Friday, June 17, 2016

French Needle Paris 2016 - Day 5 part 2

Because the last post was so heavy with images, I didn't want this to get lost. Friday night's dinner was at La Mascotte in Montmartre. Dinner that night was very special. We had a guest join us, Hélène Le Berre who is a needlework designer and illustrator.

If you are not familiar with Hélène's work, I would suggest you look at this video (It's in French) or just google her. Hélène graduated with a degree in Arts specializing in embroidery hoping to become a costume designer. She started her career with the French magazine De fil en aiguille, collaborating with others on books which she enjoyed, and later went on to free lance. She has a huge number of books already published, and they are all typically french with lovely pictures and finishing ideas.

She has even collaborated with Lisa, the owner of the The French Needle and the organizer of this trip, to design a pattern for the shop. Isn't it pretty? I could definitely see this hanging in my room.


My one biggest regret is that I forgot to bring my copy of Les Oiseaux with me for her to sign. I didn't remember till I was on the train to Toronto >.<


Although most of her books are cross stitch, she enjoys many other forms and even teaches out of her studio. For dinner she showed up wearing a blouse that she had embroidered herself with ribbon and wool.


Unfortunately, they sat Hélène at the other end of the table so I wasn't able to talk to her until the end of the dinner.


But she did bring her latest book with her for us to look at. It is called Icônes de mode and is now on my wishlist :) Here I am showing the book to the ladies sitting with me at the other end. After dinner, Hélène came over to sit next to me so we could talk a little which was AWESOME! I love her work, especially her color palette. Hopefully one day when I make it back to France, I will be able to go visit her studio and maybe take a class.


After dinner we convinced the driver to take us for a little drive. He took us up to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur.


It is set on a mountain, so we had a lovely view of Paris in the evening.

3 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness. What a beautiful post, lovely pictures and a memorable journey. Thank you so much for sharing.
    xxx

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  2. What a view! Paris at dusk is enchanting. And how special to be able to talk to people whose work you admire.

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  3. What a wonderful evening. And Sacre Coeur is probably my favourite place in Paris..

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