Buying Batik in Singapore
 

A friend will be in Singapore all summer. Should I ask for ..."?

There is one thing I have learned about traveling. When you look at a place and say wow, great fabric I
can get there, you usually can't. Great embroidery I can get there, you usually can't. I went to Hong Kong
expecting to find beautiful fabric and embroidery. Nope. I'm not saying there isn't any. What I found out
is it's all in the factories and being made there and sent elsewhere. The Chinese people are very Spartan in
their dress. Maybe things have changed. I don't know. I know in Korea I found some fabric in a bazaar. I
wanted to bring some home and make something with it as a souvenir. I found some wedding dress fabric and
bought a couple yards. Everything else was really not to my liking.

Why not.
Just be prepared to maybe waste the money
Years back a friend was going to London and I asked her to go to Liberty of London (with a $50 limit) for some Liberty fabric. She wasn't a quilter so had no idea - they sold her American fabric and a large piece of something that looked/felt like burlap. I took it to be the salesperson's anti-American feelings. Such is life.

A few points to note:

A lot of the stuff/fabric you see around is made in China. I don't think they are quilt-suitable. You don't want those.
Quilting is not real big in Singapore. There is a Australian chain called Spotliight, kind of like Joann's. But you are much better (variety and price wise) with Joann's.

The batik you see in Singapore or Malaysia is slightly different from the ones we are used to (for quilting). The common batik there is worn by Malay ladies as skirts/sarongs. They have intricate designs and are pure cotton as well. I bought a couple of them. I even made a quilt out of it.

If you want to have a look at batik fabric, you can look around Arab Street (fabric heaven, though mostly for dressmaking, be prepared to bargain), Geylang Serai (Malay enclave, reasonable prices, average quality), or Mustafa (24 hr huge mall, wide variety, fixed prices).

Yes, I do know that place well. I can post pictures of my quilt if you are interested to take a look at the fabric.

Hope that helps.