May 13, 2010

J'adore

Last month I picked up two beautiful books on embroidery, but they are in French. I can't read or speak French at all, so I wasn't sure if I was going to buy them. After about 10 minutes of self-debate, at the last minute I took them to the counter before I changed my mind. When I got home that evening I searched for the titles in English on Amazon, just in case they were translated titles. I didn't find them. Whew! That made me feel a LOT better about my purchase.

The title of the first book is Paris Vintage by Hélène Le Berre. I first saw this book at Creativa and fell in love at first sight. I couldn't find much on the author, but I did discover Fifi Mandirac who happened to do the styling on this book. (Click on her name to check out her gorgeous and inspiring blog, some of which is in English.)


Here is a sample of the projects from the table of contents. 

The designs are very Parisian and vintage inspired. There are lots of architectural designs with Parisian details.   

Isn't this a gorgeous idea? 
This project is the last one in the book, but it's also what sold me. The frame is made of cardboard, which makes me reminisce about some gifts that I made for friends in high school. 

The title of the second book is Ma vie à broder : Des centaines de motifs à broder by Sylvie Blondeau. This book is so cute! It had me at hello.


This is the page that appeared when I first opened the book.
Eeeeek! It's sew adorable!

All of the designs are charming, simple and totally me (as in my style). Some are in French...

And some are as American as...

All of the text may be in French, but the illustrations and photographs are very informative and so inspiring.

That's the beauty of art - it  transcends language. But I would still like to learn more French.

4 comments:

Kellie said...

Oh I love it. The images in the second seem to jump off the page.

I would love to learn french so much that for a while I would visit lovely french blogs and translate them using a google translator. I was convinced I could learn by reading the phrases first in french, then english, and studying the pictures. I can't speak a word.

Unknown said...

Which ones do you follow? I had the idea to start looking at some French blogs, but I am sure to get overwhelmed. Thanks for your comment and the follow!

Kellie said...

I actually don't follow any at the moment. They were clogging up my google reader & seeing unread numbers stresses me out for some reason.

The blogs I did follow I came across on decor8.

Wendi said...

I love this book! I hope I can find one here.