Sew Inspirational

FABRIC TOUR OF CABRAMATTA – a taste of Vietnam, without the jet-lag!

Three times a year, for the past 15 years, I have been leading groups of sewing students on an exciting fabric and food tour of Vietnam…..but no one needs their passport! Cabramatta is the answer and they can experience all the highlights in just a single day.

Cabramatta, in Sydney’s south-west, has become a new home for Vietnamese families settling in Australia. Many of them have left behind the troubles of the past and started a new life here and as happy as they are to be here, we are happy to welcome them. The Vietnamese have brought with them the best of an ancient culture and you can be the lucky visitor that enjoys it all.

I follow a well trodden, tried & true, track, with my ladies and although occasionally a favorite fabric shop or restaurant closes, another quickly takes its place. At present there are nine fabric shops in an easy three block, flat walk, in Cabramatta itself and three thread, zipper and haberdashery shops in the adjacent suburb of Canley Vale. Interspersed with all these fabulous fabric havens are a myriad of taste sensations to savor and keep up your energy levels, for the BIG SHOP.

Let’s start…..

10am – Ah! It must be coffee time.
We always meet at the only Italian coffee shop and this is a must. Fabulous coffee, as only the Italians know how, is a great way to gather the girls and start the day and of course it is in sight of our first two fabric shops.

CABRA is a very small coffee outlet with a nice grouping of tables, chairs and burgundy umbrellas on the pavement and it’s a great place to sit and look at the impressive entrance gates to ‘Freedom Plaza’. At 1/50A Park Road it’s almost on the corner of Park and Arthur Streets. Within sight of the coffee shop are our first two stops.

Hung Thanh 46 Park Road, Cabramatta.
As with all the shops that you will visit, fabric spills out onto the street and into the side alley. The greatest bargains of the day are always out the front and start from as little as $1 to $2 per metre. I always find Hung Thanhs great for stretch fashion knits and at $3 to $4 per metre I add to my stash every visit. Knits are always in the alley, along with an excellent selection of novelty print polar fleece. Inside you will find poly/satins and organzas, crepe-de-chine and suitings.

Tuong Hung 48 Park Road.
Right next door you will find another ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ with the same low prices and huge stocks of cottons, stretch-wovens, corduroy, fleecys and knits. Inside is the place to go if you have dancing costumes on your ‘to do’ list. Lycra and sequins, fluro, iridescent and holographic – it’s all there.

It’s time to walk a little. Come out of Tuong Hung and turn to the left. Walk through the Welcome Gate and into Freedom Plaza. This pedestrian mall is bordered by video, music, food and frock shops but the interesting places to keep your eyes open for are the street vendors. Illegal in any other part of Sydney they seem right at home in Cabramatta (and they are). Little parcels of freshly cooked rice wrapped in banana leaves and take-away containers filled with a myriad of home-cooked soups and glutinous desserts or neat little lunch packs, all look interesting, different and tempting. But don’t eat yet! There’s more to come…

Walk the short block to the end of Freedom Plaza and turn to the right into John Street, the main street. Continue along this side of the street until you reach –

SOGO FABRICS 73 – 79 John Street.
By entering Sogo you have just taken a giant leap in quality, and of course price. But oh what treasures await you. Sogo specializes in exclusive bridal and evening fabrics and a selection of ‘must have’ daywear pieces. As with all the shops the specials are at the front, spilling onto the footpath and you will definitely find a good quality bargain or two here. But once inside you will be awed by the beauty and quality of beaded and embroidered silks, laces and satins, linens and cottons, imported from all over the world. This is a special place for a special occasion – remember it.

Continuing to head south along John Street to our next fabric shop, at No. 95 you must stop at the Custard Cake shop. The little donut like dough is dropped into a mould, then injected with vanilla custard, lidded and cooked as it travels around the circuit. Unlike donuts, however, they are not covered in sugar or cooked in oil (you could almost pretend that they are healthy). Share a box of hot cakes with your shopping friends, just to try. But remember that they are not half as nice cold.

Du Thanh Fabrics 95 John Street.
This shop specializes in curtain and home decorating fabrics with a huge selection of sheers and laces at great prices. But it is also the best place in town for zips; regular, invisible, open-end and continuous – all at $1 each.

At this point (despite the custard cakes) my tummy usually says “lunch time”. So I turn my group right around and head back to Freedom Plaza. The BKK Supermarket sign is where we are heading, on the left side of the plaza, and behind this very misleading signage is a great food court. There are small shops selling every type of Vietnamese dish, fresh fruits and deserts, vegetarian, freshly prepared, while you wait, or the ‘ready-to-run bay-marie selections. If this is your first adventure to Cabramatta, have a good look around, at all the options. There will be lots of dishes that you may not have seen before and loads of things to try. Be brave….have a go. You’ll be surprised at the combinations of fabulous new tastes although the bright colours may not be what you’re used to.

However, if a big lunch is not for you simply stay on John Street and try an iced glass of sugar cane juice or a great variety of fruit. Rambutans, star fruit, mangosteens and chestnuts are displayed amongst the more recognizable strawberries, pineapples and mandarins. I recommend you try them all!

Refreshed and regrouped we head back along John Street, the way we had already travelled. Stop at the end of the first block, cross the road and work the other side. Only five fabric shops to go.

Hong Thai Fabric Fashion 96a John Street.
All the shops on this side of John Street are long and thin. The fabrics are packed to the rafters and you need to think thin to work your way through the aisle. But it is well worth it. Hong Thai sells a huge selection of day wear, lycras, Chinese silk brocades, dance and aerobic wear and an extensive collection of broderie anglais collars, lace inserts, frog closures, laces, braids, fringing, beaded fringing, elastics, buttons and general haby.

My Hung 94a John Street.
You don’t need to travel far to enter My Hung, right next door. My Hung has expanded to open fabric shops in Hurstville, Parramatta, Penrith and Sydney city. From the street it looks as though they offer yet another assortment of well priced cottons and knits but enter this store and you will find exceptional quality evening fabrics, laces and ribbons. If you can’t find what you are looking for or have a colour to match just ask the experienced staff as there is often something in storage or hidden behind all the other fabrics and believe me, the owners know every piece of cloth.

Hung Phat Fabrics 92 John Street.
Hung Phat has been closing down for over 12 months and is a real bargain basement. But in amongst a myriad of odd bits and pieces there is often a shining star….always remember that ‘one sewer’s trash is another sewer’s treasure’.

Hai Ha Fabrics 56 John Street.
Hai Ha has been a well known name amongst the Vietnamese business community for nearly 30 years. Apart from a large range of good quality fabrics at bargain prices, the front of the store hosts a Money Transfer Office. Unusual for a fabric store? Not so in Cabramatta.

Van Hung Fabrics 46 John Street.
Our last fabric stop in Cabramatta is a bridal specialist and hosts a superb array of fabrics and all the trims, haby and accessories for brides and all the members of the bridal party. They also have a comprehensive list of dressmakers for those with little time or those daunted by the whole bridal extravaganza.

If you haven’t exhausted either yourself or your bank account by now then you might like to pop back into your car or take the train the one stop to Canley Vale. There are three stores very close together selling sewing and overlocking thread, zippers, elastic, piping cord, tape, Velcro, buttons, shoulder pads, interlining and sewing machine spare parts.

Polyfield P/L 2/33 Canley Vale Road, Canley Vale.
Sells all the above plus Simons Boiler Irons and a fabulous product called ‘Sprayway 830 Spot Lifter’. It removes grease and oil stains from fabric and leaves no residue.

Ming On Trading Co. 21 Canley Vale Road and Win On Trading – 1/12 Canley Vale Road.
Both sell all of the above and have rows and rows, floor to ceiling of shelves stocked with every possible colour of overlocking thread. Small and large spools sell from as little as $2 per spool.

WOW! What a day and what a tour. A taste of South-East Asia, without leaving home. It doesn’t get any better than that….ENJOY.       

 

Skin Care and Travel

by Kerrie Hay

Skin Care Tips
Currently air transportation security regulations allow passengers to bring liquids and gels in trial-sized containers holding up to 100ml, on board fights. This is only permitted on flights as long as they are in a one litre clear sealable plastic bag and available for inspection at security checkpoints.

This is good news for dry skin sufferers, who usually carry skin care products like moisturisers to soothe their sensitive skin in the particularly irritating, stale, low humidity, air on planes. The air on planes is heavily laden with residues from pesticides or cleaning products and the cabins are often full of fumes. This toxic environment can be very damaging to skin on long flights but can easily be overcome with a few simple steps.

Skin care tips
Use a heavier moisturizer than you normally do
There are many factors that influence our skin when we travel. The recirculated air on planes is five times drier than the desert! A good moisturiser applied to the skin will form a protective barrier that locks in the skin’s natural moisture. Look for products with the ingredient sodium hylauronate. This is a humectant that binds moisture to the skin, giving your face that extra drink of water it needs. Even if you have oily skin, you can use an oil-free moisturizer with this wonder-ingredient. Both oily and dry skin can become dehydrated, and being dehydrated is definitely attributed to racking up those frequent flier miles!

I recommend flying with a facial spritzer as well. You can make your own very economically by buying a small spritzer bottle at the chemist and filling it with purified mineral water mixed with a few drops of lavender essential oil. Lavender is wonderful for all skin types, as it is antibacterial, antimicrobial, promotes cellular renewal and, as an added bonus, is a stress reliever. Lavender has been shown to reduce high blood pressure in clinical studies.

Drink more water
I’m sure this is no surprise! If you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated and dehydration is the enemy! It makes us fatigued and slows down our metabolism. Drink even more water if you drink coffee or alcoholic beverages. When flying, it is a good idea to drink a glass of water for every hour you are up in the air.

Walk
This will keep you running to the bathroom, which has the added benefit of getting you out of your seat and walking. It’s good to stretch and move every couple of hours, to keep your blood circulating.

A tasty and healthy tip
A little squeeze of lemon juice and a few drops of a herb called stevia (available at any health food store) in a bottle of water makes a refreshing “lemonade” with virtually no calories. The stevia helps regulate blood sugar (reducing cravings), and lemon is a natural purifier full of healthy bioflavenoids.

Nothing gets rid of puffy eyes as quickly and as effectively as rosemary essential oil.

Vitamin K is good for dark circles, along with antioxidants such as Vitamins A, C, E

Take your vitamins!
It is difficult to eat well when traveling. There are many temptations, and who doesn’t want to indulge once in a while, especially on vacation! The skin is the largest organ of our body and, being an external organ, will rather quickly show signs of toxic overload! The vitamins I recommend are antioxidants, or ACES: vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E and Selenium, and a B-complex vitamin. It is also excellent to take a Calcium-Magnesium supplement at night or when you want to sleep on a plane. Cal-Mag can make your sleep more restful and is a natural muscle relaxant. However, remember that Cal-Mag is not absorbed properly when taken with your morning coffee. Women especially need Cal-Mag, and it has also been shown to lessen the symptoms of PMS, which can be exacerbated by traveling.

Avoid excessive coffee
Sometimes when traveling we are tempted to drink more coffee than we normally do. Coffee is not necessarily bad, but it does have some negative effects on the skin and the adrenal system. I have found that Rooibos tea (a red tea from South Africa) gives me a huge boost. It has no caffeine and thirty times the minerals and antioxidants found in green tea. It tastes very rich too! My personal favorite is Rooibos with Vanilla Bean. It is easy to travel with tea bags and you need only ask the flight attendant for hot water. Other teas to try are: Yerba Mate for energy; and for those red-eye flights, when you would like to catch a little shut-eye, try chamomile tea.

And lastly, don’t forget your eye mask and neck pillow!