Fabric Mart, Honolulu, Hawaii

When you go on vacation, even just a weekend away, do you do what you love to do. If you love sewing do you bring your mending pile with you? I will pack a knitting project, and I’m no knitter, but I don’t see my sewing as portable. This is a bummer because aren’t you suppose to do things you love on vacation?

This past summer my daughter and I were able to visit dear friends who live in Honolulu. I know you’re thinking that any friend who lives in Hawaii would be considered a dear friend at least until you were invited to stay with them. However this particular family really are dear friends. My friend asked me what would we want to do while visiting HI. I got an Oahu book from the library, flipped through it, noticed on practically every other page a paragraph about how strong the undertow is on Oahu beaches and all the drownings that happen. Not being a confident swimmer I closed the book and put beaches out of my mind. What did I really want to do? This chance to go to Hawaii was not going to come around often. The thing I really love to do… go to fabric stores, of course. I Googled “Fabric Stores, Honolulu” and saw what I thought looked like the place to go and told my friend. Now she is not a sewer or even a craft person but she asked some women she knew about the store I scouted out and they said it was good but I really should visit Fabric Mart instead. “Really?” she asked because she had driven by Fabric Mart and it didn’t look so great. In fact it looked kinda junky. But they all said the same thing so she passed on the information to me.

One morning, with all the kids busy with activities, I figured it was the perfect time for me to walk to Fabric Mart (Bonus: it was only a mile from her house). Honolulu, I must tell you has blissfully predictable weather. Every morning I woke up it was a little cloudy yet clear skies could be seen at Waikiki. It was 70, slightly breezy. I donned on sunglasses while walking through the drizzling, misty rain. Sunglasses and rain; this was cool. This was vacation.

Fabric Mart was easy to find. It was packed to capacity with rolls and rolls of bright Hawaiian print fabric; traditional Aloha prints, contemporary Aloha prints, new Aloha prints with a conservative home dec bent. Uh… did I want tourist looking fabric? I was there for something I couldn’t find at home in the Appalachian Mountains but I didn’t really want to make apparel that said I worked for Trader Joe’s either. However, I thought, I’m here. I’ll look. It took me a few minutes to see the individual fabrics from the sea of color and that’s when I realized this was some cool fabric. Soon I was planning everything I could do with what I was finding. The best part was the price. $4.99 a yard for cotton prints and $3.99 for 50/50 blend prints.

When you vacation on Oahu, and really, everybody should, I recommend you take a break from the sun and over emphasized undertow and take a trip to Honolulu’s Fabric Mart. You will love it. If you don’t think you’ll make it in person you can visit them on-line but it pales in comparison to the real store.

I don’t travel too much any more but every city I go to I try to visit a fabric store. I have discovered that even the big chain stores will carry different prints at different locations but it’s so fun to visit a local independent fabric store. The stock reflects the people who shop there and gives you a real snapshot on the city you’re visiting. Plus you never know what you will find.

Have you discovered a great fabric store on your vacation? Do tell us about it.