Purchasing fabric in Ukraine

Today I had what is perhaps my most successful shopping trip in Kyiv to date. It probably helped that I had really low expectations going in. In fact my mom was on standby to purchase the needed items in the States and ship them to me if today had been a total bust. But I was triumphant in finding fabric and notions for my dress for the Marine Ball.

The fabric store I ended up at was a rather large one that a friend of mine pointed out to me soon after we moved here. However, I remember thinking that all the fabric there was overpriced and had not made a trip back. Apparently after living here for almost a year and a half, my perception of “overpriced” has changed. I found quite a few things that I liked that weren’t terribly expensive. Granted, not JoAnn’s bargain section priced, but not too bad. But I was on a mission. And fabric/notion shopping here isn’t exactly a one-stop sort of experience, so here’s how it went down.

First I find the fabric. I haven’t a clue what it actually is, but it’s a little shiny, a good color, has good drape, and comes from Japan (that much I could read on the label). Then I figure out how to get the attention of the guy behind the counter. There’s no moving the sample piece from the wall, so I point frantically and say “this” repeatedly until he figures out exactly what I want. He asks me how much and I tell him 4 meters. (I think I bought way too much, but I forgot to take into account that I’m using a pattern from the 1940′s and apparently fabric wasn’t as wide back then? Oh well, maybe I can make a camisole out of the leftovers.) Then I pay him and head upstairs – which actually involves going outside – to look for notions.

I take my bag of fabric to the woman behind the thread counter. She takes it from me and picks out thread that matches. That’s right, there’s no touching of the thread. I have to say, she did an awesome job, though. I suppose if that’s what you do all day, you get pretty good at it. So I pay her for the thread.

Then I take my fabric and thread and head to the zipper counter. I again hand my fabric over and manage to say “I want a zipper, but I don’t want to see it.” (This was the closest I could come to saying “invisible zipper” with my limited Russian. She seemed to get what I meant.) She pulls out the closest colors they have and shows me that they don’t have an exact match. But she’s nice enough to explain that there is another store across the street that sells a wider variety of zippers. So I take my fabric back and head to where she’s directed me.

Turns out it’s another “All for Sewing.” And this one’s the size of a closet. So I figure out what zipper I need and then stand back to see what the procedure is here. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be one. So I push my way to the front and shout out what I need at the first available opportunity. My tactics work and my shopping is complete!

All of that took about an hour and a half. I’m so glad it went well, but I’m not sure if my nerves can handle another fabric shopping trip here any time soon. But that will give me a good excuse to “catch up” on buying new fabric when I get back to the US.