French Fabrics and Trims!

 

Last week when we were on the island of St. Maarten we took a bus tour of the island that included a shopping stop and a delicious lunch served on a beach with plenty of time to relax afterward and enjoy the sun and sand. It was stunningly gorgeous!

 

 

But the most exciting part was the shopping stop (for me anyway.) I was sad that I didn't have time to visit the open air market or the French pastry shop because I spent all of my time in the fabric shop. I know, none of you are surprised by that are you?

 

 

It wasn't just a fabric shop. It was more of a tiny department store with housewares, linens, clothes, and other items. But the selection of fabrics, trims and threads was amazing! The fabrics were sold off the long round tubes instead of the flat fold bolts. Most of the fabrics were $6 or less per meter. The ribbons were a steal at $1-3 per meter. The colors were so saturated and lovely. The fabrics are 100% cotton and feel so soft. The plaids are thread dyed (instead of printed onto the fabric) and again the colors are really intense. The thread spools are small and a size I'm not familiar with, but they are 100% cotton and were only $3 each.

 

 

These are the trims I purchased. My favorite...the plaid ric rac!!! How cute it that!?! I may or may not have bought the entire roll. The polka dot ric rac is so adorable and it is soft and pliable (not the stiff cheapo stuff) and the ribbons are woven and heavy weight. I have NO IDEA what I am going to do with any of this, but I knew I would regret it if I didn't buy it.

 

 



 

It is hard to tell from these photos, but the plaids are very large scale. I would say that the color squares in the lower right fabric are almost 4 inches and the yellow on the top right is easily 6 inches wide. The lower left fabric in shades of blue is the smallest scale with the blue boxes about 2 inches. I know that is hard to imagine but trust me when I say they are GORGEOUS! There were so many to choose from, I had a hard time selecting just four. I probably would have bought more if the bus wasn't leaving. And yes, I was the last one back to the bus but thankfully they waited for me. You would be surprised how fast a 47 year old woman in flip flops can run while carrying 12 meters of fabric! Whew.

 

I told you it was exciting!

 

Diane