Sewing and Fabric Shops in France

If you follow me on Instagram (cathyquiltingonmainstreet), you will have seen travel photos from my recent trip to Paris and Strasbourg, France.  I had a wonderful time!  I won't cover all the travel details, just leave you with some images.  Instead, I'll focus on some discoveries of special interest to quilters.

I made this collage on PicMonkey.

In Strasbourg, I discovered this delightful little store, La Mercerie du Bain aux Plantes (15 rue du Bain aux Plantes in La Petite France area).  The store carried a great assortment of ribbon, the kind I never find here, and if I could have thought up some projects on the spur of the moment, I would have purchased more.

But I'm ready for some Christmas 2016 projects.  Each little snowman card holds two meters of ribbon and I bought 2 meters of the embroidered ric rac.  I plan to use it all in some sort of wall hanging or pillows.

The fabric shops of Paris are concentrated in a few blocks in the Montmartre section, near Sacre Coeur (church with a white dome).  I didn't buy any fabric but had a fun browse.  There were three stores I particularly liked:

1. Dreyfus, also known as Marche Saint Pierre - had a huge selection of different kinds of fabric, especially for clothing and interior design use.
2. La Reine - stocks primarily very high quality fabric for clothing.  They had a huge selection of Liberty lawns at 26 euros per meter, as well as nice wools and silks.  
3. Frou Frou - a more contemporary store with cotton fabric similar to Liberty prints.  What makes the place special is the huge selection of buttons and trims that match the fabric.  It would be great for little projects like bags but a bit pricey for quilting.  There is a second Frou Frou store in the 6th arrondisement at 31 rue Saint Placide.

I also saw quilting fabrics from the usual American firms like Moda and Hoffman, but at prices that make me appreciate my LQS and online sources so much more.  I'm not sure I could afford to quilt if I lived in France!  But wow, the pastries are sure good!