Sunday Stash

In July, my husband had a business trip to Paris and I went along with him for a couple days!  We flew out on a Thursday and arrived on Friday morning.  On Friday, we toured the Eiffel Tower and then we took a boat ride on the Seine.  On Saturday, we went to Versailles for the whole day.  On Sunday, we walked almost the entire city of Paris!

However, on Monday, my husband had to go to his work meetings and I wasn't leaving until Tuesday so I had the whole day to entertain myself.  I started looking for fabric stores in Paris because one of my favorite things to do is visit fabric stores in the cities where I travel.  In my Google searches for fabric stores, I came across Barbara, from "Stitching Up Paris".  Barbara gives 3 hour tours of the fabric stores in Paris, and she will customize the tour for you and your particular type of crafting (knitting, embroidery, clothes sewing, quilting, etc)!  Barbara is from New Zealand but has lived in Paris for a long time and speaks French fluently.  So, I signed up for a tour with Barbara!

I had so much fun touring the fabric stores with Barbara!  First, she took me to back alley haberdashery stores that I never would have found myself.  They sold all types of buttons, ribbons, trims, etc.  Then we walked through some areas with custom upholstery stores and checked out all the windows.  We ended up in the fabric district in Montmarte and we went in tons of stores there too.

One minus was that they don't sell a lot of quilting cottons in Paris.  Apparently most of the quilting fabric is imported from the US (Moda, etc) and sells for almost double what it costs here.  I knew that beforehand and really I just enjoyed the experience of going in all the fabric stores and browsing. 

I did buy a couple things though (after all, this is Sunday Stash!)...

Embroidery scissors (so sharp!), pins, and needles at Sajou:

These interesting zippers at some back alley store, I can't wait to figure out how to use these on a pouch:

A metre of the gray fabric and a fat quarter-ish of the blue flowers:

Some small pieces of a Paris-themed fabric and the cool colored dashes:

I didn't buy that much, but I had such a fun afternoon with Barbara!  It was so nice to have her take me everywhere so I didn't have to worry about getting lost (I don't have the best sense of direction), and since she speaks French she could easily speak to all the shopkeepers and also help me with anything I needed.  If you are ever planning a trip to Paris, you should consider looking her up!  (She also has a book out detailing a lot of the Paris fabric stores so that could be another option)

Linking up with Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles!