Sweat Shop Paris: Lessons in Couture from the Sewing Cafe
More than one year ago, two artist types—in fashion and cosmetics—joined forces in the tenth arrondissement of Paris to open what they call, tongue in cheek, a sweat shop, which is actually a site dedicated to the home- and handmade and to the sociability of a drop-in community. Retailers Duss and Holleis share their visitors’ ideas and crafts in some funky, irreverent pages. More than two-dozen sewing or knitting or customized projects are at the ready, each with great step-by-step illustrations or photographs, all indicating level of mastery—simple or medium or advanced. Try fast-and-easy house booties or a quick-knit fishnet sweater with big needles. More complicated are Delphine’s jeans masks and Todi’s jacket, detailed instructions notwithstanding. This is a potpourri of, well, the unusual and the spirited, the soulful and the sassy, any hip, outré, and fun crafter will gravitate to this crafts home-away-from-home. --Barbara Jacobs