A sewing cafe in Paris

News of a sewing cafe in Paris. A brilliant idea - you can rent a sewing machine by the hour. That is very appealing. One of the things that stops me taking out the sewing machine more often is the idea of heaving it out of its box and then packing it away afterwards.

Kaftans from Istanbul in Paris

In Paris for a flying visit...(above - a chalk drawing of a cheeseboard on a cafe blackboard) by chance come across an exhibition of embroidered kaftans from Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, at the Louvre (only just - there was a strike about proposed job cuts...)
Was struck by the tails left on the ermine lining this 16th century quilted kaftan (quilted with the same running stitches we saw in the kantha last week).
















And spotted pomegranates on an Italian velvet kaftan from the second half of the 16th century - alongside tulips (another flower that links east and west)














And finally a talismanic kaftan with phrases from the Koran - in our first class, someone pointed out that people often carry pieces of paper with phrases from the Koran as talismans to protect them. This quilted 17th century kaftan was covered with them.