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Saturday 5 November 2016

Stitching up Paris tour

On our second day in Paris we went on an amazing tour of yarn, fabric and haberdashery shops. The tours are run by Barbara Cattoni, visit her website here, and last for approximately 4 hours. It is a wonderful way of finding the best craft shops and exploring areas of Paris off the tourist routes.
We started with Tissumarket, two warehouses side by side on rue Sentier selling luxury fabrics at bargain prices.






Next stop was Cat'Laine at 19 rue Saint-Marc, a great little yarn shop with rows of boxes selling yarn at discount prices.


On to 3 more fabric shops - Les Etoffes du Sentier, Sonitis and GHT









In GHT we had a little demo of how to test fabric content by burning it, the man made fibres burn quickly and melt.

Next was Sajou a stitching and haberdashery shop with the most amazing shop fittings and displays. They stock a huge range of sewing threads and a great selection of books covering all crafts including knitting and crochet.




In addition to the lovely fabric and craft shops you get a guided tour of the areas, these are all in the The Sentier which is a maze of narrow streets, with lovely old buildings, trendy cafes and bistros and designer shops.




Next stop was Le passage du Grand Cerf a covered arcade full of shops selling gifts, homeware, jewellery, brocante, hand painted wallpaper, soap and a great knitting and stitching shop called Lil Weasel.












We hopped on the metro to Bastille and a visit to Malhia Kent in the Viaduc des Arts (underneath La promenade plantee). This was shopping heaven for me. The large unit was filled with colourful hand-woven fabrics at bargain prices and floor to ceiling shelves filled with coned yarn in every kind of texture and colour.








The last trip was the metro to Place d'Italie for coffee at l'Oisivethe a yarn shop, tea room and the perfect spot for a knit'n'natter. The sister shop La Bien Aimee also stocks a lovely range of yarns, buttons, kits and pattern books.








To find out more about fabric and craft shopping in Paris the book 'Stitching up Paris' by Keiry Belton and Barbara Cattoni is a must have.

1 comment:

  1. After reading this post I just want to pop on a plane to Paris - all that wool looks so lovely.

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