LQS Parisian-Style - A Visit to Le Rouvray

I try to take in a quilt shop or two on every vacation and our Paris trip was no exception.  I had heard of Le Rouvray and given its easy to reach location near Notre Dame, Ile St. Louis, and the Latin Quarter, we stopped in for a visit. 

We had a little difficulty finding the store because they had recently moved from the address given on their website (website not updated yet as of today), but the new premises are only a block away on another little side street.

The new premises are very small and they have a very limited inventory.  The store hours are also quite limited (Tuesday-Saturday, afternoons only), leading me to think it is a sort of hobby business.  Having previous experience with the price of fabric in Europe, I was not expecting to buy anything (we may moan about quilting fabric reaching $10 a yard in the US but in Europe it costs much more).  Le Rouvray had a limited though carefully curated selection of mostly 19th century repros with a "French-y" look.  Most were from what I think of as British companies like Westminister.  They stock some FQ-like packs but I did not see much in the way of patterns or books.  We came away only with a couple of postcards, but it was worth the visit.

Our other sewing-related adventure was trip to the Puces de Vanves, the flea market held at Porte de Vanves.  This is on the outskirts of Paris but was easy to get to on the Metro and a tram-like bus.  It is held on Saturday and Sunday mornings on the sidewalk of a few blocks of two streets in what appears to be a middle class residential area.

Miss Main Street and I spent an enjoyable few hours browsing.  Miss bought a vintage ring and a small army-issue satchel she intends to use as a purse (military is "in" she tells me); I bought some vintage sewing items and a vintage bed cover with eyelet lace trim. 

I came across two different vendors with vintage sewing "stuff."  From the first, I bought two boxes of vintage ribbon embroidered with my initials, CM.  However, she did not have LM for Miss Main Street or initials of anyone else I could think of on the spur of the moment.  Those wooden things are bobbins used for lace making.  I thought they'd look interesting in a little bowl.  They can be used to hold embroidery floss, should I ever take up embroidery (you never know!).

Another vendor had all sorts of other sewing things.  I bought the card with buttons, card with linen thread, little pieces of lace, and floral card, with thought of putting them in some sort of framed collage for my sewing room. 

This is the bed cover.  It is too small to use on any bed we have (smaller even than a twin bed, making me think it was for a crib or child's bed) and it in thin in places and has some stains here and there but not on the lace.   It is embroidered with the initials ER in red cross stitch.



The lace edge runs across the top and bottom.  I am thinking or recycling it into pillow shams somehow.  Must think this out carefully before I cut...

The Practical Bag came in very handy for carrying our purchases. 

At the Eiffel Tower, I bought this tin, which will hold pins after I've eaten the candy it contains.