My second round of seeing France through the lense of a quilter dives into the neighborhood of Montmartre, Paris. I purchased this Textile Tours guide of Paris and realized there was an entire district of fabric stores in this area of Paris! This also happened to be an area I had a foodie tour and a street art tour scheduled AND a cemetery I wanted to walk AND the Moulin Rouge AND a massive basilica not to be missed with a stunning view of Paris at the top of the hill. Phew!
Conclusion: There are a ton of reasons for a quilter to want to visit Montmartre!
Don’t miss my first round of a quilter in Paris in this post: A Quilter in Paris: Treasure Hunting at the Saint Ouen Flea Market.
A Fabric District in Paris
While it’s true, there are tons of fabric shops in Montmartre within short walking distance of each other, they are mostly clothing and home decor fabrics – not quilter’s cottons.
One shop had a large selection of Liberty of London, another shop did have notions and cut yardage like what we quilters are used to seeing at shows.
However, fabric isn’t cheaper in France. So while I enjoyed looking – really just grazing by, I didn’t purchase much.
Also remember, fabric is heavy. It will really weigh down your luggage – so think twice before buying something you could find at home.
I really loved these tea towels depicting Paris, but what would I do with them? I decided a photo of them would suffice.
These mini-mannequins showed off some of the gorgeous garment fabric at Tissus Reine. This was my favorite fabric shop in Montmartre. Tissus Reine was five floors high set on a corner street with bargain bins outside – you can’t miss it! It had the Parisian tea towels, Liberty of London, some quilters cotton, home decor, and everything inbetween!
Tissus Reine fabric shop was the winner with soooooo much I could have bought. In the end, walked away with a small cut of this colorful LoL fabric I plan to make scrunchies and hair scarves with.
I’m not above admitting some buyer’s remorse. Meaning: I wish I had purchased something I didn’t.
There were bins and bins of discounted fabrics on the sidewalks. Here was so much denim, all different colors and weights! I do wish I had bought some. My thoughts in the moment were weighing down our suitcases (it was only day three of our trip), and that I don’t typically sew with denim. So would I actually put it to use when I got home? Perhaps not, but I do wish I’d given myself the option.
Frou Frou is a store worth mentioning in Montmartre for quilters. It has what we expect: pre-cut fabric, notions, and embellishments. Definitely put this one on your list!
The last store I’ll shout out in Montmarte of interest to quilters is a button shop called Dams Boutons. This tiny little hole-in-the-wall has thousands of buttons to see. Button styles ranged from fancy couture to jouvenile to novelty. I spent quite a bit of time in this shop just looking around.
As a fellow quilter, I encourage you to appreciate Paris for what it is most know for – fashion, costume, and pageantry! Don’t expect it to be something it isn’t. You won’t find a Missouri Star town here. Even though you won’t find much quilter’s cotton, be encouraged by prints and textures of other fabrics to inspire your next quilt project.
Stay tuned for my next post where I show you the non-quilt, quilty inspirations all around Montmartre – the cemeteries, the buildings, and the street art!
