2nd National Salon du Boutis, Caissargues 16-18 May 2014

Back from my trip, arriving last night, I have been thinking about how to report on all the amazing things I have seen the last two weeks.  Before we went to Nimes for the salon, we were in Germany for a few days, and afterwards Lou and her husband came back with us to spend some time on the southern wine route of Rheinland Palatinate.  We were lucky to be there at the perfect time of year when all the roses were in bloom everywhere, and Lou and I were in heaven - we saw roses climbing the height of a small house, and others absolutely covered in flowers.

The salon was fabulous, it is such a feast for the eyes to see so many boutis at once, imagine how many hours of precise work were represented !   A huge compliment goes to Annie-Claude Pantel, president of France Boutis, for her organization and continual efforts to ensure that everyone had what they needed, and the charming and kind Mr Pantel, who visited everyone every day, bringing new people to meet and much-needed coffee.

Hiromi and Nicole hard at work labeling patterns.  We were there to assist Hiromi on her first expo, and her debut of her boutis patterns.  They are all elegant, delicate and beautifully finished. 

Nicole is one of the 4 founding members of France Boutis.

A corner of the stand showing Hiromi's work.  Nicole and I used our own pieces to decorate the walls, so some are my antique petassons and the beautiful large pieces hanging are Nicole's work.

I love these small pochettes, and the pattern for the "portemonnaie" in pink was very popular.

Pillows

Two ladies from the "court" of Arles in traditional costume with Hiromi at the opening ceremony on Friday.

 

The charming and friendly Dominique Fave at her stand Credo Boutis.

Georgette at the stand next to ours had some lovely pieces she stitched.

The stand of Lei Roucas dou Barri of Pierrefeu - beautiful traditional boutis.

The stand of France Boutis where you could become a member.  In the background on the stage are the antique pieces that were loaned by M Cabanel, the guest of honour, and others.

The boutis of Nanou

Mr Hubert Valeri with his assistant and Christine.  M Valeri is always charming, gives his students his very best efforts, and has perfect, contemporary designs (my husband's favorite).

 Mme Calendrier with Dominique.

  Mme Dominique LeRoux.  I have her books, some of which have now been reprinted.  She specializes in patterns of antique boutis.

The stand of FB again, Henriette in the center and Danielle on the far right.

The stand of Mme Francine Born.

The girls of Pierrefeu, a fun and happ group.

Anne, Nicole, Henriette

And these two charming ladies, I do not know their names, but they kept us entertained - fun and passionate about their boutis.

An exhibition of Nihon Vogue.

The stand of Marie Sylvestre -her work is very good, and she is a very friendly lady.  Her stand was right at the entrance, so she had a lot of explaining to do all day !

 

Coucou les filles !  Je vais essayer d'ecrire un peu en (mauvais) francais chaque fois.  Il m'a fait beaucoup de plaisir de rencontrer tous les amis du boutis et enfin de recontrer quelques amies bloggueuses "en vrai".  La deuxieme partie suit ...

 

Ich habe entschieden, endlich mal wieder diese Blogeintraege auch in Deutsch zu schreiben.  Ich hoffe, diese Bilder vom Salon haben etwas Freude bereitet.  Waehrend des Salons sind auch einige Damen am Stand vorbeigekommen, die diesen Blog folgen, und es hat Spass gemacht, sie in "echt" kennenzulernen.  Es gibt noch mehr zu erzaehlen .....

 

2nd National Salon France Boutis 16-18 May 2014

Time is flying by so fast and I realized I haven't posted about the next boutis national salon yet.   In 2012 I was at the first salon and it was simply wonderful !  A feast for the senses to see so many boutis all together with their creators and many other exhibits as well.  The goal of this association, of which Lou was a founding member, has always been to encourage dialogue and exchange among boutisseuses.  I am happy to say I have been a member since the start.

This time it is even more exciting for me !  Lou and I will be helping our friend and sister in boutis  Hiromi Nakayama at her booth for the salon.   Hiromi learned the technique of boutis from Lou and has gone on to be her star pupil, designing beautiful small items, bags, pillows as well as wonderful larger pieces.  Her work has been published in Japanese magazines.  Hiromi will be offering her patterns for sale at the salon.   We will have 4 languages between us - Japanese, French, English and German - so we are hoping many visitors will come and talk to us and share our passion for boutis.  Lou and I will be sharing some pieces we have made,  and I will be bringing a few antique pieces to look at.   Go to Hiromi's blog and look back at all her wonderful boutis.

Go to France Boutis and look at the list of groups and artistes showing their work, as well as some shops.  The list is not yet complete, so check back on their site often.

2nd National Salon of Boutis
16, 17, 18 May 2014
Centre Saint Exupery
30132 Caissargues (close to Nimes)

I am thrilled to see so many boutisseuses again in one place, and I hope that you will come to this extraordinary expo if you are nearby.

Boutis expo at Pierrefeu du var March 8-9

The traditional Provençal association Lei Roucas dou Barri hold an annual boutis show in March.  This past weekend was the 9th edition.   Janet and I sent a small boutis item for the exchange, this year the subject was "butterflies".
Some of our boutis friend were there with their booths, and it seems it was a happy, friendly show with good exchanges between our boutisseuses.  I am posting links to their blogs so you can take a look at the wonderful photos and enjoy the quality and broad scope of the boutis shown.

Lou who took some fabulous pictures
Nini who had a booth
Henriette the amazing personality behind all the organization
Marie who also had a booth for her beautiful original designs
Lei Roucas dou Barri the association
Les boutis de Chateau Gombert who make wonderful boutis

There will be more, I will update the list as I see them.  Enjoy - you will see why this is a passion I will always have.

Small boutis (petasson) Finishing

Finally I have finished stuffing this small petasson, and decided to finish it in the traditional way with a taped edge, a "tresse" in French.  All of my old small pieces are finished in this way.  I have made some  pieces myself which I finished with an embroidered edge, or a fancy hem, and large pieces with a straight border have been finished with a small hem, as is tradition.  The tape utilized is a kind of lingerie tape with a knitted effect, not a tight weave twill tape.

I have been taking a few pictures as I went along, to show you how I do this.  I am sure there are many other ways, but this works for me and as far as I can tell, is the traditional method.

Here is the completed stitching, with the excess fabric still attached.

I will be working from the right side initially.

Pattern from Boutis Traditionnel by Christiane Vignal.

Materials used here are my stitching thread (for this small piece I used Gutermann hand quilting thread, 100% cotton.  It is quite strong and fine.  I usually use  Dual Duty handquilting thread with a polyester core, which is very strong).  You can see the white tape I am using for finishing.

I am pinning the edge of the tape to the last line of stitching, working from the front.  You can see that the tape is facing downwards, so I can flip it up and over to the back when the first line of stitching is complete.

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This is the back, you can just see my pin mark on the outer edge through the last line of stitching

 And here it is stitched all the way around.  I use a small back stitch on the edge of the tape (no, I did not whip or use an applique stitch for this part).

The tape will stand up a bit from the work.  Be sure to follow the original stitching line (I stitch exactly on top of it)

Here is the"dangerous" part !!  You have to trim the excess fabric away.  I do this from the front so that I do not accidentally cut into the tape, and I keep the work on a flat surface.  I trim to about 1/4", and I clip the inner curve 3 times - once in the middle, and then one clip either side of that, about 1/8" apart.  Do not clip too close to the stitching.

 All that remains now is to fold the tape to the reverse, and pin.  You will stitch in the "ditch" of the last line of stitching.  I use the applique stitch for this and my same quilting thread.  If some of my seam allowance is peeking underneath the tape I just sweep it in with my needle as I go along.  Alternatively you might trim a little closer (I do not do this).

Just for comparison:  this is an old petasson, reverse side.  You can see how this one is finished with the tape.

I will post a final picture later when I have stitched down the final seam.  The next part will be to wash:   start with a soak in cold water for several hours to remove any remaining marks and help close any needle holes from stuffing, then wash in hot water with a mild detergent or Marseille soap.  Then lay out flat to dry on an absorbent towel.  I turn mine over once the top feels dryer, so that it dries evenly.  Sometimes I will pin to ensure the piece dries straight. 

I use a frixion marker to trace the design, which I remove by running a hairdryer over the piece before washing.  Better than ironing - remember a boutis must never be ironed.  I use this method for my applique too, it avoids the annoying white mark that these markers can leave.

Any questions ?

Here it is pinned, ready to finish

Finshed !

Wrong side view of edge

Complete piece against the light - the true boutis, relief and transparency.  It is now soaking in cold water.

Boutis progress

I have made stuffing the small petasson my focus project for this week.  It has been almost finished for so long, it is time to complete it.  I have decided to finished the edge with a tape, which was typical for these small pieces.  When I get to that point I will post a few photos on how to do it.
 I have also done some stitching on my large vanne, which is so much fun to do.  Now that I'm past the center which had a lot of close stitching, it is going a little faster.  I love the wheat pattern I am working on now.
I am getting a small stuffed heart ready for the exchange in Pierrefeu in March.  Stitching is close to completion then I will be stuffing this one too.

It's Superbowl Sunday here - so I will be stitching while my husband is watching the game !

Happy New Year Bonne Annee Gutes Neues Jahr

.....from me, a little late but still in January  !

We had a wonderful holiday with the whole family together, and now the house is empty again.  I am looking forward to a good 2014 and wish you all health, happiness and lots of stitching time.

Here are a few of the things I was spoiled with over the holidays -

Marlene worked her magic on this older top.  It was one of my goals for 2013 to finish most of the tops I have pieced.  There is only one left at this stage, so I am pleased.  I put the binding on this morning so I will have some simple sewing in front of the tv later !

The quilting pattern was very similar to the applique fronds.

This is a large quilt so you can only see a small portion of it.  It was a pattern in Primitive Quilts magazine which I enjoyed making, the finished product looks like the pattern in an old coverlet.

Trying out a thicker batting in this one, it is really heavy !  Also has the binding machined on, so I have a couple of evenings of handsewing.

Now for a real treasure !  My son gave this to me at Christmas.  It is a wonderful puzzle box made by an old gentleman he met.  He traded chores around the house - cleaning gutters, shoveling snow, heavy work that involved climbing, etc. which had become too much for the gentleman.

Here it is partially opened - all I need to do is twist the top slightly with one hand.

 Fully open - both of them thought this would be a wonderful sewing box for me - and they are right !  Just the right size for fine needles and boutis thread.  I may even line the bottom of the drawers.

From Nicole - a wonderful gift ! First this beautiful fabric covered box ......

Then the treasure of a wonderful sampler in my favorite variegated reds on overdyed linen.  This one will be framed soon and join the other two she has made for me which are hanging in my living room.

Wonderful isn't it ?  OH - the delicious chocolates are no longer in the box !!  Of course you know why - we couldn't resist !!

And just for fun - a couple of flowers from the garden this morning.  We have a beautiful day today after a week of dreary humid weather, today is cooler, drier and sunny.  Happy Sunday !