Yes, I know, it has been a
while since I posted last. Two years ago I left France for Berlin Germany.
After six months in Berlin it was off to the United States. At that point I
quit posting on my blog. Since the United States, there has been a three month
move to China, no chance of being able to post on my blog there, and now after
a short vacation in the United States, I am back in France. Not forever, just
four months. But those four months, I should have time to post again! What is
it about Europe that makes me able to be creative.
Two weeks ago, I
flew into Paris CDG. It was a perfect time to spent a long weekend exploring
Paris. Why not take a little down time to explore the sites with the hope of
finding a weekend flea market or a fun second hand store? Of course the fabric
district was on my list of stops.
Yes to all three.
I found the second hand store, I found a flea market and I had time to buy
fabric at one of the stores in the fabric district. Also, there was time to
stop at wine bars and meet up with friends for dinner. It was a good weekend.
So what did I
find?
I found a second
hand store that carried sheets and towels. Normally into that mix is the occasional old item that I might be searching for. I got lucky. In the very back of the
store were old goodies were heaping over the edge of a small basket. The shop
had put a sticker on everything with the date it arrived in the store and the
price. Unlike a flea market everything was washed but not ironed. This sticker
shows that the item arrived on the 17th of August 2016 and that it
cost 4.50 euros. The item with the sticker is a pillow case with beautiful hand fagoting around the edges. I love fagoting and love it even more when it is done on
linen. Only thing missing were the buttons.
After Berlin, I have many vintage linen covered buttons I can sew on. I am not sure there ever were buttons on it as there were
no marks. I am not even sure the pillowcase was ever used based on it’s
condition.
At the same store, I also found a
pair of curtains also dated on the 17th of August.
Maybe from the same donor? Here is a picture of one of the two.
The knotting on one of them has holes but
the condition otherwise looked pretty good.
I found a couple of doilies as well.
I found a couple of doilies as well.
At the flea market
I found lots of lace bits. I had to come back to the stall as there were 5
Chinese tourists buying all sorts of items. One of them spoke French and was
trying to bargain like they do in China. I now know what that is like as I was
there for 9 weeks working this summer. The shop keeper would have none
of it. No matter what the Chinese woman said in trying to bring the price down,
she held firm. I enjoyed watching the two cultures, I now have a better
understanding of, clash over how one buys things at a flea market. In the end the
final tally was 360 euros (around $400 US) they bought a lot of things for that
money. Her prices were good. They were interested in completed garments. As they, the Chinese tried to negotiate I was able
to get into a corner of the stall to watch the action and conveniently, while I was there, to
sift through two boxes of lace bits. I found some beautiful things in those
boxes.
Once the Chinese had left with 2 large bags of garments, the shop keeper turned her attention to me. She tallied up what I had bought. “It is refreshing that you did not try to negotiate prices with me” she said clearly in French. I told her that I had just moved to France from China and that the negotiating was the way most everything was done. She told me the Chinese negotiate too hard which is why she does not negotiate prices with them anymore. “My price is what it is.” She told me. She then counted 14 items as 10, took 12 euros off of my total and threw in a small bag of lace bits.
Once the Chinese had left with 2 large bags of garments, the shop keeper turned her attention to me. She tallied up what I had bought. “It is refreshing that you did not try to negotiate prices with me” she said clearly in French. I told her that I had just moved to France from China and that the negotiating was the way most everything was done. She told me the Chinese negotiate too hard which is why she does not negotiate prices with them anymore. “My price is what it is.” She told me. She then counted 14 items as 10, took 12 euros off of my total and threw in a small bag of lace bits.
So what did I get?
I got a selection of lace medallions the top from an undergarment and meters of
beautiful lace. All of it needed washing as, as usual, it smelled like mold.
The last stop was the fabric district. I found some linen. I bought the rest that was on the bolt. I only needed about 1 meter of two of them so give or take a couple of centimeters, who cares? The man cutting the fabric gave me a deal on both of them.
At Coupon de Saint Pierre I bought 2 three meter pieces of a very light weight silk. I have a Craftsy.com class I want to do on sewing light weight fabrics. I bought the class, watched it but, in my stash I did not have the correct type of fabric. Now I do.
The sewing machine is off and running. it is about time!
I enjoy reading your blog Jean and hearing about the lace you find and the great linens.
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely treasures! And I must ask what you use to wash fabrics with, to remove that mold smell. Just yesterday I opened an old storage box and found vintage table linens and scraps of lace trimming that I would love to use again, but the mold smell is terribly strong. I don't know if airing outdoors will help, but first they must be washed anyway. Do you have a recommendation? Thanks, and welcome back to the blog-world :)
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