Making Miscellany 2:9

Trente heures en Paris

Bonjour, bonjour! Et bienvenue to l’édition septembre de “Making Miscellany”. I’m not long back from a whirlwind trip to Paris, and since a goodly portion of my (rather limited) September making time connected with the trip, and I also fit in a lot of making-related adventures during my brief visit, for today’s Making Miscellany, I thought I’d take you along on my adventure! So grab un cafe or un verre de vin and let’s go!

The occasion of my blink-and-you’ll-miss-it visit was a reunion — one of my best friends from college had a weeklong work trip to France and found herself with a free evening and morning before she flew back home to the United States. “This might be ridiculous, but any chance you want to come meet me,” she asked? It’s been nearly five years since I’ve seen this friend, so I jumped at the chance and excitedly began planning.

Earlier this year, Nick had been to Paris for work, and come back with some beautiful fabrics from Atelier Brunette that I’d been waiting to cut into. With Paris on the horizin, I decided to try to make myself a top with the beautiful gingham double gauze he had returned with to wear on my own trip.

Enter the Catherinette pattern by Cousette. I was a little wary as the pattern is written in French, but there were so many things I loved about the garment — the high gentle v, the curved hem, the shape of the yoke — that I decided to give it a try. (Which, of course, also felt fitting given I was making it with a view to taking it to Paris!) But really, I needn’t have worried. If I’d never made a top before, perhaps it would have felt trickier, but between my limited reading French, the excellent diagrams and Google Translate, I didn’t have any real questions or difficulties. After a lot pondering, I decided to hand finishing the binding on the neck, as well as hand sew the sleeve hems — I love sewing with double gauze, but sometimes find neatly negotiating edges of it tricky on the machine. And I’m super happy with how the neck came out.

Post stomping around Paris selfie, upon eating a deliciosu banh mi. But look at the neck!

The sleeves came out a bit shorter than I hoped — I’d add more length to a subsequent version; as they are, they get a bit bunched and misshapen after a day’s wear. BUT, I’m still absolutely delighted with how the top has turned out, and think this will be a pattern I come back to and make many times—always a good feeling!

No proper pictures yet, so enjoy these hotel mirror selfies! Untucked, in Manchester, and French tucked, in Paris (obvs!)

Going for such a short space of time and knowing I’d have a full day of wandering before I made it to my Paris hotel, I tried to pack as lightly as possible … and it felt really nice to put my also-fresh-off-the-sewing machine packing cube to good use to keep my rucksack organized.

I snagged one of these kits with Liberty (!) ripstop fabric from New Craft House last month, and while I will be 100% honest and say I did not love sewing this up (slippery fabric! slippery binding! curves! zips!) it was very nice to have with me — and has given me the push I needed to finish off the second, smaller cube!

Right, with wardrobe and packing covered … shall we actually go to Paris? When I arrived, my first stop was Atelier Brunette, a little pilgrimage in my freshly finished top. The shop was stunning, with fabric in the front, patterns and notions in the back, and everything arranged in a pleasing way that allows the fabrics to really sing. I would have walked away wearing any of the stylish samples in the window! I limited myself to one length of fabric—some lightweight gabardine in a delicious pine-y green that I’m almost certain will become a pair of these just released trousers from Elizabeth Suzann, or an Ilford Jacket (you can spy it on the cutting table in the picture below!)

My bag a little fuller from my stop, I began a slow wander wander toward the Seine, peering in all sorts of little shops as I tried to settle on something for lunch. Indecision was my one pest the whole time I was away — faced with so much: so many interesting places to visit, so many delicious places to eat, so many cute shops to explore, and with quite limited time, I became a bit overwhelmed!

One day, I’ll come back to Paris and rent a flat, and cook with all the amazing looking produce.

But after finding a nice spot to enjoy a banh mi, I rallied and went through a wander through the Jardin des Plantes. Beautiful (and free!), I enjoyed a slow walk, marvelling at the riot of colors. (Anyone else seen pink nasturtiums before?)

From there, I headed to the Musée de Cluny to have a look at the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. To be honest, medieval history has never really been my thing, but the idea of intricate textiles and a not-gigantic museum appealed, and I’m really glad I made the trip. The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries were quite a thing to behold—six massive tapestries, woven using all naturally dyed wool (along with occasional bits of silk), with so many details: flowers, animals, fruits—you could stare at them forever! And the reverence of a group of people, gathered in a cool, dim room, contemplating them together was also quite moving. (I’m not attempting to share any photos of them as I couldn’t do them justice, but you can check them out at the link above if you’re interested!) And the rest of the museum was also really interesting; I particularly enjoyed the exhibits on everyday life. One set of rooms does close in the early afternoon, so I didn’t see everything. But here are a few of my highlights:

Tapestries depicting drop spinning and embroidery

Ceramics from around the medieval world

Left: Virgin Nursing the Christ Child; Right: Reliquary of the Virgin's Milk (from the current temporary exhibition). After spending the better part of the last five years breastfeeding, it was cool to see these!

After a full day out and about, it was such a delight to spend an evening catching up with my friend. After breakfast, a quick wander together, and seeing her off the next day, I fit in a few more crafty stops, visiting the absolutely breathtaking La Droguerie — a treasure trove of buttons, ribbons, bindings, yarn, fabric …

I could have bought everything, and so I bought nothing.

And Lil Weasel, a two-part shop with a lovely selection of hand-dyed and commercial yarns, fabrics, and plenty of notions (conveniently close to La Drougerie!)

Then I ate as much cheese and charcuterie as my stomach could fit before it was time to head back to Charles De Gaulle, just over 24 hours after I had arrived.

My long neglected Sophie Shawl came along for the adventure and was the perfect travel companion: easy rows and it turns out, it grows quickly if I actually work on it (funny that!) I kept wishing it was already done so I could throw it on — a sign, I think, that it will fill a real gap in my wardrobe. So nearly two years on from starting it, I’m hoping to finish it this week. I fit in quite a bit of knitting between planes and trains, so the end is certainly nigh.

On the ride into the Paris, coordinating nicely with the TGV upholstery

It felt delightful, and slightly decadent, to have my first trip away since Hazel was born: to have not one, but two nights in hotels (even if one was about five hours sleep in an airport hotel!), to have only myself to please for a day and a half, to wander, to look, to eat, to drink, but most of all, to catch up with a dear friend I hadn’t seen in years. Some days, it feels quite hard having my nearest and dearest scattered around the globe, but it is a wonderful excuse for an adventure. And what a special thing to have people with whom, no matter how long it’s been, you get together and it feels you’ve never been apart.

And speaking of people scattered around the world: thank you, as always, for allowing me to drop into your inbox this month. I hope you have some nice making to look forward to this week — as always, I’d love to hear about it!

À bientôt!

Katherine