Clothes, Clothes, Clothes!!!

Should a three year old have a tailor? One of the many nice things about Shanghai is the fabric market. When we first arrived in Shanghai, the fabric market was in an outside area with a "roof" of sorts and very dim lighting. The floors were dirt and the whole thing was musky yet very charming. Now, because of the Expo arriving in 2010, the fabric market has been moved to a shiny new building with shiny floors and bright lights. This means the price of fabric has gone up, but it's still downright cheap.

Today we took Jan and Greg to the fabric market so that Greg could get a suit and cashmere coat made and Jan could get a coat and other fabric for Taylor Zhu. Well, we kind of stopped at my favorite brocade silk stall at the market and the guy recognized Madeline immediately. We had a Chinese dress made for her early in August by the same man. I know I mentioned that she has grown out of that dress, so we decided to get a new one made for her. He actually charged us less than last time if you can believe that one. 200 rmb for the silk brocade fabric and tailoring... where else in the world does this happen? Maddie got measured by a man she didn't even know and I was amazed at her bravery. She's SOOOOOO shy with new people and the fact that she put her hands straight out and let him take a bunch of measurements amazed me!

We came home just in time to have Tailor Zhu's arrival. Tailor Zhu comes to our house whenever we want. We have the fabric and either have something to copy or an "idea" about what we want. Then he measures us, makes us and comes back to our house for a fitting before giving us the final product a week later. He does really, really great work and great finishing. Anyway, he is making a few dresses for Maddie this time. Is it normal for a three year old to have her own tailor??!!! ;)