Around the world fabric: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

My loot from Amsterdam!

It’s my second visit to Amsterdam but this time it’s so much more special because I was there for my honeymoon with the Mister. I didn’t quite enjoy my experience in Amsterdam many years ago and I blame it on the company. But I truly enjoyed myself this time and am sure the Mister did too.

We rented a Bed & Breakfast apartment in the Museum District and had so much fun exploring the city, cruising by the canals, riding around, celebrated Chinese New Year at a roasted meat stall, hurdling in the cold, eating Dutch Patat, visiting the Anne Frank museum, cooking in the apartment and of course checking out the fabric scene.

I of course did some research prior to my travel just to see if they have an equally awesome fabric district like the one in Paris. (The first being Paris and you can read it here if you missed it)

In Amsterdam, the “fabric district” was more of a fabric market. Markets were a big part of Amsterdam; they had different markets selling different things from food to clothes to antiques at various parts of Amsterdam and on different days.

As we were only in Amsterdam for a couple of days before moving on, I was glad to be there when the fabric market was “in business”. Westerstraat is the home to the weekly ‘Lapjesmarkt’ or fabric market which opens every Monday.

Westerstraat 1
1016 DH Amsterdam
Opening hours: Every Monday from 9am to 1pm.

The entire street is filled with stalls selling assorted fabrics either by the metre or in small quantities. Fabric that can be used for home decor, garment and quilt making. While the selection is not as wide as that in Paris, it was nonetheless interesting to plough through the various stalls and see what each vendor has. You never know what you can find from market stalls unless you devote some time to dig through. 🙂 So, I’ll suggest not rushing through at the market and just soak in the atmosphere and dig away!

As you can tell, I didn’t go crazy and only bought 2 small pieces of cotton fabric at 3 Euros each as a souvenir as I didn’t have anything in mind then to make.

In addition, besides fabric, you may also find a variety of clothes, antiques and some second-hand books. This street is really long that runs all the way to Noordermarkt. Right next to the market are some fabric brick and mortar shops, haberdashery shops and cafes. The haberdashery shops are definitely worth a visit for they too do sell really unique knick knacks like buttons and notions.

When you are done exploring, consider settling in one of those cafes and order a steaming cup of coffee or hot chocolate and people watch away…