Paris Fabric Shopping

I wanted to write this post for a couple days now, but kept forgetting daylight starts fading around 8 PM nowadays. This means I have to take my pictures earlier in the day, in order to have some daylight. Even though the weather recently turned very autumn-ish, I still feel like it should be summer and we should have drinks on terraces, wearing summer frocks, sandals and sunglasses. Let's stop the nostalgia for a second and continue with the important information... So, what did I score on my fabric trip in Paris? The upper fabric is a pied-de-poule cotton (very small scale) I bought for my boyfriend. I plan on making matching pants and vest for him out of this fabric. The lower one is also for my boyfriend. I want to make him a shirt for a couple months now, so this one will serve as trial-and-hopefully-succeed fabric. It has vertical strips and a beuatiful aubergine undertone wich will be great with his colouring, (or I hope so!) This picture shows you the most gorgeous cotton lace I've ever seen. It's so soft and beautiful and cream coloured and I LOVE IT. I was drooling over this fabric for a while, (it's rather expensive for my wallet) and after sitting on a bench in the store for half on hour, my mother said the best sentence ever: "Papa and I will gift it to you for your birthday!". Of course I said yes to this marvelous offer. On top you see multiple layers of the fabric. In the lower part of the picture I put a single layer of lays on top of some dark blue fabric to give you a better impression of the print. Here are from left to right: silk satin, silk jersey and a polkadot cotton. I plan on making a dress out of the silk satin and the cotton. I loved the colour of the silk jersey so much (in real life it's a kobalt blue, but it did not photograph well...) that I had to buy it, but I don't really know what to make from it (apart from a very luxurious set of pyjamas and knickers). I don't really wear jersey dresses and it's a rather thin, stretchy jersey, so maybe a would be a better option. We'll see. This fabric easily takes the price of most difficult to photograph fabric in my fabric stash. It's a black wool with thousands of little sequins splattered all over it. It was love at first sight. It'll go fabulously with my silk satin dress (and any other dress for that matter) I plan on making a short Chanel-style jacket out of it. I only have 1.80 meters, (it was all that was left on the bolt, but I got a discount in return, hurray!) I also promised to share my adresses for fabric shopping in Paris with you. I usually take a metro to Montmartre (Anvers/Abesses) and wander around untill something catches my eye. After three years of fabric shopping, I do have my favorite adresses: I got the lace at 'La Droguerie'. It's the prettiest fabric shop I've ever been to, but unfortunately it's also rather expensive. They also sell yarns, beads, patterns... The staf is extremely friendly and very willing to help you out! I love the coupons at 'La Folie des Coupons' you have to buy 3 meters, but it does make sure you have enough fabric to make your dream dress! Also, it's more on the cheap side of the spectrum!'Tissus Reine' is a nice adress with a large selection. 'Au Bonheur des Dames' is a lovely store. They have everything from cottons to beautiful wools and silks. Prices are very nice. The lady who keeps the store running is to most adorable ever. She looks so chique and is very willing to give you all the advice you need from how to handle your fabric to how much you'll need to buy. In my situations she's always been spot on!