The Late Night Sewist

I had a great chance to spend the last weekend in Helsinki, the capital of Finland that is only 80 km from Tallinn by sea. The funny part is that I must be one of the few Estonians who, nearly at the age of 30 haven’t really visited the city yet. I mean, I had passed by Helsinki on my way to a volleyball competition once and also waited for my next flight at the airport, but never saw the city itself.

The whole trip was a short getaway, including my first ever ice hockey match (USA vs Austria) as the city is hosting the world championship in ice hockey these days, some sightseeing, a sleepover at a 4-star former prison and of course… fabric shopping!

I had looked up a few possible shops to visit, but the time was pressing on, especially because the smaller shops are closed on Sundays, so I ended up visiting only Eurokangas, a fabric shop chain in Finland that has a shop in the center of the city and was thus easy to access.

I loved the shop! The best surprise was the reasonable pricing, especially in comparison to Estonian fabric shops that charge around 20 EUR/m for a simple ponte jersey fabric, while exactly the same quality costs 10 in Helsinki and around 8 in Athens.

To tell the truth, as a true fabric shopoholic, I could have left the shop with at least 10 fabrics, because I loved their selection, but I tried really hard and concentrated on the very special stuff.

This is what I got:

It is a Roberto Cavalli fabric, a heavyish-feeling polyester jersey. There were a few prints available, but this was my favourite.

The best part is that the price was a mere 20 EUR/m and they also had 20% off everything the time I visited the shop! So 2 meters (the print step is 1 m) of the fabric cost me 30 EUR only!

And this is what Roberto himself made of the fabric:

Because of the heavy print, this is pretty similar to what I had in mind when I found the fabric – short and simple. I was only imagining a higher neckline.

The dress costs 345 EUR and can be seen (and bought)  here among other beautiful things.

The trip was totally worth it and not only because of the fabric, I liked the city itself as well. I will definitely go to Helsinki again since this can be done as quickly as in one day from Estonia and in addition to great fabric choices, they also sell sewing magazines like La Mia Boutique, Patrones etc. Of course, the prices are higher than in Italy or Spain respectively, but at least they are in reach!

Happy sewing everyone!