Our friend Trish is a small businesswoman whose product is custom-made silk dresses. Over the past two years I’ve written about her visit to search for silk factories (including this interesting video about the silk-making process) as well as a photo shoot I did for her last summer. She’s such a fashion-forward woman and is so enthusiastic about her product that Tawn and I really enjoy helping her.
This weekend we spent several hours at Old Siam, a fabric market in the heart of the old city, shopping for silk for Trish. Saturday’s visit was spent finding various silks and photographing them – some four dozen options in all. Then I processed the files, color corrected them as best I could so as to get an accurate representation, then send the pictures to Trish.
Sunday morning, after Trish had reviewed and narrowed the selections to just a dozen, Tawn and I returned to Old Siam, negotiating prices and quantities. By the end of the weekend, my head was spinning with silks. Truly, when I tried to go to sleep on Sunday night, it took me several hours as I kept dreaming of being buried under bolts of colorful silk!
Here are the fabrics that Trish settled on:
The binder appears as something off which I could later white-balance the picture. It is a 6×9″ binder so can also provide some sense of scale of the prints and plaids. Next time, I should have a little ruler measured out on the paper, shouldn’t I?
Anyhow, it was a fun weekend spent silk shopping. Personally, I go for the plaids in the vibrant colors. Maybe I’ll make a few jackets out of those. That would catch some attention!
christao408 
Welcome to my world! Not only do I dream of rolls of fabrics burying me down… I also see them cutting into patterns and sewing into clothes. haha
All those patterns look colourful. I can imagine making a few good bed sheets from any of the above!
love the colors. liked the first pic. i would love to get a polo out of that. 🙂 siam.. siam.. that sounds familiar. hmmm.. o yeah, a movie.
I love the red and black at the bottom..and the two right below it. I should dig out some of the photos of me in my Thai silk dresses from back in “the day”….lol that would be good for a laugh!! Ruth Ann
I do like the colors but I’m not a “plaid” fan. Unless it is for a jacket – a whole outfit would swallow me up…
Ooh such colorful plaid is IN nowadays for LA hipsters.
Somehow the 7th one hurts my eyes.
Beautiful. I really like #8, the randomness of the design, not the colors particularly. Too much yellow in many of these for my taste. Is Trish coming up with some new designs or just increasing the fabric options for the current designs?
Yep it’s a great idea to photograph a reference white first.If the lighting stays the same and your camera is set at the same white balance, one reference would be enough. :)Pretty silk!!!
Very nice. Looking at these, I can visualize them being cut and made into clothing. I can spend hours in a fabric shop, just browsing and imagining.
I love the red and black one. =D
I love the red flowers. It’s so cheery!
I am so bad at home decors
@TheCheshireGrins – @osmundaregalis – Yeah, the red and black one is very nice.@Wangium – Well, these are for wearing, not home decorating. So I guess that means you’re especially bad at it. LOL@arenadi – Sometimes it is difficult for me to appreciate how the fabric would look once fully formed into clothing. But I enjoy the fabrics themselves.@yang1815 – Yeah, the lighting is all uniformly flourescent.@jandsschultz – These all represent new fabrics for the same basic patterns. Another collection for the Halls’ boutique on the Plaza.@rice_eric – On the computer, yes it is a bit vibrant. It is really pretty in person, though.@Rm2046 – Plaid does seem to be all the rage. You want me to ship you a few yards so you can have something made and be equally hip? =D@murisopsis – All of these will be made into jackets. There is one design in particular that is a little boxier and will lend itself nicely to the plaids.@Redlegsix – Yes, let’s see those pictures!@Renatojr3 – Silk polos – so comfortable!@CurryPuffy – How many yards would you like? How about PAJAMAS! I could totally see you wearing silk pajamas in a vivid plaid, lounging around eating scones and tea.@Dezinerdreams – Yes I imagine your dreams are much more involved than mine. Glad I don’t have to worry about patterns.
I thought you were going to make pillows or cushions!
My favorite is fifth on the left.
@Wangium – Ah, I see. The plaids would actually add some nice color to our home which is, in my opinion, a little neutral.@yang1815 – The white with the black and gold vaguely floral pattern? Interesting that that one appeals to you.
@christao408 – Yep that’s the one. I’m not really a plaid person.
@christao408 – Haha~maybe I’ll get a few yards for my W!
those are good looking plaids. My friend should be in Bangkok now,and I hope she finds some good buys in silk.
my pick is the 5th from top – the brown plaid.
@christao408 – Haha I sadly cannot pull off wearing plaid *sigh
@christao408 – you can always introduce some colour in cushions, drapery or a throw (for those cool Bangkok evenings).
@Rm2046 – Bummer. Stripes? LOL@ElusiveWords – Oh, we do that sometimes. Tawn’s always (and, I think, surprisingly) more conservative with the use of color than I am.