Thursday, April 15, 2010

Tinsel Trading Workshop

If you happen to live in the New York area and are looking for a little excitement - come on over to Tinsel Trading on Saturday, May 15th for a signing of our new book, Treasured Notions. Marcia and I will be signing copies as well as offering a workshop based on on the Tassel Necklace featured in the book. The necklace kit includes some of the wonderful old coiled wire made in the basement by Marcia's grandfather. The necklace also has silk ribbon thread through honey-ox chain, glass beads, mother of pearl buttons and a metallic thread tassel - a simple but elegant necklace that looks and feels straight out of the roaring twenties.
If you are interested in signing up for a seat, do so soon as seats are limited. Sign-ups are at frenchgeneral.com
See you in New York!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Inspiration in Dallas

Once in a great while, I am lucky enough to get invited down to Dallas to visit Moda and see the fabric and quilt masters up close. This past week I popped down for the Moda retreat - once a year they invite their customers and designers to come take a few classes, listen to inspiring speakers, eat wonderful food, as well as get a peek at the upcoming lines. After teaching her classes, Joanna Figueroa and I got a chance to sneak off to the library to look for inspiration to use in our new fabric lines. I've only been in the document textile library once before - it's a small room packed with all sorts of bits and pieces that Cheryl, the design director, has picked up over the many, many years she has worked with Moda. Eighteenth century French toiles, English chintz, American quilt squares - you name it, it's there. Tucked into small drawers, they have organized each category of fabric- so when you are looking for a 19th century French fantasy floral - you look through not one, but many pieces that represent this style. It's a fabric lover's dream. My favorite part - the part I dream about, are the old French fabric sample books. Falling apart - held together with just a crusty old spine, these books are filled with pages that have small squares of fabric glued down to each page - some of the books are 4" thick!
Later that night as I was going to sleep - the strangest thing happened - I kept having random designs of fabric pop through my head - like small flashes of color and shapes - it was as if I had looked at so many designs that my brain was on auto-design. I loved it!
I'll post photos of our newest line, Maison de Garance next week - lot's of old reds, chocolate browns and tea stains - once I receive the fabric samples we'll have a grand giveaway!

Monday, April 05, 2010

Dreaming of the Odd and Unusual

I love thinking about France, the flea markets in France and the the bits and pieces I find myself leaving behind. Last summer when we were on our Sunday visit to the Toulouse Flea Market, I found a vendor that had bought out a souvenir shop along the Cote d'Azur - the booth was filled with seashells from all over the coast of France. Why I didn't buy the whole lot of shells - or at least a handful - I'll never know. I remember thinking about it, having Molly shoot it and dreaming about the "shell crafts" that could be made....and then walking away. Isn't it funny how you can be presented with something you will probably never see again - but if the moment isn't right - if it all doesn't connect at that one point - you have no other choice but to just walk away - and never look back! Looking at this picture now I am kicking myself - and promising myself that I'll never let the odd and unusual slip away again! Merde!