Designers, indulge in French elegance

Women who sew and have a yen for domestic elegance, a la Francais, will find much to delight them in the book, “French General Home Sewn: 30 Projects for Every Room in the House” by Kaari Meng. Meng is the owner of the California store French General, a specialty shop that sells vintage and new textiles, notions and other products. She has a fascination for French living that inspires the designs and fabric choices in her book.

The book is so eye-appealing in its design that it’s more likely to find a home on the coffee table than on the bookshelf when it’s not in use.

Although the projects in the book are inspired by vintage French fabrics, Meng notes that the projects can easily be made with new fabrics that have been made to look and feel old by tea dyeing and repeated washings before cutting the pieces for the project.

She offers suggestions for reproducing the look of French chateaux and farmhouses in one’s own home, noting that “unusual color combinations, hand-covered or vintage buttons, embroidery and vintage trims all add to the look and feel of vintage sewing.”

Her favorite fabrics for achieving the French look are Indian prints, ticking with red stripes, and textiles woven of hemp, linen or nettle.

Projects in the book are rated according to difficulty, from beginner to advanced. One of the easiest is a lavender-filled heart and one of the more advanced is a bedcover.

As a seamstress, I was attracted to the farmers market tote project, a hanging notions organizer, and napkins embroidered with a dandelion blowing in the wind. The tote bag is oversized and the bottom is reinforced with ticking stripes, creating a jaunty design element. The bag straps and a center pocket also are of ticking stripes. The notions organizer is designed to hang by buttoned tabs from a towel bar or dowel attached to the back of a door. The embroidered napkins are as simple as hemming the four sides and using stem stitches, French knots and straight stitches to create the dandelions.

Other projects in the book are a seat cushion, throw pillows, linen curtains and tiebacks, a travel bag, a scalloped tablecloth and many others.

Another delightful thing about the book is that project patterns and embroidery transfers are included in a pretty envelope affixed to the inside of the front cover, which makes for easy access. The patterns require no enlarging by photocopier or other means.

“French General Home Sewn” is an easy book to use. It has a spiral binding, allowing it to open flat, a feature any seamstress will welcome.

Meng offers advice for assembling a sewing basket and how to find and organize fabrics once the goal of a “stash” has been achieved.

The Resources section of the book gives a list of some of Meng’s favorite suppliers, designers, fabric fairs and collections.

The one drawback to the book, in my opinion, is the size of the typeface. I found it too small to read comfortably, but that is a minor flaw.

To learn more about “French General Home Sewn,” visit www.chroniclebooks.com, or call local bookstores.

Snippets

. Sewing Buddy has made its debut at www.simplicity.com. The feature’s learn-to-sew instructional video covers the ins and outs of sewing a jumper using a specific New Look pattern. The video demonstrates how to read a pattern, how to pin, mark, cut, sew and adjust the jumper to get a perfect fit. The steps can be reviewed as many times as needed.

. The Friday Fiber Friends meet at 1 p.m. each Friday at the Page Farm and Home Museum at the University of Maine in Orono. The group is open to anyone who knits, crochets or does other needlework. Group members recently pooled skeins and balls of yarn from which members may draw to do a charity knitting or crocheting project of their choice. The group suggests using the book “Knitting for Peace” as a resource for finding organizations in need of hand-knit or crocheted items. To learn more about the group, e-mail MaryBird@umit.maine.edu, or call 866-2578.

. The University of New England Art Gallery on its Westbrook College campus, 716 Stevens Ave. in Portland, will exhibit artist Alice Spencer’s “Fabricating Time: Paintings and Collected Textiles” from Nov. 13 to Jan. 11. The paintings in the exhibit are based on textiles in Spencer’s collection. A gallery talk is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19. Also at the gallery is a Global Textile Expo 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23. It will offer “displays and discussions about textiles and traditional clothing from Maine creators, collectors and immigrant communities with long-standing textile traditions” according to the UNE Web site www.une.edu/gallery/spencer.asp. At the expo, textile expert Yosi Barzilai will be on hand to help identify pieces brought in by the public. For more information about Alice Spencer and her work, visit www.alicespencer.net.

ahamlin@bangordailynews.net

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