again. I am now 3 sizes bigger than my dressform that I use to create my patterns. I really don’t enjoy the state of my body and I don’t want to sew for this size. It isn’t mine. This body feels strange to me. It’s not the body I was used to for 30 years. And it changed without my own doing, just because I’m on medication. I don’t know how I am going to proceed. I don’t see getting off of my medication in the near future, or I’ll be a sleep deprived monster to be around. But I also don’t want to sew for this body. I really don’t know what the future of this blog will be to be honest. It’s a sewing blog. But if I don’t sew? What do I have to talk about. Well… Rant ended. Back to your normally scheduled programm:
If you are interested in this series, you can find my other posts here:
Gold Fingers
The first little shop that I visited was Gold Fingers in the centre of the city.
This shop was full with stuff. There was some fabric, but not really any that interested me, but the trim section was where I stayed.
They had so many different trims in all colours, some with beads, some lacey, some with fringe, everything. I went a bit crazy and bought a lot of trim…
The shop owner was very sweet. He was a bit overwhelmed with my purchases, but he had such a nice dry sense of humour about it.
What I Bought
So here is what I bought. Since I am finishing this post one year after our holiday, I don’t really remember anymore how much of each I bought… I know that I bought 10 metres where possible, but you will see that this is not possible for everything and other than that, I have no idea 😀 I also lost the receipts over this year, so I can’t give you an estimate of what I payed. But it was significantly less than I would pay in Switzerland! That I remember. Sooooo, let’s start with some white lace. The first thing I bought is this cute little eyelit lace:
I am going to use this for Edwardian or Victorian underwear of some sort 🙂 I have no idea how much it is, it came rolled up on this little carton just like that. Maybe 5 metres? Who knows…
The second one I bought is also white eyelit lace. I can’t find these in Switzerland so I bought what I found in Brussles. It is so pretty, just look at it:
Again, I have no idea how much there is but if I remember correctly, I bought everything of it that was left on the roll. I really like it, it is super pretty.
Then I also bought some colourful trims. For the first one, I have no specific project in mind and also no specific fabric to pear it witch. It’s this wonderful olive green lace with sequins and embroidered flowers:
This will require some hunting for fabric that matches, I know. I could go with navy and brown, like in the flowers, but I also like the idea of an olive green dress with just navy and brown details. Here is a close up of the lace:
I think it’s super pretty. I love it. This one, I have 10 metres of. The guy in the shop was a bit overwhelmed with my order, but he also had a lot of fun with us 😀
Last but not least, I bought this beautifully beaded trim:
I know exactly what this is going to be. This will be combined with the black and golden trim I got in Hong Kong years ago and the black beads that I also got in Hong Kong. You can find both in this post here. This will be the Edwardian suit of my dreams. It’s going to be glorious.
And that is already everything I bought in Gold Fingers.
Ets Berger TEXTILES
The second shop we visited was Ets Berger TEXTILES. This shop was about 20 minutes by foot away from the centre of the city.
It was located in a narrow lane that felt really uncomfortable. We were a bit on edge walking through it because everything looked so suspicious. But we finally reached the shop and let me tell you, it was fabric heaven. It’s no nice shop, but it was full with fabric of all kind. And the prices were really good!
They had brocades, velvets, fleeces, jersey… So much fabric. I really enjoyed looking through it all and finding treasures. I found this princess Jasmine jersey that I thought about buying for a friend of mine that loves Jasmine.
I didn’t in the end, because I thought that she might not wear a shirt made from it.
I was able to pay with my card, I was a bit worried at first. But they lead me into a small office where they had a card machine and I was able to pay.
What I Bought
I bought two fabrics from Ets Berger TEXTILES. One for a casual shirt of some sort and one for a victorian ball gown 🙂 The first one I spotted by accident. It was lying there between all the jerseys and I almost didn’t notice that there are kitties… But thankfully I did and I immediately decided to buy it and sew myself a t-shirt out of it. I think I bought two or three metres:
Isn’t this the cutest kittie fabric ever? They unfortunately don’t glow in the dark or anything, but cuuuuuuutness *_* I can’t. It will match my other kitty shirt perfectly and I will wear it proudly.
The second fabric that I bought is a polyester with embroidered butterflies in different colours. I don’t remember ecactly how much it cost, but it was around 5 euros per metre, which is insane… I know I bought around 8 metres of it to make a victorian ballgown in the style of the 1890s with it:
I love this fabric. It is not very wide, which is why I bought 8 metres. I will have to see, how I pattern that skirt to make the pieces fit on the narrow fabric. But it will be glorious, I know. There were several colour ways of this fabric and I decided to go with ivory, because the colourful butterflies stand out the most on a neutral background.
Other Shops
I also wanted to visit the shop Les Tissus du Chien Vert. But it was always closed when we had some time to go, which was Monday, because on Monday, all the museums in Brussels are closed. But it looked so promising online.
Brussels
We were in Brussels for 6 days of our stay and really enjoyed the city. I love all the art nouveau buildings like the Horta House or the museum of instruments.
We also found random art nouveau influences on other buildings in the city.
Then of course, when you’re in Brussels, you will visit the Grande Place. It’s a square in the city centre that is surrounded by the most beautiful buildings and the town hall. Have a look:
On this photo you can see my favourite building, the one that looks like a ship.
These are my boyfriends favourites.
And of course the town hall.
On our last day, we went to visit the Atomium. I visited it before in 2009 and remmbered it pretty vividly so it was a nice walk down memory lane. Entry fees are super expensive though… Holy Moly, I didn’t expect that. But at least it was worth it somehow.
And that is it for today’s post. I hope you enjoyed reading and thanks for coming fabric shopping in Brussels with me. Thanks a lot for reading, I wish you a good one.
Love,
Ella