My trip to Paris was just AWESOME! And what made it even better was the huge craft show that was on exactly the same time I was in Paris! I couldn’t believe my luck.
L’Aiguille en Fête was held in a convention centre much like ours in Melbourne over 4 days. It was open from 9:30am – 7pm and cost 12 € to enter. My overall first impression was that it looked very similar to Melbourne’s craft shows except with a lot more people. It even had the same kind of cafeteria food!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3×05-d93Ctg[/youtube]
I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was very glad to have my boyfriend with me though… yes my boyfriend came with me to translate, he speaks fluent French and he dutifully walked around with me telling me how much things cost… just between you and me… he secretly enjoyed it. There were mostly French and European vendors but there was the odd American and UK stand too but no Australian ones.
There was a speed knitting competition running as well where the entrants had to knit as fast as they could for 1 min and the most knitted won. Quite funny really… a bunch of Nana’s knitting as fast as their fingers would let them. All jokes aside it was a very serious business.
One of my main reasons for going (apart from all the shopping) was to see what different things the French were into, and whether their quilting/craft was the same as what was popular here in Australia. There were stands with a lot of the same sort of fabric, but there were two things that I really took away with me as being uniquely French and popular.
Macarons
Macarons were everywhere! On fabric, trimmings, buttons, jewellery and patterns. Anything you could want to do with macarons you could find it here. I got in on the craze too, my best friend is a bit obsessed with them so I had a good excuse to buy!
Macarons are iconically French and have only just started to be popular here with ‘Masterchef’ and the ‘Crockenbush’. In Paris though there are shops dedicated to just macarons. I think they could be the next ‘cupcake’ craze. Yup… you heard it here first! I even tasted my first ever macaron in Paris and it was pink!
Here is my stash of macarons…
Red-work on Linen
The second thing that was everywhere was linen fabric, specifically red-work stitched on linen or red motifs printed on linen. Linen fabric is starting to take off here and we are seeing more and more of it around. It’s heavier and gives a different dimension to your work.
A lot of what I saw was stitched wall hangings but it also crossed over into trimmings and buttons. The buttons were so cute… linen covered buttons with tiny little stitched objects on them, my favourite was a ladybug. I also found some ric rac that was linen with red white embroidery on it… so pretty!
Here is my stash of linens…
If you ever get a chance to visit Paris I would highly recommend planning it around this craft show and if you stay a few days after you may even have valentines day there too.
There are a few really great quilting/haberdashery shops to visit in Paris too. My next Post will have three of my favourite.
Till then
Happy Quilting
