Grande Braderie finds

Every year my town has a Mirabelle fest. 

Mirabelles are little yellow plums with a distinctive flavor. Go here pictures and information about the mirabelle. In typical French fashion, at least typical here, in this part of France, the festival includes many "art" happenings, such as dances or types of art exhibition. Truly art is in the eye of the beholder! A Queen of the festival is crowned at the start of the 2 week long festival, after a vote on the internet of course. (new way of doing things now). 

On Wednesday there was the annual "Grande Braderie". This is a huge outdoor market for mostly things and clothes. It is a bargain hunters paradise if that is what you are searching for. The braderie take over the entire center of town. Blocks and blocks of vendors. As I have lived through this festival setting up right below my window with its people and noise for many years now, I have noticed that many of the stands are the same year in and year out. This year, knowing this, I had a list. 

Two years ago I found an ironing board cover I thought I would try. I love it!  I needed to go back and get a replacement cover for my board, its time. As there were only two fabric cover designs left to choose from, I got a 5 euro discount on the price I paid two years ago.

We have several shops in town that sell fabric for the house decor. The remnants are marked down to a very reasonable price. This year I found three pieces that interested me. The bottom one is linen, the middle one is chintz with the design of a bird in a tree and the top one is an embroidered linen. The bottom one screamed to me and told me to make it a skirt. The chintz I bought so that I could try my hand at broderie purse. I need a car/train/plane project as I am about to finish the hand portion to a project I have been working on. The top one, I just liked the texture and the color. I have no idea what it will become. The woman who sold it to me suggested that I make a small table cloth. I think not, but maybe place-mats. As it is a linen/cotton blend and it is machine embroidered, maybe a tank top for me. It has not spoke to me yet so I will let it sit so it can let me know what it wants me to do with it.

At another stand I go to every year, I found rayon lace. Always a huge bargain by any currency standard so I bought the 4 meters they had of the one I liked. Rayon dyes so beautifully. I can never have enough of it around the house to play with.

I am in a Christmas ornament exchange and if I am to participate this year, I have to come up with an idea and be done with something by the end of October. My December is going to be very busy this year. At one of the stores I found these. 

No idea what I want to do, but these might make a good base for what ever I make. 

At the same stand they had packs of three of small doilies in several sizes in white and ecru. again, no idea what to do with them now, but they are nice to have. 

Yes, I know I am buying things I do not need right now, but I find having a large stash really encourages my creativity.

I am in a Scarf Rut!

Well, in all actuality, I am seriously involved in a cleaning spree and this came out of my cleaning. I have been going through every shelf and drawer in my apartment. I have been sorting, folding, and throwing things out.  In the back recesses of one of the shelves was a metal box. Inside I found a scarf I had started over 2 years ago. In the box were also the threads I had planned to use for making some tassels. Very pretty, whats not to like?

This weekend everything was taken with me on a long weekend trip. I usually get a lot done when the passenger of a car. I am one of those that can read or sew and not get car sick.

The inspiration for this scarf was from Cecil. Cecil is a German company that carries woman's clothing and accessories. Cecil carries some of the most interesting scarves I have ever seen. The one in particular that caught my eye was a light weight cotton with tassels.

As I recall, the light weight cotton fabric had a right and wrong side and was about 72 inches long by 12 inches wide. The way the scarf was modeled in the shop, the scarf was folded over so that it was only 6 inches wide with the fabric right sides together and then the scarf was folded again . The bottom edges of the scarf were finished and tassels hung at the bottom of the edge on the corners and in the middle of the hem at both ends. The cost of the scarf was in the range of 30 Euros ($38)

How hard could this be to make myself? Before it got packed away, the side edges were serged with a lightweight green blend Sulky polylite thread and the bottom edges were hemmed. 

One tassel was sewn on and not liking it (it was rather wimpy), the whole thing got put away in a box on the shelf. Something more fun to sew must have come up, although I do not remember now what that was.

This weekend I had the chance to start the tassels over. Long lost is the picture/drawing of the inspirational scarf.  I no longer had a notion that I was copying the original design. Instead, I now had free range to do as I wished. 

Now that it is finished, I must say it is not bad. 

The new and improved tassels are almost 2" long.

The length or the tassel came from using a needle packet width as the length of the tassel. My love of color really shows on these tassels. In the box were 7 spools of threads, all Sulky. Everything from the polylite 60 wt to solid and Blendable 12 wt thread was used. The spools were chosen from the way they matched the base fabric. To make the tassels substantial enough, but not too substantial, the 7 threads were wrapped around the width of the needle packet 7 times. The tassel was fashioned from there. The solid light green 12 wt thread was used for attaching all of the tassels to the scarf.

Ok, so here is the final result both folded and unfolded:

It is a keeper.

Tracht & Mehr

One thing I love is a good second hand store. I have my favorites and this last weekend I made a trip to my favorite second hand store in Munich Germany. I love the Dirndl look and the lederhosen, but I would never wear it. I mean, really, you need to be an authentic Bavarian with the right Octoberfest party to go to to wear this stuff.

 

Ok, sigh, truth be told, yes I own a Dirndl. Of course I bought it a second hand store years ago in Stuttgart. it cost me then about 50 US dollars (75 D-marks) and it was mute enough that it did not scream dirndl.  I could wear it as evening wear. It is 100% silk in muted green striped skirt with a simple off white silk top and a green silk jacket. I changed out the buttons on the jacket so it was a much less obvious dirndl and it looked great on me. I have not worn it lately, I need to dig it out and find a good event to go to.

This last weekend I was in Munich. I have not been there in years. Every time I am there I head for a shop near the Rathaus that sells vintage Bavarian/Austrian wear. I love the boiled wool jackets and I have my favorite makers. Geiger is my favorite only because it was the maker of my first jacket. I bought it new in Stuttgart 25 years ago. The poor thing is now thread bare. The cuffs are frayed and it is stretched in areas I did not know boiled wool could stretch. I paid a lot for that jacket and when I bought it, I had really shopped around. I wanted something in a solid color with classic lines. I wanted it to last me for years.

My original jacket was very conservative. It was navy blue with straight patch pockets and the same color navy trim  So now looking for a replacement I wanted the solid lines again, but this time I was open to color. At this store I found two used jackets that fit what I was looking for. Good fortune, but only having room in the suitcase for one of them I tried them both on and made a decision. One was green with red trim, the other was blue with green trim. Both looked good on me but not a surprise, I decided on the Geiger jacket. I just like the way it fit a little better. The price was right, just under 40 euros. More room in the suitcase and both would have made the trip back with me.

Now for the old jacket. I am going to have to do something with it. Maybe a purse. Maybe I will toss it in the wash and see what comes out. Maybe a nice hat! I can't just throw it away, not yet anyway. It might be like Blue Willis and become a stuffed animal. We will see.

So here is my new jacket.

I love the buttons on top

and the asymmetrical pockets as well.

 

It is heavy enough to wear in early winter/ late fall or early Spring. I expect this one too will see lots of wear.

If you are ever in Munich, in the market for, or looking for either a boiled wool coat, a Dirndl or Lederhosen, at least from the high quality used wool coat standpoint, for men and women go to  Wies'n Tracht & Mehr the branch, Rosental 5 am Viktualienmarkt has the vintage/used area in the back of the store. They normally have a good selection of jackets to choose from.

Au Louvre Paris

I  was in Paris for a weekend getaway a couple weeks ago and while walking along the Seine in that area, you know the area where all of the books sellers are set up? One of the sellers was selling vintage woman's magazines. I stopped when I saw a copy of "Le Petit Echo de la Broderie", dated Sunday 18 May, 1913. It quickly became mine. You see, on the cover was this purse:

 

I love filet and this project is just beautiful. Had I picked this magazine up in 1913, by mail order, I could have  bought the filet for 3fr 75, everything for the embroidery for 16fr 05 the pretty closure (Irish crochet) for 0fr 85 and the the fringe with the little balls for 2fr 85 a meter.

 

The fact that one could buy hand knotted filet is a good thing since in many old books the actual making of the filet looks a lot like something rather daunting to make. Much better to know it could be purchased and that it was not uncommon to do so. How uncommon I wondered? I hate it when I don't understand something so research was in order.

I have to back up to a purchase I made several years ago in France. On the packet of lace it says it came from the Grands Magasins du Louvre.

Still later I found a second item, a packet of filet from Au Louvre Paris.  Here is the back of the packet which contained 5 squares of filet. Unlike most things, this one is dated 12 August 1909.

 

On the other side tied to the red cardboard square were the filet. One of them is on the cardboard. Size is about 6 inches square. Too small for this project.

  

The two stores, The Grands Magasins du Louvre and Au Louvre Paris, are they somehow connected? At first I thought that these stores were ones that sell interesting replicated things from the museum of the same name, but why then would they be selling lace? Something did not make sense. Doing a little research, I found out that they are one in the same and that they have nothing to do with the museum. You can read about it here. Much explains now why I have never heard of the store. It went out of business in the 1970s.

 

Recently I came across old catalogs from Au Louvre dated 1930/31. How nice it is now to put a name to many of the things I have found here in France. So back to the Filet. Here it is two ways one could buy in the early 1930s.

 

From experience I know I can cut what I need. The little squares are nice though. In my stash I have large cuts of this hand knotted filet. Not too much of the machine made stuff. As soon as I find a matching thread to work it I will be making something similar to the pattern I found in the 1913 magazine so stay tuned.

 

But while I am here, and while I paged through the catalog, I found some other interesting things. First off, I always thought people bought the religious metals in churches. Here however they are clearly for sale in either a silver color or gold. It is not clear that they are really gold or just gold in color. Price seem to indicate it is the same as what was for sale at the cathedrals.

Also interesting to me were the lace medallions I pick up so often at flea markets they are simply called ovals or squares of what ever lace type they take after. Shown are Venise and Cluny.

 

I have many of these in my stash I use from time to time on different projects. There is so much more in this catalog. I would love to find one from an earlier era, the search is on. Such fun to page through and so disappointing that I can't order anything from the catalog.

Parcours D'Artistes

Last weekend our home participated in something called Parcours  D'Artistes. For the weekend our living room and spare bedroom became an art gallery. We have French friends who became artists after they retired from teaching in the French school system. I met them not long after I arrived in France because of our mutual sewing connections.

I won't say it was easy, furniture had to be moved and the place where visitors would be needed to be was made spotless. For the weekend, Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 7pm a total of a little over 350 people and two dogs passed through our home looking at art. Now it is your turn so enjoy the pictures.

Welcome from the front door and your view down the hall.

Now to your left is the spare bedroom.

Painting on every wall

The quilt is gorgeous!

Farther down the hall is our "secret passageway", named by a young guest to our home several years ago. It is a sort of narrow hallway that loops the kitchen to the hallway without having to go through the living room.

We snuck in a couple of my pieces in this hallway. With so much wall space, we had a little left unused. The three wall-hangings to the left are mine as well as the orange and green on the right.

Farther down the "Secret Passageway" you can see the mirror. Just beautiful!

Last, but not least is the living room. To the left are these pieces

And some close ups. Have you noticed that I snuck in some of my vintage lace table cloths and doilies? Love the cat.

The picture is a commission piece. it is a beautiful mix of ceramic and fabric mounted on a board. Did I mention the cat?

Turning around to the other side of the entrance are these pieces. The glass table is part of the living room furniture. It was a fantastic match for the hands.

Continuing around the room, the wall facing the fireplace

 

 

A better look at the piece on the left

 

Finally the front view with the windows. In a previous blog you have seen what the view looks like from the windows

 

And the other side of the window

 

Finally to answer the question about the rest of the apartment.

 

Ya, it will be a little work to put it all back, but it was worth it.

 

Now before you go there is one more picture you need to see. French Kittie has a new friend, but not for long. Statue of Liberty kittie was just made as a gift. He makes the trip to NYC soon. Hopefully his new owner likes him and will take good care of him

Linen and lace scarf and the old bed cover

Last week, I was at one of my favorite second hand stores. In the bin of damaged vintage linens was a hand made white cotton filet lace bed cover. Once well loved and used, now relegated to the damaged bin at the second hand store. I love this type of find. Damaged means free license to cut up and repurpose.

For this repurpose, I went to Pinterest and in my "I could make this" folder was this scarf:

The scarf is from a French blog called Petites Choses. Here is the original blog from 2012. I love the look, but pulling off this type of scarf takes the right type of fringe and  vintage lace.

 

Also in the same Pinterest folder is this scarf:

It is from a blog called stylewip, click here to see the original blog post from 2009. Again, the same idea, this time a solid cashmere knit for the scarf with lace used at both ends. This one is beautiful as well and is more do-able from a lace prospectus. At the same time less texturally interesting from the lace point of view than the first one. 

Armed with ideas, it was time to wait for the right lace to fall into my stash. The right type of lace could be those vintage covers they used to put on the back and arms of chairs to keep the dirt off the chair's fabric. Easy to find in US antique shops. the problem is I am not in the United States and evidentially the French made the type to protect where the head hits the chair, but I have never found the part that covers the arms. At the second hand store I found something that would work in the vintage linen damaged bin

 

Now to my scarf... Here was my starting point: On the bottom is the bed cover:

Folded on top of that is a meter of loosely woven linen, I picked up in Paris, in a nice antique light brown color and on top of the linen is a box of threads and yarns I might be able to use.

 

The loosely woven linen would normally be used in curtains but, if washed turns soft and very useable for a scarf. The threads and yards have been bought at various yard sales and flea markets. All different weights of threads in linen, cotton and silk,

 

Now for the construction of the scarf. The width of the scarf is 27 cm (10.5 inches). The width was determined by the repeat size of the pattern of the fringed portion of the bed cover. The length of the filet piece without the fringe is 33cm (13inches) and the linen is one meter long (40 inches). The seam joining the linen and filet is flat felled so that the seam is finished from both sides. The sides were finished with a serger and then turned 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) and top stitched.

Love that #10 foot Edge Foot...but I digress... Talk about easy!

Did I mention the pattern on the edges of the bed cover are butterflies? I love butterflies in lace.

It would be done, except, the original fringe on the scarf edges looked shabby.

I know, I know, shabby chic is in, but this was just too shabby for my taste. It was knotted badly due to many washing and was just plain, well shabby.

I wanted something a little more elegant. Enter in all of those threads in the box. I picked out a variety in colors from white to brown that would blend together.

I even used the warp off of the loose woven linen fabric since it had a nice kinky thread effect.

Blending threads give such texture to any project. Proof of my texture statement is below once the shabby knotted portion was removed and replaced the multiple thread knotted fringe. The shortest fringe is around 8cm (3 inches), the longest is about 11cm (almost 4 inches)

 

So now all that is left is a picture of the final product:

 

I am very much liking this one. Just in case I need some quick gifts, I can make 3 more just like it assuming I have enough threads for the fringe.

 

 

 

The Winner is...and Sharing My Lastest Second Hand Store Finds

First things first, I want to thank Vickie over at 2bagsfull for hosting this event. My number of followers has tripled. I like to hope that I will always have more followers than entries into my blog and now I have enough to last me, at the rate I post, well over 2 years. Thank you all for deciding to follow me. I hope you will not be disappointed in my output. I responded to many of you by going to your blog over the last couple of weeks. Life is very busy right now that when I have time to myself, it is creating something not reading things on line. Please keep commenting and don't feel like I am slighting you by not responding I enjoy reading everything you have to say.

Now for the second item. Random.org has spoken. There were 108 entries and the winner is ... Lynn Cockrell. I will try to contact you, but if for some reason I can not. please email me at jeanga6@gmail.com. I need an address so that your scissors will no longer be naked! 

Through the Grow Your Blog event, I have made the acquaintance of wonderful people who have blogs all over the world. One particularly I am getting the greatest hoot out of reading is the blog from Second Hand Rose.

I love the idea of photographing things in a second hand store. One has to wonder why someone bought some of this stuff the first time let along buying it a second. I could do the same in France. It is the same trash only different in some ways.

 

Last week I had visitors staying with me who wanted to visit one of the stores. Sometimes it is an expensive visit for me, sometimes not. This was an expensive visit. I always head for the room with the old linens, jewelry and funky clothing. Once again I passed up buying the 2 weasels biting each other's tail that is supposed to be worn as a scarf. No picture, sorry, I forgot. One day, one day, I will buy one, just not that day. There is a different one every visit. I think every French family must have one in their attic. What I did spend my Euros on instead was lace bits and vintage rayon ribbon:

 

A beautiful window curtain (bottom) and bed cover(top):

 

The bed cover has a little damage, but it was too pretty to pass and not buy. I had a hard time opening it since it was so musty smelling. I could see the dust rise from it as it was unfolded.  Even the sales lady had a problem when she unfolded it later. A trip in the washing machine and now it is shades lighter and so much better smelling.

In the front room I found a small Limoges trinket box:

 

Limoges as you might know gets the Limoges stamp from the name of the town it is produced not from a particular manufacturer. Just like Champagne having to come from the Champagne region of France, a Limoges item has to come from Limoges.

 

Here is a link to a website where there is a list many of the manufactures and what the stamp looked like from each company with years the stamps were used. I have been through all of the pages looking for my stamp and it is not there.

 

There is one that is close and it fits to what I would expect. The maker may be Louis Constant, Here is his stamp:

I have no signature on my box, but the Limoges France stamp is identical. If it is Louis Constant, I have no further information on him. He was a Décorateur. I could find no years of when his company operated.
 
My box is not of high quality, by any stretch, and was incredibility dirty.  I suppose it was mass produced in some way, although I have a hard time thinking that this church sold that many of them. I fell for the painting on the lid. It is a drawing of the Notre Dame Church in Melun France. It says so on the side of the box:

I have been to this church and this town. I am sure it was sold just like the metal religious trinkets I buy and use for my many sewing projects by the church by its little shop, normally located in a corner inside the church. Since it is a trinket box, it is going to house my church trinkets and whatever else I might have in trinket form that needs a place to reside.

If anyone finds out further information on this box let me know. I would love to try to date it.  If I were to guess, I would put it around 1950 due to the attic storage it must have gone through (aged dirt on it and lack of ease in dirt removal). One never knows. I have never seen boxes like these sold at any of the churches I have been in since moving here to France.

Thanks again for reading and if you are, following my blog.

This week I am linking with We Call it Junkin'