Paris is gearing up for the Olympics!

Signs and bright colors are everywhere, affixed to, and sort of clashing with, the ancient buildings of Paris.

The Gendarmerie are noticeable, and I’ve even seen a military presence, as well. I don’t dare film them, as they’re armed to the teeth, and I don’t want to cause an international incident.

Some of the Métro stops are closed, and there are temporary fencing/barriers stacked in large, neat piles around the city – ready to be put up at a moment’s notice.

And, surprise, surprise, I just found out I’m going to be staying in Paris for a bit of the festivities! (There’s a certain Parisian kitty that is in need of a Nanny, again!)

In the meantime, let me tell you about the workshop I attended to make my own “luxury handbag.”

It’s the only class that I scheduled for myself, since I won’t be enrolled in a language course. (I’m already in school with the ATFrenchies – and I’ve actually had two classes whilst here!)

So, for this workshop, I made my way easily to the 3ème arrondissement, and found the shop where I was scheduled to meet the group and our instructor. The class was full of Americans – all young women. It was a fun and funky little shop of all things ART – with a workshop in the back of the store. Patrons were free to check out what we were doing as they shopped.

There were racks of GORGEOUS materials from all over Paris. One rack had designer scarves like Hermès, Dior, YSL, and others. All of the fabrics were high-end, and priced accordingly. It will shock no one to read that the items I personally selected for my luxury handbag were on the higher end.

Ca-Ching!

Depending on the style of bag one wanted to make, you were able to choose 4 – 5 fabrics. She repeated that. The younger girls immediately went to the racks and returned to the work table with 4 and 5 fabrics each. I just stood there, a little perplexed. I really didn’t want 4 – 5 different fabrics. To my thinking, it was to be a relatively small bag, so I had been imagining maybe 2 fabrics, plus an interior silk, which would come later. Right? I don’t know, but I seemed alone in my thinking.

So, I asked:

“On DOIT choisir 4 – 5 tissus, ou non?” (Do we HAVE to choose 4 – 5 fabrics, or no?)

She answered:

“Oh, non, madame, vous pouvez choisir qu’un tissue, si vous voulez.” (Oh no, madame, you can choose just one fabric if you want.)

Thank HEAVENS, I thought to myself – but the other participants kept all their selections.

While I am an artist, I’m only sort of crafty, you know? Not the neatest with glue, etc. (I was that confused kid in need of assistance with projects in 1st grade.) Anyway, I got off to a rocky start. OMG, I thought, here we go. Right out of the gate, I was the one that had the wrong sized pattern pieces for cutting my material. I wanted to make the small cross-body, structured bag but I had the pattern pieces for the medium, unstructured soft bag. The instructor went searching for the right pattern sizes for me, and couldn’t find any in-house. She had to send an employee to one of their other stores.

C’est moi.

To be clear again, I AM NOT A SEWIST. I know how to thread a machine. That’s it. However, I do have a background in design, as well as composition, if that matters. I knew the look I wanted and could envision it. I had the whole thing mapped out in my head. I just didn’t know what the construction phase would be like. (I kept thinking about first grade and glue.)

As I waited for my patterns to arrive, I sat and watched all the young girls who were really excited about making their bags. They all had so many different textures/fabrics in front of them, and listening to them I could tell they were definitely overwhelmed. I got the feeling they just pulled every piece they liked, and now they didn’t know what to do with all of them. And once you cut the fabric, there is no turning back. You couldn’t change your mind. And if you made a mistake, and hated your choices, you had to live with it.

So, it was important to really visualize how it was all going to be sewn together – you know, which pattern was going to end up where on the bag?

I wanted my bag to look Chanel or Dior – classic, understated, with just a touch of bling. And I had an idea in mind, color-wise, because of my upcoming trip to Amsterdam to see Taylor Swift.

My friend Jennifer told me that it tends to be chillier in Amsterdam, so to be sure to pack a jacket/sweater. You all know I wanted to wear something special to this concert. So the other day, I happened by a cute little store (Imagine that, in Paris!), and bought myself a sweet bubble-gum pink Chanel-style jacket (No, not real Chanel!) with gold buttons. I liked it so much, and it was so inexpensive, I bought a similar version in red. (It’s ok, it was all on sale, and I’m doing girl math – I’ll just eat baguettes for the remainder of the month. I’m teasing.)

Then, I bought a gold shimmery tank top and a pair of understated muted (subtle!) gold and rope fabric loafers/sneakers for walking around in Amsterdam at the concert, of course.

On that note, gold shoes are the “it” thing here right now. Every store has gold shoes! I think it has to do with the Olympics or something. I’m thinking medals? Silver, too, but less so. Anyway, I lost track of my story. I was going for pink and gold, with hints of cream, which I adore, and I had pulled two fabrics that fit the bill. One was pink (wool?) with tiny (!) cream sequins sewn in vertical lines. Very Chanel. The other was a cream/pink/shimmery gold plaid — the gold part is like gold tinsel, which is such a pretty color. It’s almost, but not quite, rose gold. The chain and hardware I’d selected matched that gold thread so perfectly, it made me giddy. And the chain? It has random rhinestone links, making it just a little “extra.”

I was so far behind everyone else when I started cutting the fabric. All of the professional sewists on-hand were men, and one of them probably couldn’t bear watching me cut so slowly. lol! I say that because he came over and offered to cut mine. OMG I was back in first grade all over again. I can cut, nicely, but I’m slow as molasses, and I was already behind. Oh, and he was also flirting with me. (He’s French, it’s like breathing for them.)

Anyway, he thought I was French, so we had a fun conversation. And he proceeded to put me to shame with his cutting skills. Then he whispered to me that I looked like Catherine Deneuve, which I’ve actually heard here before – and which my (late) mother was always told. It made me smile to think of her hearing me receive the same compliment. And it IS indeed a compliment.

These professional sewists that worked with us all day, also work at the fashion houses in some capacity here in Paris. I’m sure this handbag workshop is a side gig for them. They were the real deal.

The structured pocketbooks required a wicked strong glue and special black cardboard or card stock, and would take longer to mold than the soft bags. Making them also involved some hammering. The soft bags required some batting, and maybe some hammering if they added “feet.” I don’t see the point in feet on a soft bag. What am I missing?

Ok. Confession time.

When I had first started cutting my material, before the guy took over, I didn’t know one of my black cardboard pieces was underneath the huge swath of fabric, and I accidentally cut it. Oops. Now what? I didn’t like the idea of having the structure of my bag weakened/compromised, but I also didn’t want to get in trouble by telling on myself to the instructor. Oh well, here goes.

I did what any woman would do. I motioned to the guy who was flirting with me. He came right over, and I asked (in French) if he thought it would be alright to use the piece with the cut in it. He looked it over and said, yes, and I trusted him. But then, he smiled and said, but let me get you another one – and he did.

I’m going to interrupt myself to say that I now know why designer handbags are so expensive. It takes a lot of work! A lot. I was there for 4 or 5 hours. There were special machines for pressing and steaming. The table had to be protected/prepped for us to use the special glue. The forming of the cardboard required the usage of just the right amount of steam/heat, etc., and of course the professionals handled that part, as you can imagine.

There were about 6-8 industrial-type sewing machines, already set up with different colored threads, and operated only by the guys – though my guy did let me try!!! I told him I had the easy part. He said, for some, it might be easy, but not everyone. He made his job look easy, but it took strength, precision, and finesse to do what he was doing. I admired the workmanship.

So, here’s a quick summary of the process:

1. Choose fabric(s)

2. Cut fabric

3. Press fabric onto type of batting so that it can adhere to the cardboard

4. Trim fabric to fit the form perfectly

5. Glue the cardboard shapes, carefully affix the fabric to the glued cardboard. It dries fast!

6. Punch holes through fabric/cardboard on bottom of bag, to attach hardware “feet” using hammer

7. Choose an interior silk (not too much to choose from)

8. Let the professionals sew the cardboard/fabric, and form the bag, using steam/heat. (This is all a lengthy process!)

9. Punch holes, and add metal eyelets for the chain

10. Cut the chain, pinch the links together.

11. Add accoutrements

I was enjoying seeing how things were turning out for everyone else. One girl was a little disappointed with one of the fabrics she chose because she ended up not liking the way it paired with the other fabrics. She was still proud, but it was a tough (expensive) lesson. In this process, you really had to lay out all your pieces – fabric choices, bling, chain, etc., and make sure they went well together. Any design process, is like this, really.

A few girls called me over to get my opinion on their selection of bling, buttons, and whatnot, and that was fun for me. I was basically reaffirming their selection, or explaining why I might choose another.

One girl was quite young – 15 – and she was there with her mom. She was American but raised in England – so had dual citizenship. She had chosen all black and gold patterns, and called me over to ask about the final button. She couldn’t decide. I offered my opinion, and reasons for it, and she went with that, but I added – trust yourself! You know what you like. Take input, but learn to trust yourself, too. Such a sweetheart! And she made a great bag – having put so much thought and a bit of angst into it! I don’t know that I could have done that at 15.

I have to say that some of the bags were very, um, busy. Any time you have four or five textures/patterns/colors, well, that’s a lot to manage. And that’s what this was all about – decision-making, organization, and really managing it all and turning it into a piece of art.

At this stage of the game, I’m a bit more understated (boring?) than these young ones, but I do know what I like, and though I am long past 15, I am still learning to trust myself, too.

Oh, so one or two girls chose designer scarves and had them fitted to the front of their bags, showing “Christian Dior” or “YSL” on the front, making them appear to be really high-end designer bags. Clever! But my bag was going to be mine. An original Fleur de Lisa (which, if you know me, you know that’s been my art studio name for a long, long, time).

Everyone proudly wore their purses out of the building!

In the end, it was just me and the instructor, and she would only speak to me in French for some reason. (Everyone thinks I’m fluent.) She used a machine to punch the holes in my bag (as I watched a little anxiously), added the gold eyelets, and then the chain, and the bling I selected. Finally, another sewist added the closure ornament et VOILÀ !

Like everyone before me, I was completely thrilled with my bag. It cost a small fortune, I’m not gonna’ lie, but it was a long day of work and costly materials. And in the end, I completely love it.