a blog

buying fabric in bali: Paramatex

The thing with sewing machine is, you can't JUST have a sewing machine and be done with it. You need to feed the beast: fabric, zippers, buttons, and so on. Considering that I'm already 3.9 million IDR in the hole, what's another few million rupiah? (currently: 1 million IDR = 56 USD)

First of all, as I am currently on leave from work, I headed to Paramatex, in technically-Denpasar but basically-Kuta. Their hours are 9.00-4.30 Mondays to Fridays, which are the same working hours as mine. So this pretty much means I'll never have the chance to go other than when I'm on leave, or if I pretend to be sick. Maybe one of these days I should go full Balinese and say I need the day off for upacara...of the shopping variety.

Considering that they've got 3000+ reviews (compared to only 1500ish for the #2 most popular: Ultra Moda), I thought they would have a giant warehouse that I would get lost in for hours. No! You see this photo under here? That's it. That's the entire showroom, with swatches of every single fabric they've got. I was underwhelmed.

showroom

I went up to the counter staff to ask how this whole thing works. It works like this: You browse through their fabric swatches, and when you've made your choices, you unhook your picks off the hanger rail and give the hangers to one of the counter staff. They then cut the fabric ... somewhere in the building ... while you sit and wait for the cashier to yell your name. Then you pay up with the cashier.

I guess what marks this place as the #1 place is that everything is clearly labeled (except for prices, as always...you have to ask and wait for an answer). So on the labels, you know clearly what the fabric content is. It's nice to be assured that something is 100% cotton, whereas elsewhere they can tell you anything. (To be fair, they could tell you anything here, too...at some point I guess we have to decide how much to trust a paper label)

sample 1

"Conversion" on the label turns out to mean the minimum purchase amount. 3M/kg here means 3 meters (or 1 kg) minimum purchase.

sample 2

I bought 3 meters of two different types of fabric, and here's the receipt for anyone who's curious how much money this involved:

receipt

Great stuff! Now I actually have to sew it!

Paramatex