fabric shopping in the wekala

the best thing about living in cairo, is that you can have anything custom made here.  anything from clothes, to jewelry, to shoes, leather-bound books, furniture, curtains, and more.  labor remains cheap, while traditional workmanship is still rich and well maintained.  in addition, the import taxes are so high, that it's just not worth it to try to buy something ready made in stores.  the selection is slim and it's always overpriced.

pretty much everything i've  spent money on here has been custom made in some sort of way.  and my favorite way is by far, customizing dresses.  rather than paying triple the price for an extremely narrow selection of dresses at the mall, i learned a new way to shop for dresses.  i became introduced to my two best friends in cairo: my tailor, and my fabric salesman.

there is so much excitement in having something custom made, tailored to your body.  in these instances, the dress always fits, and every feature is designed for me.  and the most exciting part of the whole process is choosing the fabrics to make them with.  it's the fabric that will make or break the dress.  the color and quality will make you look gorgeous, and will make the dress look expensive.  that's why it's so important to make the right selection and to be adventurous and creative!

for every wedding i attended last year, i had a dress made for the occasion.  since we are having bib's wedding tux made and need to buy the special lining for the jacket, and since i'm making a dress for yet another upcoming wedding, we headed over to the wekala to buy some fabrics.

the shop is found at the end of a very hectic maze through a market selling mostly home fabrics and home goods like carpets, curtains, even lingerie!  the shop itself is very basic, the mirrors are all cracked and taped together, but it is fully stocked with every type of fabric, in every color imaginable.  everytime i walk in there, my eyes light up and my heart skips a beat.  although i can easily (and have) spend up to 3 hours there at a time, bib tells me that he enjoys coming along.  he watches me in my element, talking about textures and colors, sketching out designs, and deciding which material works best with which design.

sometimes i go there with designs and fabrics/colors in mind.  but the more interesting selections are made when i go without anything in mind, and let the fabrics inspire me.  a color catches my eye and we pull it out.  before he can talk about it, i'm in another direction pulling out another fabric.  i'm thinking about the dress i came for, and then i see a completely different fabric for a completely different kind of dress.  then we look at what we've pulled and brainstorm.  i hold the fabrics up to my body in the mirror, see how they look on me... i mean, this literally goes on for hours, until i choose my fabrics (he almost always gets me with the more expensive ones), and finally i haggle down the prices with both of us knowing fully well that this better be a good deal so that i'll be back soon to spend more money!  before i even leave the shop, i start going through withdrawal, heartbroken that i don't have more occasions to buy more fabrics to make more dresses.

it honestly hurts to leave, but i always know that i can and will return.  i'm determined to make as many dresses possible before leaving cairo.  it's just too special.