Quilting Shops in Tokyo: Yuzawaya

I have very bad sense of direction and oftentimes get lost. I was on my way last week to check out a couple of shops in Ginza when I took a wrong turn and ended up on the wrong side of the street. Well the reason why I got lost was because I was checking where Yuzawaya was located in Ginza. I was reading several blogs about fabric stores in Tokyo and Yuzawaya was a top recommendation.

I had decided to head to Ginza that evening to check out the Uniqlo with 12 floors and an art supplies shop. I was quite frustrated that I couldn't find Yuzawaya on Google Maps and that's when I made the wrong exit. I had to catch my breath when I emerged on the street, only to realize I was on the wrong side. I was quite hungry and decided to check if Ginza Core had an restaurants. I was surprised to see the "Yuzawaya" signage on it.

I immediately checked the building directory and found out that it was on the 6th floor. I excitedly took the lift going up and found heaven in Ginza.

I spent about an hour in the shop. I combed through each of the aisles and I was happy to note they had fat quarters of Japanese fabric available. The area nearest the lift housed all the notions you need for your sewing projects -- thread, zippers, buttons, patterns, needles, scissors etc. For quilting they had a variety of wadding available. I found awesome bag bottom boards as well -- something I couldn't find in other shops.

The back area housed different types of fabric. What interests me whenever I visit craft shops in other countries are the locally made fabric. Japan has a lot of lovely print fabric. I was so glad they had fat quarters available since one meter can sometimes cost at least JPY3,000. They also had kawaii fabric -- mostly cute cats -- which I couldn't resist. Sadly though they did not have any anime or Western cartoons fabric (they have a lot in Nippori Fabric Town). I still ended up buying a few fat quarters.

On the other side of the shop had endless types of beads and other usable craft knick-knacks. They also had a nice variety of bag handles (I like making bags!) and the clay aisle made me really curious about trying it out eventually.

Yuzawaya is like Lincraft in Australia. Some items were pricey, but they had a lot of beautiful fabric. I had to reel myself in. Before I paid the staff kindly encouraged me to get a membership card (JPY500) so I would get a discount. She immediately gave me discounts on the items I bought and it saved me a lot of money.

I promptly added Yuzawaya on Google Maps and later on discovered that it was closed 2 years ago for renovation. The pin was marked closed. No need to worry because it can be easily found now - Yuzawaya Ginza.