The sad state of ready-to-wear

A few days ago I bought a suit for a job interview I have next week. I wish I had the sewing experience and non-procrastination-ness (yeah, had to make up that word) to actually make a nice suit. I did shorten the hem on the pants though.

I did not enjoy the shopping experience. I knew getting both the pants and the jacket to fit off the rack would be a challenge. One problem I had was that I am between sizes in jackets, or more accurately I am a different size in the shoulders than my waist and hips. If the jacket fit in the shoulders, it wouldn't button and if it buttoned, then the jacket looked big in the chest and drooped off my shoulders. This was when I realized that the jackets seemed to lack any real structure. The jackets were lined and had shoulder pads, but overall the jackets felt skimpy and the collars were lumpy and bumpy.

All these jackets were in a department store that carried many different labels and they ranged in price from $80 to $160. I wandered over to the expensive part of the store, where they have Hugo Boss, thinking maybe a higher price would mean higher quality. Jackets there were $450 and up, which after adding another $200 for pants made for a pricey interview suit I might only wear a few more times. In hindsight I should have tried some on anyway and looked at the quality. Maybe I will on a later shopping trip but on that day I was goal-oriented and didn't want to be enticed by a $700 suit.

I searched the rest of the store again and miraculously I managed to find pants ($100) and a jacket ($160) that fit, at least well enough to look presentable for my interview. I could tell the jacket had more structure in the upper chest and shoulders and that made the larger size I chose (so that it buttoned) look OK in the shoulders and not like I was wearing a jacket that was too big.

A long, long time ago, early in my working career, I wore a lot of Liz Claiborne and Jones New York. I remember pants were about $80-90, blouses $60-70, and jackets (blazers) were about $130. I don't remember that being very expensive - it was what the department stores offered as "career wear." How is it that today, nearly 30 years later, the prices in similar clothing lines are not much more?

At some point I stopped needing to buy "career wear." I returned to school to get a master's degree and then casual Friday became casual Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Though I still liked to wear dressier pants to work instead of jeans and blouses instead of t-shirts, I began buying separates and, more importantly, started sewing my own clothes, so I guess I didn't notice that the prices weren't going up.

If the price to the consumer was staying the same, or in some cases even decreasing, then something in the equation had to change. Pants stopped being lined. Jackets lost some tailoring. Fabrics got thinner. Labor was moved to places where they could pay very little, like Bangladesh, where my new suit was made. The quality of the sewing in my suit is actually quite good, but the material quality is not. I've also noticed that unless you go to a major city, many department stores no longer carry clothes at a higher price point. The public wants to keep paying the same amount (or less!), which means cheap clothing and now that's the only thing available. 

Since I'm in Germany and have different clothing lines, I just looked online to see if Liz Clairborne is still around. Well they are, but I wouldn't recognize it. The clothing is much cheaper than 30 years ago but nowhere near the look or, I assume, quality it once was. Jones New York looks to be targeting the same demographic they used to but the clothes are at the same prices as 30 years ago. So I'm going to guess that the quality won't be the same and the labels will indicate that they're sewn in some place like Bangladesh.

A Paris day trip: Dior and fabric shopping

When I heard that the Christian Dior exhibit at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris was not to be missed and was ending in early January of 2018, I decided that I should go! Now! I can get to Paris in 3 1/2 hours so I decided a day-trip was in order. 

I arrived in Paris about two hours before my timed-ticket entry of noon. Originally I'd planned to walk from the train station and stop at a fabric store or two along the way but it was freezing cold outside, so I took the metro. I thought it was still too early to go to the museum so after a pastry and coffee I checked out a nearby ribbon shop called Mokuba. They have an incredible selection of ribbon but since I didn't have any need for any at the moment I just browsed. I also peeked in the window of Kaetsu , another fabric shop I'd read about, but it wasn't open until noon. It turns out it's not so much of a fabric shop as a boutique that makes bags and other accessories out of Japanese fabric. They may also sell some of the fabric, but I couldn't tell - it was a really tiny store too.

By now it was time to make my way over to the museum. It was about 11:30 am but I probably should have gone over there earlier because there was a huge line outside - and these were all people with 12:00 tickets. It was cold but fortunately not raining so I waited with everyone else and watched as more and more people arrived. As you might expect, the majority of the crowd were female and many were "fashionably French" but others were pushing my fashion envelope for sure. I didn't get any photos because I didn't want to be rude, but my favorite look was an older woman wearing a knee-length bright green fur coat, red tights and purple shoes - or maybe it was purple tights and red shoes, I can't remember but she definitely stood out.

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

I finally made it inside around 15-20 minutes past twelve. I followed the crowd and headed straight for the exhibit, unfortunately forgetting to check my winter coat, and I wasn't alone in this as I saw most everyone else wearing their coats. As often happens in these large, popular exhibits, the early rooms were very congested while people tried to read and observe every little thing, afraid to move on and miss something. I was pushed by people more than once and bumped countless times and bulky coats certainly didn't help! In one very crowded room a museum worker periodically instructed people to keep moving.

I didn't really know much about Dior except for his infamous "New Look", the change in fashion that he initiated in the post-war 40's. The first room contained a lot of historical information and pictures but unfortunately it was so jammed with people I felt claustrophobic while trying reading anything so I moved on. I looked up information about Christian Dior afterwards and was surprised to learn that he died quite young, at 52, in 1957. Now I understand why so many of the clothes were labeled "Christian Dior" followed by "John Galliano" or "Yves Saint Laurent" or "Mark Bohan." These were some of the creative directors who took over the House of Dior after Christian's death. This exhibit represents the bulk of the Dior creations over many, many years and not just from Christian Dior himself. And what an exhibit it is!

I took lots of pictures with my phone and have put together an album of them, which you can view farther down in this post. My favorite exhibit was one that showcased groupings by color of Dior clothes - full size and in miniature (which I adored!), hats, shoes, jewelry, perfume and artwork.

Another favorite room was one that focused on the floral pieces. The ceiling was decorated with paper cutout flowers and leaves and it was just beautiful.

Another room showed the pieces in muslin (toile) form, filling the room vertically, which was an elegant way to showcase them. I would have loved to have been able to see the dresses closer up to see the design elements.

Towards the end of the exhibit was a room that looked like a grand ballroom and it fittingly contained ballgowns, including one worn by Princess Diana. So many lovely gowns!

I wish I could have spent my time admiring and studying each piece but that was impossible not just because it was crowded but because there was so much to see. I spent about two hours there and was exhausted afterwards.

Click in the middle to view in flickr or click the arrows to view here

After the exhibit and lunch, I took the metro to visit another fabric store I'd read about. Mahlia Kent is a weaving studio that supplies woven fabrics for designers and also sells yardage or sample pieces. They're located in a very cool space built under a railway bridge that has been re-purposed into studios and retail shops with a landscaped walkway above, known as the Coulée verte René-Dumont. 

I browsed a bit through the small sample pieces, which could be used for small bags or combined into larger pieces, but there were so many that it made my head spin. I was more attracted to the cones of yarn on their shelves that were also for sale - these are probably leftover yarns from their weaving. I bought four small cones of yarn to play with on my loom. Had I not been limited by what I could easily carry and not planning to shop more, I might have bought more!

My next stop was Anna Ka Bazaar, another fabric shop I'd read about but had never visited and located in a trendy looking area a short walk from the Coulée. It's a nice little shop but not really my aesthetic. At first glance it looked more like a "twee" craft shop with glass jars of color-coordinated ribbons and buttons, but then I saw that they also stock yarn, patterns and fabric. It looked like they'd just gotten a shipment of printed cotton knits, which I liked but not enough for the price they wanted. 

With two more hours until my train, I dashed to the metro in the rain and rode it to my usual fabric shopping mecca in Montmartre, home of Tissus Reine and Marché Saint-Pierre Dreyfus and many little "coupon" shops that sell pre-cut pieces of fabrics. I browsed and browsed as much as I could in the time I had left, but there wasn't any fabric that I felt I needed to buy. There was a small leather and animal skin shop with some nice pieces but I couldn't come up with a project to justify buying anything. Well, actually I could think of many projects but my list is long enough already.

It was a great day! Long and exhausting and it rained off and on, but still a really great day. 

Driving trip through France (and a little of Spain and Andorra) - Day 1 and 2

In September I went on a driving trip with my husband through southern France, and I thought I'd share it here. One of the many things I like about France is how proud they are of their regional products. It's not just wine and cheese, but pottery, knives and even lentils. You can buy many of these products throughout France, but they are still produced in the original region and not at some mega-factory/farm elsewhere (or out of the country). In fact France places strict control over these products by awarding a certification called appellation d'origine contrôlée, or AOC. 

Earlier in the summer I decided that I wanted to go to Bordeaux. Of course I knew they had good wine in Bordeaux, but I also just wanted to see that area of France as well as visit the Atlantic ocean from this side of the world. So I built an itinerary to drive to Bordeaux and back and include as many interesting stops along the way as I could. The trip took about 10 days, starting and ending in Châtel, in the Rhone-Alps region of France. 

The route - we went clockwise, from Châtel.

With so many regional specialties, our car soon filled up with goodies.

Many goodies from different places

Starting from the wood box on the left and continuing clockwise:

• Roquefort cheese - bought in the region but not from the town itself (and yes, there is a town called Roquefort)
• Hand crafted chocolate from a patisserie in La Mure - a much, much tastier "Nutella"
• Knives from Thiers, the French cutlery capital (actually bought in Bordeaux)
• Green lentils from Le Puy-en-Velay - prized by cooks apparently!
• Chocolate caramel from Bayonne, which is called the French chocolate capital (actually bought in Bordeaux) 
• Vichy candy purchased in Vichy
• Touristy caramels in a tin bought in San Sebastian, Spain - only included here because they're in the picture :-) 
• Chocolate from Kloster Bonneval - bought in nearby Millau (the wrapper got a little wet in our cooler, hopefully the chocolate is ok)

I didn't seek out all the fabric and yarn stores along the way, but did make two purchases:

Yarn from a market vendor in Millau

Yarn from San Sebastian, Spain

Years ago we had bought some French Alpico pottery from Williams Sonoma. I had planned to visit a large Alpico outlet near Bordeaux and add to our collection, but I found out that they closed a year ago. Fortunately our route took us near Limoges, where the pottery is actually made, and we squeezed in a visit to an outlet store there.

French pottery from Limoges

And of course...wine

Day 1: Châtel to La Mure to Le Puy-en-Velay

The first stop of our trip was specifically to buy some chocolate. We'd received a jar of a Nutella-like chocolate from a friend as a gift, and it was devoured rather quickly, although not so much by me, so I wanted to find some more. According to the label it came from a pâtisserie in a little town south of Grenoble. 

We managed to locate the store - nothing special from the outside. 

But inside, mmmm, delicious treats. Note the empty shelf above the case. They'd been closed for August vacation and it was their first day back open, so the shop was rather sparsely filled. More alarming, I didn't see any jars of chocolate! Fortunately, my husband spied two jars on another shelf. Whew! It turned out we were very lucky as these were their only two jars, and they wouldn't be making any for another week.

So much deliciousness!

Our fancy pastry selections, which we ate on a picnic lunch the next day...and the next. They were very rich.

I took this picture on the drive down to La Mure. It looked like a wave of clouds rolling over the mountains, which I thought was very cool.

A stop in Grenoble was not on this itinerary, but perhaps on a future trip. As we drove past, and through the mountains to the west of Grenoble, we saw many nut trees. Apparently the Grenoble walnut has an AOC label. 

Day 2: Le Puy-en-Velay to Millau

I initially chose to stop in Le Puy-en-Velay because I'd seen a video on Facebook about lace making at the Bobbin Lace Learning Center. I had high hopes to see an interesting museum and the machine making lace that I'd seen in the video, but I have to say that fortunately the town has some other very interesting things to see. 

First the lace. The exhibit is not very large, maybe two rooms plus a hallway. They do have some very fine lace on display, and there's a cabinet that holds some pieces in drawers you can open. The labels are all in French. In my opinion, there are much better lace museums in Burano, Italy and Brussels, Belgium, but if you're in the area and like lace, then you might as well stop by. I was disappointed that the only demonstration of lace making that I saw, by humans or by machine, was in a video that we watched (in French only) seated in a dank little cave-like room. Perhaps a group that has made arrangements in advance would have a different experience, and perhaps I misunderstood that this is more of a place to learn lace making and not so much a tourist stop. I saw a room and caught a glimpse of people in there who were possibly working on lace, but although the door was open, it was roped off and looked private. The young guy in the gift shop, who sold us the entry tickets (3.50 €), was pleasant and probably a bit surprised that two Americans were there to see the place. My husband said the guest book hadn't been signed in a few days. There is a gift shop that sells both souvenirs and lace making supplies. Though it was tempting, I decided not to add another hobby (and I actually have a beginning lace making kit in storage in the U.S. that I bought from Lacis a while back).

The town of Le Puy-en-Velay is very quaint and well worth a visit. I wish we'd had more time to explore it. I was so intent on visiting the lace museum that I didn't put much research into the town itself before we went, and we only had half a day to enjoy it. 

Le Puy-en-Velay is most notable for being the starting point of one of the main pilgrimage points in France that lead to the shrine of St James (Jacques) at Santiago de Compostela. 

Tower and dome of Catherdral Notre-Dame on the left and the Notre-Dame de Puy statue of The Virgin Mary on the right

Chapelle St. Michel d'Aiguilhe built in 969

Front of the Cathedral Notre-Dame (12th century) from the street

The symbol of the pilgrims is a clam shell, either because early pilgrims brought them back to prove that they made the journey, or to identify them to others as pilgrims, or because the shells were handy to use for drinking water along the way...or maybe all of these reasons. In French, scallops are called Coquille Saint Jacques. Many people today walk the pilgrim trails and we saw quite a few while driving the little roads south from Le Puy-en-Velay.

A pilgrim path marker 

The town was decorated for an annual festival the following week. I had only learned of this festival when I went to book a hotel and found prices were 5x higher the next week - over 300 Euro for a room at a budget Ibis (like a Super 8 or Motel 6). We stopped for coffee and the barista there said that the streets next week would be absolutely clogged with visitors for the festival. I'm not one for massive crowds like that so I'm glad we saw the town when we did. 

Poster for the upcoming festival. 

Not sure what the hanging "laundry" signifies, but it was eye catching

Lots of color in the streets!

I found plenty of shops in town selling lace...and walking sticks for would-be pilgrims.

I spied a mechanical lace machine in one shop, like the one I'd hoped to see in the Bobbin Lace Learning Center. I didn't get to see it operate, but at least I saw one.

Another thing that Le Puy-en-Velay is proud of is that they were the starting point for stage 16 of the Tour de France this year. This was actually our second experience with Tour de France 2017 because La Mure was the starting point for stage 17. Both towns had quite a few bicycle themed displays in and around town, and on the roads nearby we saw the remnants of some of the messages people write for the riders. 

Window display of a store promoting the town's part in the Tour de France this year.

Whew! That was a big blog post!

Next up: a bridge, medieval towns and a tiny country

Copenhagen Fabric and Yarn "Hop"!

I'm a little late getting around to this post - time flies! In May I went to Copenhagen, Denmark and had my own little "hop", visiting a number of fabric and yarn stores in the walkable area around central Copenhagen. I always intended to blog about it and now I'm finally doing so.

I'd been to Copenhagen once before and visited the "must-see" tourist places, so this time, while my husband was busy during the day attending and speaking at a conference, I indulged my fiber-appetite and went exploring. Since my yarn and fabric stash is already bulging, I didn't need to shop, however a little bit of shopping did happen.

Prior to the trip I did some research and made up a list of stores to visit. Sadly I found a few were no longer in business, but I did stumble on one new one. Most importantly, it was a great way to tour the city and see some neighborhoods I might otherwise have never seen. I plotted the addresses using HERE maps and saved them as a collection. But since I don't know how to share this collection, and some of the stores are gone anyway, you should probably use your own mapping software if you want to go on a similar hop. If I can figure out how to share the map, I'll update this blog with the link.

I started with the first location in the lower left on Dybbolsgade since it was closest to the hotel and then went in a clockwise direction to visit, or attempt to visit, the rest. The very first location was, in fact, a bust! I could not locate the store and believe it is gone. I'm listing them here in case someone visiting this blog has found the names of those stores on other sites, like I did.

1. Stofresten, Dybbølsgade 68

GONE! I'm pretty sure I found the right address, but I didn't find a fabric store.

2. Stoff 2000 Vesterbrogade 41

New! - Not on my list but right down the same street from the next store on the list and the one I was intending to find.

The Stoff 2000 stores appear to be a chain in Denmark - there is also one later in my tour and when I was researching stores I came across others that are farther from the city center. I popped in and browsed briefly. This store in particular is fairly small, but they have garment, home dec, and quilting fabrics as well as the usual notions. Overall it's a nice, clean, well presented fabric store, it just doesn't have a large selection. I would probably consider this a "go-to" store for general sewing though.

Terrible photo, but at least you can see the sign

 3. Stoff&Stil, Vesterbrogade 20

This is a chain store as well, with stores in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Germany (and it turns out there's one a couple hours from me in Cologne). What struck me first about this store was how clean and well lit it was. The fabrics are displayed in rolls by fiber content and color. It's a large store compared to the other fabric stores I visited, but it's still in the city, so maybe not as large as their other chains might be. Thought they looked to have a decent selection of fabrics for garment sewing, including some youthful prints. I browsed but didn't stay long because I had a lot of stores to visit on my list. In the back section they have lots of notions, some craft supplies, and interesting kits with printed fabric panels, which were tempting but I didn't buy any. They also have yarn and a large selection of what look like their own knitting patterns and sewing patterns.




Note the long row of shopping carts!

 

Well lit and very clean!

Lots of knitting patterns

From here I walked north along the canal. It was a beautiful day!

May in Denmark is still spring.

Lovely flowering trees

4. Textilhuset, Fredriksborggade 39

GONE! No sign of this store anymore, however there is a Panduro Hobby at Fredriksborggade 36, which can satisfy some sewing and knitting needs as well as probably every other crafting need.

5. Stoff 2000, Fredriksborggade 26.

This is a larger store of this chain, with two separate sections for garment fabrics and home dec fabrics.

Bonus! Right across the street is the Torvehallerne food market. Perfect for a lunch stop!

6. Uldstedet, Vendersgade 3

This was the first yarn store on my tour. It's a fairly small shop with some nice yarns, some imported (Rowan, Katia) and some Danish (Isager). I browsed but didn't buy anything.

Worth stopping by if you're in the area!

7. Stofdillen Aps, Nørregade 36 - GONE!

8. City Sycenter, Rosengården 9

The information I found online had this at number 12 and from the description I think it once was larger than it is today and perhaps occupied buildings on both sides of the street. I could only find the small (very small!) store at number 9. But it was worth stopping. They happened to be having their anniversary sale so fabrics were 20% off. I found some knit remnants I really liked and also some sock yarn that is a mix of wool and nettles. I've never seen yarn made from nettles, so I had to buy it - it's very soft!

Knit fabrics with some interesting texture

Yarn from nettles!

9. Skipper Stoffer, Gammel Mønt 19

This is a dangerous store. Designer fabrics! Oh my. But at about $30/meter (200 DK), I knew that I wouldn't be buying some just to buy designer fabric. There were some beautiful fabrics, but nothing that I had to have, especially since I have quite a backlog of projects and a fabric stash on two continents. I did see names like Pucci and Armani...but I walked away.

Designer fabrics!

10. Handler, Vingårdstræde 19

If you find yourself in Copenhagen and are in need of trim, zippers or buttons, this looks like the place to go.



Fairly non-descript building hiding a rainbow of color inside!



Zippers!

Just one small, colorful section of trim.

Only open from 10 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday, but there is a website...in Danish only.

11. Sommerfuglen, Vandkunsten 3

This was the one yarn store I had visited when I was in Copenhagen the first time a few years ago. I remembered that they had Hanne Falkenberg kits - she's a Danish knitwear designer and I recall her kits being popular, albeit expensive, purchases among the knitters at the Stitches knitting conventions. Since the kits are about 1/2 the price when you buy them in Europe, I thought maybe I would buy one from this store. But ultimately I changed my mind when I saw an Isager (another Danish designer) sweater sample on display in the store. I purchased the yarn for it and was able to buy the English version of the instruction book online after I returned home. It's from the book "Amimono Room 606", if you're interested.

Nice yarn store close to the center of Copenhagen

This is the sweater that caught my eye

Yarn for the sweater

Yarn for the cuffs and bands and back yoke

 12. I.W. Hvidberg, Løngangstræde 25

The last stop on my grand fabric and yarn store tour is actually the oldest fabric store in Denmark and maybe even Europe. It dates from 1780. I was a bit intimidated when I stepped inside, because it looked as if it was only a place for ordering fabrics for suits that they would then make for you. But if you wander in farther you'll find a back hallway stuffed full of fabrics and there's a small basement "maze" crammed with silks, cottons and other fabrics. No bargains here, but the fabrics are nice.

The ugly store front certainly doesn't say "1780" 



Serious suit fabrics

Beautiful wool

Whew! It was quite a long day to visit all of these places. I actually did my scouting trip on one day and then returned to City Sycenter and Sommerfglen to buy my goodies.

I hope you enjoyed the tour, and now if you go to Copenhagen, you'll know where to shop!