A Creative World Inside DMC Riyadh

It must be the four years that we've been online... The Pink Tarha and our readers already have the same wave length. That, or we're turning into psychics!

Upon publishing this entry on Al Akariyah, where women can buy their abayas, a reader commented that she was about to ask us where to buy one when she read the entry. It's as if we read her mind. Yesterday, I was contemplating if I'll write about the last of the Thailand series or about the DMC craft store in front of Al Akariyah when a reader in our Facebook page asked is we know a craft store. It's as if she was reading my mind. Wow! Haha. So, looking for a craft store? Here you go...

DMC, originally based in New York City, started in the 1920s and is still the most popular thread brand used in various sewing crafts. DMC stands for Dollfus-Mieg & Compagnie, named after the owners. The first store carrying DMC that I saw in Riyadh is Adel's in Shola Shopping Center but it has closed after a fire in Shola a year ago. The shopping center hasn't reopened since. But there's one DMC store tucked in Musa Bin Nussair street just off Olaya Road. It's opposite the Al Akariyah Shopping Center.

Welcome to this creative world!

Here's a gallery of the items they carry (bongga sa dami!)...

Colorful threads

Threads and sewing boxes

Metallic and two-toned threads

Cross-stitch patterns

More complicated but beautiful patterns

Cloth and fabrics

Needles and hooks

More tools for your crafts

Floss threads

For quilting and crocheting

More colors to choose from

Yarns for your projects

Zip 'em up!

Slim zippers and paddings

Vibrant and neutral colors in this counter

Trimmings galore!

Delicate beaded trims up close

Chains and tassels

The trimmings are endless!

 So many products to choose from... I got dizzy just looking!

The ribbon corner

Satin ribbons in plain, solid colors

Can you suggest ways on how to incorporate these into your crafts?

The button counter

Button up!

Beads and more beads...

Ahhh, don't you just admire those colors?!

Sparkling stones... 

Rectangular stones

I'm to tempted to learn how to do beadings now.

Big stones for accents

So elegant and glamorous

Faux pearls

Apart from the usual threads, trims, buttons, beads, and jewel embellishments, DMC has more to offer! They also have stuff that can beautiful any thing! Lookie:

The floral shelves

Flower power!

For head dresses, headbands, corsages, etc.

Masquerade ball, anyone?

Vintagey brooch

Studded belts

Tiaras and crowns

I'm quite sure you'll find a lot of products in the DMC store that would help in your needlework. Show me your finished products, okay? It's quite obvious I didn't "talk" much in this entry. Well, those colors in the photos captivated me so much I couldn't help but just share all the photos I took instead. Haha! 

The DMC store is located in one of the buildings off Olaya Road. Just turn right on the traffic light in the corner of Al Akariyah or the building where New Look/Splash is. Drive slowly when you're already in the Musa Bin Nussair street. It's on the fifth building, I think, opposite the gate entrance of Al Akariyah Mall 1. Here's the map we used for the abaya entry... the red circles denote the Al Akariyah shopping complex. The blue circle indicates the DMC store.

Click for larger version of map.

And as an added tip to those who are into sewing, if you're looking for fabrics and textiles, cross the street from DMC to go to Al Akariyah Mall 1 and head to Al Akariyah Mall 2. There are textile and fabric stores on the ground floor. ;)

Amazing drapes of fabrics in this store! The cloths are so colorful too!

This is really enticing me to get a sewing machine, hehe!

Again, what can I say? Happy shopping! :) ~ Sundrenched

Craft Corner

At some point in our life, we girls learn the craft of cross-stitching. Or were forced to learn it because it was part of Home Economics. Cross stitching is not at all difficult. It requires some basic skill with a needle and a thread. But one thing that makes it hard is the need for patience. Yards and yards of patience. This counted-thread embroidery can take days up to several weeks to finish depending on the pattern you're doing. 

Arm yourself with DMC threads when cross-stitching

Two of the most patient women in my life are into cross-stitching: my grandmother and my mother. My grandmother used to cross stitch huge patterns that I couldn't even fathom why she's doing. Her works range from ballerinas to country houses to ladies wearing elaborate Victorian clothes to fruits and vegetables; a testament of her unwavering commitment to this needle craft is an ancestral house filled with frames of projects she patiently cross-stitched. My mother followed her footprints, or should I say, hand skill, stitching relatives' faces from patterns made with their photos (needs a hundreds of threads in various colors) to sceneries and landscapes. She's still into cross-stitch up to now. I had my moment when I was still in high school but didn't have the patience for it, obviously. Haha. 

Threads of various kinds, colors, and sizes.

A craft store in the corner of the Shola Shopping Center, bereft of a proper signage, is my mother's haven for cross-stitching in Riyadh. I didn't know how my father found this but this is where he took her when she needed more DMC thread for the pattern she was doing. She bought the patterns in the Philippines and brought them here in Saudi Arabia but the materials she uses comes from this gem of a store, named Adel according to the receipt, that carries not only cross-stitching paraphernalia but also aida cloth (used for cross-stitching), ribbons, fabrics, yarns, tulle, buttons, and brooches. I tended to stray away from the store while waiting for the friendly store keeper to finish finding all the threads my mother require. But the other week, I decided to roam around the small store and see what's available... just in case there are still a few of you who are into crafts that needed these materials.