Knitting, crochet and now stitching holidays in France!

On the last knitting and crochet retreat one of our guests brought along a stitching project and this is the finished result - absolutely beautiful, thank you Pat for sharing that with us. So you don't have to be a knitter to take part in a holiday here!

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.

A sunny day in Paris

We have just had a girl's trip to Paris for a couple of days, the weather was lovely so we spent the first afternoon on the hop on hop off tour bus which is a great way to see this beautiful city.