Fabric Shopping in Paris

Hi there!

I got back from Paris not quite a week ago.. I had a wonderful time.
It was great to see my friend R. I hadn't seen him in about six months
and we've lived in the same town for about 5 years now, sometimes as
roomies, so I'd really missed just hanging out together...

I thought he lived in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods. He lived
in the garment district. It was beautiful to me b/c every store window
was spectacular. He lived in the garment district. I wanted to try on
each outfit, or just pick it up and feel it. There were outfits that
were soft and fluffy, there were outfits that were complex with multiple
textures, corduroys, silks... And all the stores sold wholesale only!

The fabric stores only sold fabric by the bolt. Not much good for me,
but it was fun to walk in and see all the fabric all lined up. all the
different colors and color combination.
(The only slight down to this is that orange is very 'in' right now and
orange is a difficult color for me... I have a hard time working with
it... but I found myself liking a lot of the patterns with orange in
them, and I wondered if I would like it so much when I got home.. I have
to look into that more)

So Saturday, (or maybe Friday) R and I went off in search of Le Rouvray.
(http://www.lerouvray.com/)
(BTW, the on line store has many more fabrics than she had in stock, and
for that matter, the store has many fabrics not online)

We wandered around Paris a lot, often not paying an awful lot of
attention to where we were going, and so we ended going out of our way
about twenty minutes, maybe more. This worked out very well, because we
passed a wonderful looking ice cream shop where we shared a cherry ice
cream with whole cherries in it. But then I spilled a bit of cherry on
me so R. said, or there's a water fountain just in front of Notre Dame,
so we went to Notre Dame, and I cleaned my shirt. The water fountain was
cute b/c it didn't have on/ off switches like in the US, it just
constantly ran water and fell onto the ground where there was a grate to
collect it if you weren't drinking it. Notre Dame was beautiful. We
didn't go it. There was a super long line. The flying buttresses were
really neat though.

Then, eventually, we made to Le Rouvray. Next door was a store that had
big crayons sort of inside of pieces of wood... I'm not describing them
very well, but they were super cute.

We went into the store together, and after a minute or two R. went next
door. He came back sooner than I would have imagined, but he said it was
a polish bookstore (and not speaking polish, after the crayons had been
inspected there wasn't much to look at). He was very patient with me,
basically ignoring me while I fondled fabric for some time trying to
figure out what to get, how much, and did I have any projects in mind
for it. To be honest, I'm not sure if R. was in the store the whole time
or not.. But after a while I had started to narrow down my choices and
he came over to help a bit. (The narrowing down process, which mostly
consisted of how much fabric to buy, really took a bit longer than
necessary, but I enjoyed it).

The store was large in square footage size, but small (relative to US
stores) in fabric selection. They had about 12 shelves of american
fabrics, and about three dozen french fabrics, mostly around four to six
patterns with coordinates and color options. There was plenty for me to
choose from, but I felt so badly for one woman who came to the store,
and she was looking for a sort of pale pink/ peach type color and they
really only had three possibly selections for her to choose from, and
none of them were 100% right. She ended up with a nice one, but I felt
bad for her and wished I had had stash with me right there to share with
her...

She was very lovely and had the most beautiful embrodary squares of
flowers and herbs and she had then set them on to make a quilt. She was
really friendly, and had really done beautiful work. We talked for some
time about quilting tricks and on line quilting groups before R. and I
really had to go b/c there was more walking to do. I gave her some info
on how to find out group through google and she was excited to hear
about such an active and friendly on line group. (K. have you found us?)

The woman who owned the store was super nice to me. She let me wander
and lust for as long as I wanted. She spoke both French and English. She
always answered all my questions, and explained things, and so on...

The French fabrics are sold by the Meter, and the bolts are really rolls
so they are about 50in. wide instead of 42 in.

They sold a set of charm squares in French fabrics, but I couldn't
figure out what to do with them, and I didn't like many of the all over
patterns, of which there were many, so I ended up buying yardage.

In the end, I ended up with four different patterns.
1) A rich, just deeper than royal blue with alternating rows of a small
flowers and a set of dots.
This will be fun for something, it is almost kalidscope looking, but
very simple. I bought 1/4M.

2) A lovely and rich boarder fabric. It had two sections separated by
the rich pink. One section was narrow with little tiny flowers on white,
the other had a mirror of some of the little flowers on the outside with
big flowers in the middle. (also on white). I bough 1/2M b/c the fabric
was so wide I can made two yards worth of boarder out of it.
(http://www.lerouvray.com/store/Lourmarin.htm - second to last on the page)

3) This was my favorite. It is a deep deep blue, almost a navy with a
deep cream, almost latte color. The pattern is large baskets, about five
inches in size maybe, with intricate flowers. The pattern has two
baskets and then alternates with flower bouquets. The are set on point
and would be fabulous setting squares. I would have loved to have bought
enough to use as a a backing on something one day, but I just couldn't.
I tried to restrict this to 1/2 M but I didn't like the way it cut the
baskets up so I bought 3/4M.

4) This was also my favorite. It incorporated my two favorite flowers,
sunflowers and lavender. It's ona deep rich yellow which another
customer told me is "special to French fabrics and is impossible to find
in the states". I just thought it had more life than the white and blue
of the same pattern. (I bought I think 3/4 M)
(http://www.lerouvray.com/store/Cannet_prints.htm - second to last on
the page)

I have no idea what I'm using most of the fabric for, The last one I
will end up using some of it on a kitchen quilt for me, but I will
always love looking at all of them, remembering my trip, and one day,
I'll come up with a good use for them.


Thanks for joining me on my fabric journey! It was fun to re-live it.

Best,
NS

In article 1Diad.2869$y77.569@trnddc05,
Natalie wrote:

Hi there!

I got back from Paris not quite a week ago.. I had a wonderful time.
It was great to see my friend R. I hadn't seen him in about six months
and we've lived in the same town for about 5 years now, sometimes as
roomies, so I'd really missed just hanging out together...


What fun to read about your trip to Le Rouvray, Natalie! And I love the
fabrics you picked -- at least, the ones we're able to see. But I do
love those prints and bought some myself, so I'm sure I'd love the ones
we couldn't see, too. I'm so glad you had such a wonderful trip!
--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net -- put sfoster1(at) in front
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

Sandy Foster wrote:
In article 1Diad.2869$y77.569@trnddc05,
Natalie wrote:


Hi there!

I got back from Paris not quite a week ago.. I had a wonderful time.
It was great to see my friend R. I hadn't seen him in about six months
and we've lived in the same town for about 5 years now, sometimes as
roomies, so I'd really missed just hanging out together...



What fun to read about your trip to Le Rouvray, Natalie! And I love the
fabrics you picked -- at least, the ones we're able to see. But I do
love those prints and bought some myself, so I'm sure I'd love the ones
we couldn't see, too. I'm so glad you had such a wonderful trip!

Thanks Sandy!

(Did you buy the fabrics when you where there, or did you buy them on line?)

Best,
NS

Howdy!
What a fine trip, what a good show&tell.
I have that fabric! (#4). I have several from LeRouvray,
including toile samples; really love the bright yellow/blue/green/red
collections. (That would be...most of them. G)
Intending to buy more in Houston in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for the travelogue, Natalie.

Ragmop/Sandy in gorgeous north Texas

"Natalie" wrote in message
news:1Diad.2869$y77.569@trnddc05...
Hi there!

I got back from Paris not quite a week ago.. I had a wonderful time. It
was great to see my friend R. I hadn't seen him in about six months and
we've lived in the same town for about 5 years now, sometimes as roomies,
so I'd really missed just hanging out together...

I thought he lived in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods. He lived
in the garment district. It was beautiful to me b/c every store window
was spectacular. He lived in the garment district. I wanted to try on
each outfit, or just pick it up and feel it. There were outfits that were
soft and fluffy, there were outfits that were complex with multiple
textures, corduroys, silks... And all the stores sold wholesale only!

The fabric stores only sold fabric by the bolt. Not much good for me, but
it was fun to walk in and see all the fabric all lined up. all the
different colors and color combination.
(The only slight down to this is that orange is very 'in' right now and
orange is a difficult color for me... I have a hard time working with
it... but I found myself liking a lot of the patterns with orange in them,
and I wondered if I would like it so much when I got home.. I have to look
into that more)

So Saturday, (or maybe Friday) R and I went off in search of Le Rouvray.
(http://www.lerouvray.com/)
(BTW, the on line store has many more fabrics than she had in stock, and
for that matter, the store has many fabrics not online)

We wandered around Paris a lot, often not paying an awful lot of attention
to where we were going, and so we ended going out of our way about twenty
minutes, maybe more. This worked out very well, because we passed a
wonderful looking ice cream shop where we shared a cherry ice cream with
whole cherries in it. But then I spilled a bit of cherry on me so R. said,
or there's a water fountain just in front of Notre Dame, so we went to
Notre Dame, and I cleaned my shirt. The water fountain was cute b/c it
didn't have on/ off switches like in the US, it just constantly ran water
and fell onto the ground where there was a grate to collect it if you
weren't drinking it. Notre Dame was beautiful. We didn't go it. There was
a super long line. The flying buttresses were really neat though.

Then, eventually, we made to Le Rouvray. Next door was a store that had
big crayons sort of inside of pieces of wood... I'm not describing them
very well, but they were super cute.

We went into the store together, and after a minute or two R. went next
door. He came back sooner than I would have imagined, but he said it was a
polish bookstore (and not speaking polish, after the crayons had been
inspected there wasn't much to look at). He was very patient with me,
basically ignoring me while I fondled fabric for some time trying to
figure out what to get, how much, and did I have any projects in mind for
it. To be honest, I'm not sure if R. was in the store the whole time or
not.. But after a while I had started to narrow down my choices and he
came over to help a bit. (The narrowing down process, which mostly
consisted of how much fabric to buy, really took a bit longer than
necessary, but I enjoyed it).

The store was large in square footage size, but small (relative to US
stores) in fabric selection. They had about 12 shelves of american
fabrics, and about three dozen french fabrics, mostly around four to six
patterns with coordinates and color options. There was plenty for me to
choose from, but I felt so badly for one woman who came to the store, and
she was looking for a sort of pale pink/ peach type color and they really
only had three possibly selections for her to choose from, and none of
them were 100% right. She ended up with a nice one, but I felt bad for her
and wished I had had stash with me right there to share with her...

She was very lovely and had the most beautiful embrodary squares of
flowers and herbs and she had then set them on to make a quilt. She was
really friendly, and had really done beautiful work. We talked for some
time about quilting tricks and on line quilting groups before R. and I
really had to go b/c there was more walking to do. I gave her some info
on how to find out group through google and she was excited to hear about
such an active and friendly on line group. (K. have you found us?)

The woman who owned the store was super nice to me. She let me wander and
lust for as long as I wanted. She spoke both French and English. She
always answered all my questions, and explained things, and so on...

The French fabrics are sold by the Meter, and the bolts are really rolls
so they are about 50in. wide instead of 42 in.

They sold a set of charm squares in French fabrics, but I couldn't figure
out what to do with them, and I didn't like many of the all over patterns,
of which there were many, so I ended up buying yardage.

In the end, I ended up with four different patterns.
1) A rich, just deeper than royal blue with alternating rows of a small
flowers and a set of dots.
This will be fun for something, it is almost kalidscope looking, but very
simple. I bought 1/4M.

2) A lovely and rich boarder fabric. It had two sections separated by the
rich pink. One section was narrow with little tiny flowers on white, the
other had a mirror of some of the little flowers on the outside with big
flowers in the middle. (also on white). I bough 1/2M b/c the fabric was so
wide I can made two yards worth of boarder out of it.
(http://www.lerouvray.com/store/Lourmarin.htm - second to last on the
page)

3) This was my favorite. It is a deep deep blue, almost a navy with a deep
cream, almost latte color. The pattern is large baskets, about five inches
in size maybe, with intricate flowers. The pattern has two baskets and
then alternates with flower bouquets. The are set on point and would be
fabulous setting squares. I would have loved to have bought enough to use
as a a backing on something one day, but I just couldn't. I tried to
restrict this to 1/2 M but I didn't like the way it cut the baskets up so
I bought 3/4M.

4) This was also my favorite. It incorporated my two favorite flowers,
sunflowers and lavender. It's ona deep rich yellow which another customer
told me is "special to French fabrics and is impossible to find in the
states". I just thought it had more life than the white and blue of the
same pattern. (I bought I think 3/4 M)
(http://www.lerouvray.com/store/Cannet_prints.htm - second to last on the
page)

I have no idea what I'm using most of the fabric for, The last one I will
end up using some of it on a kitchen quilt for me, but I will always love
looking at all of them, remembering my trip, and one day, I'll come up
with a good use for them.


Thanks for joining me on my fabric journey! It was fun to re-live it.

Best,
NS

In article AzGad.6579$Mh7.4770@trnddc04,
Natalie wrote:

Sandy Foster wrote:
In article 1Diad.2869$y77.569@trnddc05,
Natalie wrote:


Hi there!

I got back from Paris not quite a week ago.. I had a wonderful time.
It was great to see my friend R. I hadn't seen him in about six months
and we've lived in the same town for about 5 years now, sometimes as
roomies, so I'd really missed just hanging out together...



What fun to read about your trip to Le Rouvray, Natalie! And I love the
fabrics you picked -- at least, the ones we're able to see. But I do
love those prints and bought some myself, so I'm sure I'd love the ones
we couldn't see, too. I'm so glad you had such a wonderful trip!

Thanks Sandy!

(Did you buy the fabrics when you where there, or did you buy them on line?)

Best,
NS


Not online. G I bought some when I was there, and I bought a couple of
others in Houston.
--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net -- put sfoster1(at) in front
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

Neat! - when were you there?
Did you know she's been there for 30 years!

(I forgot she goes to the Houston show!)

NS



Not online. G I bought some when I was there, and I bought a couple of
others in Houston.

Hi Ragmop!

Thanks for writing back! (It was so long I wasn't sure anyone would go
through it!)

I like those bright ones too!

I forgot she went to houston so a lot of folk here know what she carries...

Best,
NS


Ellison wrote:

Howdy!
What a fine trip, what a good show&tell.
I have that fabric! (#4). I have several from LeRouvray,
including toile samples; really love the bright yellow/blue/green/red
collections. (That would be...most of them. G)
Intending to buy more in Houston in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for the travelogue, Natalie.

Ragmop/Sandy in gorgeous north Texas

"Natalie" wrote in message
news:1Diad.2869$y77.569@trnddc05.\

In article ZzQad.5038$YU4.1383@trnddc06,
Natalie wrote:

Neat! - when were you there?
Did you know she's been there for 30 years!

(I forgot she goes to the Houston show!)

NS



Not online. G I bought some when I was there, and I bought a couple of
others in Houston.


The last time I was there was already almost five years ago! Now I
probably won't get back again until my DT moves back from her time in
China, where her DH has been transferred for three years. I'll just have
to content myself with the Houston experience!
--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net -- put sfoster1(at) in front
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

.

PS - What is DT?

NS

Sandy Foster wrote:
In article ZzQad.5038$YU4.1383@trnddc06,
Natalie wrote:


Neat! - when were you there?
Did you know she's been there for 30 years!

(I forgot she goes to the Houston show!)

NS



Not online. G I bought some when I was there, and I bought a couple of
others in Houston.



The last time I was there was already almost five years ago! Now I
probably won't get back again until my DT moves back from her time in
China, where her DH has been transferred for three years. I'll just have
to content myself with the Houston experience!

In article Tb1bd.7666$Mh7.4811@trnddc04,
Natalie wrote:

.

PS - What is DT?

NS

Oops! I refer to her so often that way that I forget that she and I
invented the term. g She's my Dear Twin!

Sandy Foster wrote:
In article ZzQad.5038$YU4.1383@trnddc06,
Natalie wrote:


Neat! - when were you there?
Did you know she's been there for 30 years!

(I forgot she goes to the Houston show!)

NS



Not online. G I bought some when I was there, and I bought a couple of
others in Houston.



The last time I was there was already almost five years ago! Now I
probably won't get back again until my DT moves back from her time in
China, where her DH has been transferred for three years. I'll just have
to content myself with the Houston experience!



--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
my ISP is earthlink.net -- put sfoster1(at) in front
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1