Bon Week-end

vintage fabric & ribbon + new linen trim = a little bag to hold buttons

Bon week-end !

Bowled Over by the Virtues of Vintage

"The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been."
-- Madeleine L'Engle

While this thought applies to people, it could apply to vintage objects, too. I think that's why I like older things so much...the fact that they show their age and signs of previous use makes them beautiful.

Thank You & Merci

A big thanks to all of you who have already visited my blog, and if you've left a comment, thank you for your kind words!

Merci beaucoup à tous ceux qui ont déjà visité mon blog ! Si vous m'avez laissé un commentaire, je vous remercie aussi de votre gentillesse !

From August to Autumn

It feels like fall has arrived here, bringing with it cooler temperatures at the beginning and end of each day. Paris is quickly filling up with people and activity again.

Things have been pretty active in our household, too, so I didn't get much blogging in over the past week. Yesterday I sewed this drawstring bag, though. It was the first time I was able to use the coin atelier to sew. Yay!

About the bag: inspired by Caroline Zoob's Childhood Treasures, made with vintage French fabric, lined on the inside with more white vintage fabric.

This Week's Vintage Treasures

Pour l'atelier: a little notebook from 1905 with blank pages inside, a pencil, a pair of scissors, and spools of thread

Rouge et bleu: a red and blue plate, an embroidery album, and thread

L'usine: a large 1940s/1950s classroom poster of a factory, to decorate a child's room

- Have a nice week -

Graceful Shadows

When the sun shines a certain way at a certain time of day, these shadows--of the wrought iron garde-corps, or railings, in front of our windows--float across the doors, walls, and ceilings of our apartment. This happened earlier today. They're like ephemeral paintings that come and go as they please. I'm never sure when to expect them, but I'm always glad when they're here.

Fabrication Française

This week's vintage finds...not-yet-used sewing notions and fabric with charming roses.

The Table

This weekend at the flea market I found a table for the coin atelier that I mentioned here. I figured I'd have to wait quite awhile to find what I was looking for, so it was a nice surprise when I saw it. I like it because it's white, folds up, has rounded corners, and looks barely there.

It was covered in dust when I brought it home, so I cleaned it with baking soda and water.* It's now bright white and looks ready to go from a garden table to an indoor one.

* I've learned through trial and error that this is a great, inexpensive, non-toxic way to remove stubborn spots and smudges from all kinds of vintage things. All that's needed is a sponge, baking soda, water, and a dry cloth. I wet a sponge and pour some baking soda on it, scrub, and repeat if necessary (it's a good idea to first test a small area that doesn't show to make sure it won't damage the surface being cleaned). Then I wipe it clean with the wet sponge, dry it with the cloth, et voilà !

Projects Finished and Unfinished

Well, no luck finding a table over the weekend. That's alright, though, since looking for one is as fun as actually finding one.

So the coin atelier remains an unfinished project, but here's a finished one: a photo album that I embroidered for a sweet baby. The pattern is from Voisine and the linen-covered photo album is from Loisirs et Création.

An Anniversary and a Plan

August has arrived and it's now been almost eight years since I arrived in France. That's something like 2,922 days. Incroyable.

I was talking to my mom on the phone yesterday--it was evening for me, morning for her in the U.S. As we were talking she looked out her front window and saw three deer strolling by. How strange that seemed sitting here, looking out my own window at this cityscape. Two very different places at the exact same time.

Well then, here and now in this little apartment I have a plan for setting up a creative space and it's taking shape. Up until now, whenever I've wanted to sew or start in on any other crafty activity, I've resigned myself to setting up shop on the table where we eat meals, which is a very temporary kind of workshop and involves a lot of taking things out and putting them away again.

So I've gotten the ok from "Monsieur" (he's a kind husband) to set up a coin atelier in one room. I'm not sure yet that this little plan will work. It all depends on whether or not I can find a just-the-right-size table, one small enough to fit into a tight corner, but big enough for a sewing machine and handiwork.

Anyhow, tomorrow I'm off to the flea market to look for a table. And a little box/basket/something or other to hold sewing notions--like these scissors--would come in handy (probably a good dose of patience, too).