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Fellow Travelers, Here is our guide to the Lujiabang Fabric Market (Nanpu Bridge subway stop line 8)

Friends and Family, let us know what you think about our fabulous new outfits.

We visited Lujiabang fabric market four times during our two month stay in Shanghai. The market's three floors of small stalls filled with bulk rolls of silk, linen, wool are undeniably tantalizing. The maze is dizzying, but after several visits we got the hang of it.

Here are a few tips....

• Get off the first floor asap. The 2nd and 3rd floors are quieter and nicer.
• Look for established stalls. We liked several of the the large corner stalls.  Ask for a business cards to help you figure out who's the head honcho.
• Bring something they can copy! This is not absolutely necessary but it is a huge help. Most stalls are excellent at copying.  The clothing we had made from stall samples needed a refitting or two, but everyone nailed copies on their first try.
• Don't ask for anything too complicated.  We stuck to simple men's dress shirts and jackets, flowing women's skirts with basic waist lines, and classic long coats. Be warned: we saw several examples of suits-gone-bad and their unhappy owners.

Here are specific stall recommendations with pictures of their handy work....

3rd Floor Stall Number 332  This stall made Seth's black linen jacket. It's a gorgeous fit but it took them three tries to get it right. This is a picture of the second try.

YangYongGang 3F No. 389 Corner stall next to the button people. This is an excellent stall. They got everything right on the first try.  We bought several linen shirts and linen pants for Seth and a cashmere coat for Liz.  (More pictures of their work in the slide show.)

3F No. 301-302  This corner stall has one of the widest selections of silk.  They
designed Liz's paneled skirt without a copy and, after one refitting, Liz
was ready to go out on the town. 

Ray 3F No. 349  Liz's Green Jacket. This Stall had a few interesting fabrics. They took tons of measurements and tailored a model Liz chose from the store. They didn't need a copy.

2F No. 281  This
stall has beautiful fabrics. They were unable to make a skirt without a
copy, but they did a great job copying the skirt from stall 3F-301. They
even improved the fit.

Lujiabang is filled with specialty stalls including this one which we thought was either intended for five year-olds or hookers but as it turns out they design dance outfits.

It's All About The Buttons. Liz objected to the cheap plastic buttons on Seth's linen shirts and insisted he pay extra for quality buttons from the button shop. The tailor switched them out in a jiffy.

Check out Seth's pink and orange linen shirts. What do you think of the buttons?

In this slide show: Liz bargains, gets fitted, peruses, then tries things on for size.

In this slide show: Stalls, Stalls, Glorious Stalls.

We leave for Guilin in a few hours and we return to Michigan in one week. Check back in a few days for a time release post. Then check back in about a weekfor our final blog posts about our hiking adventure