L'Inspiration Francaise, Part IV - Museums & Exhibitions

My April trip to Paris lasted two weeks and allowed me to explore small museums and visit exhibitions that usually aren't on a visitor’s itinerary. Each was an adventure, taking me to unfamiliar areas around Paris and leading to some wonderful discoveries, often related to needlework and design. Another benefit: they are generally not crowded and visited primarily by locals.

Musee de la Vie Romantique

A French acquaintance recommended this small museum near Pigalle because of the special exhibition honoring Frederic Chopin’s Bicentennial. Dedicated to the Romantic Movement, at its peak of influence in Paris from 1810 to 1840, this eclectic museum is located in the private home and studio of Ary Scheffer, a portraitist of the time. Scheffer and his daughter hosted salons that were frequented by George Sand, Chopin and Franz Liszt amongst others. There is a permanent collection in the house that features many personal items of George Sand, including her tartanware needle case, a beaded necklace she made for her daughter, and other stitching items.

Perhaps best of all, the museum has this delightful garden with a tea shop providing a lovely place to recover from touring the museum over a light lunch or tea while admiring the beautiful flowers.

Musee de Toile de Jouy

Yes, there is a museum dedicated to toile! Located in a Parisian suburb near Versailles township, it’s easily reached by the RER commuter train coupled with a short walk. The museum is in a small chateau surrounded by lovely gardens on the site of the Manufacturie Oberkampf which began producing toile de jouy fabric in 1760, dominating the market for generations.

Did you know that toile is a fabric printing technique, not a particular design style? I always thought toile was limited to single color (usually black or blue) prints of pastoral scenes against a white background. I could not have been more wrong! Turns out that just about any repeat patterned fabric printed using wood or copper blocks is a toile.

Samples of what we typically consider to be toile fabric.

Of course there is a large gift shop with every item imaginable made out of toile or reflecting a toile de jouy pattern. This bookmark was too cute to resist --- and has already given me finishing ideas for a design or two!

I'm sure you notice that the toile fabric used for the bookmark is a multi-colored floral print rather than a monochromatic pastoral scene.

to be continued...

Theresa

L'Inspiration Francaise, Part III - Window Shopping

I love window shopping the streets of Paris!

This elegant French bath tub just cries out for a long bubble bath - and to be stitched!

The Palais Royal is home to many unique shops, including a heraldry shop founded in the mid-18th century (and still in business), whose window displayed this treasure.

The Sunday Bird Market near Notre Dame is a source of color and whimsy.

And finally, April in Paris means flowers everywhere -- from magnolias and cherry blossoms to forsythia, tulips, pansies and poppies. Don't these yellow, orange, white and gold poppies just make you want to sit down and stitch them?!


How can I not be inspired when Paris offers such wonders?

Theresa

L'Inspiration Francaise, Part II - Architecture

Parisian buildings are covered with decorative ironwork and architectural detail that make me think of stitched borders and cartouches.



While the ironwork over the entrances to the 18th Century covered passageways are fans of intricate detail.

Pere Lachaise Cemetery provides elegant iron cutwork on mausoleum doors, with a glimpse of stained gass behind.

I can just see translating this image into a design using some brilliant multi-colored silk overdye.


Theresa

L’inspiration Francaise, Part I – French Needlework

A trip to Paris always leaves me with notebooks filled with ideas, notes, and photos that eventually contribute to my designing. In fact, I find everything French incredibly inspiring. Here are a few of this trip’s inspirations – so far.

Let’s start with those French stitching magazines. Here are a few I picked up at the local newsstand.

I treat these magazines as reference books. The French are very skilled at incorporating cross stitch into their daily lives, something reflected in the magazines and the shop models. For example, Des Fils et Une Aiguille, one of my favorite Parisian needlework shops, had these two bags on display in its windows:

You can find here so many fine linen products like these bags to use for your stitching projects. We are in awe of the French ease for using stitched items for more than just pillows, stitching smalls and wall hangings. (Oh, but the pillows they do make!)

Theresa

April In Paris

That's me, Theresa, posing yesterday in front of the magnolias at the Eiffel Tower in Paris! I'm on vacation in the City of Light, having left Cynthia in charge of our booth at the Online Needlework Show and the publication of our latest design. I'm hoping that if I buy her a really special present from Paris, she'll forgive me for leaving her with all of the work while I sample the food, wine and pleasures of a city we both love.

There are a couple of places in particular I will be visiting in the hopes of finding the perfect super duper present for Cynthia. Unlike our native New York, Paris has a superfluity of needlework shops and stitching resources. I guarantee that I will be visiting two of my favorite Parisian needlework shops in the next couple of days: Des Fils et Une Aiguille located near the Palais Royal/Louvre and Le Bonheur des Dames which can be found in the Viaduct Des Arts, underneath the Promenade des Plantes that inspired NYC's newly opened Hi-Line Park.

In the meantime, here's a photo of a shop I just discovered on Rue Dauphine on the Left Bank.

It specializes in infant and childrens clothing, all either hand-knit or embroidered, and it sells kits to make your own. You can see the words 'point de croix' (French for cross stitch) on the window if you look closely. I thought this was an inspired concept for a unique clothing/needlework shop, and the products on display in the window were exquisite! There was also a shop on the same street selling the sweetest smocked dresses for little girls -- and matching ones for their dolls! Handwork is clearly still prized in France as evidenced by these shops that specialize in such wonderful traditional needlearts surviving in the expensive St. Germain area .

Paris is always a source of great inspiration for me. Perhaps I'll even share some of those inspirations with you over the next few days.

A toute a l'heure!

Theresa