Ya, I'm Into High Class Stuff.

This past week a huge tent has been erected in the middle of Union Square down here in San Francisco  for an amazing event: Le Festival des Métiers, A Rendez-Vous with Hermès Craftsmen.

My mind was blown.

Now, I'm a fan of Hermès, but this event really threw them to the top of my list of inspiring métiers. I knew what they did, how they did it, and the general mentality of how they view their craft. But seeing it in person? Amazing. I was honestly taken aback by the artistry and the craftsmanship. And let's just be honest: I know that the brand is expensive and super famous and they're HIGH FASHION, but that isn't what attracts me to it. It's the fact that it's a small company and everything is made using the traditional techniques they've been using for over a hundred years. That tradition is so much more of an allure to me-- I can only hope to aspire to be a part of that sort of legacy!

Each button hole is made by hand by a sharpened tool. It takes 12 minutes to sew EACH button hole by hand. Most of the buttons pictured above are mother of pearl that has been hand dyed. Watching this seamstress work was super interesting. She said she'd been working with Hermès for over 25 years and had been sewing couture for years before she started with the company. The buttons she was sewing on had "H" designs on them... it takes 6 button holes to sew in that design.

I would appreciate the rain if I had pants that could tuck into my rain boots.

Busy girl is an understatement! I'm working on quite a few things, including finally getting my bathroom into shape.

Plain, plain, plain. I don't yet have "after" pictures considering there's still lots of things I'd like to fix up before I can feel really proud of what I've done. Since these "before" pictures were taken, I've put up a shower curtain, put in a bath rug, got some new towels and some random trinkets.

I found the glass pieces and tin tray at the local Goodwill for under 7$ and am actually very happy with them! I cleaned everything up and have filled the glasses with Q-tips, cotton balls, and hair pins--- they all sit happily on the tray on top of the toilet. 

I pulled out my embroidery circle to start working on a piece for the wall! I designed the pretty vintage-inspired sign on tracing paper, scanned it into Photoshop, and then found a great font for my little phrase. After I situated it how I wanted it, I printed it out and then using a makeshift lightbox (piece of glass in front of a lamp), traced it out onto some fabric and got to embroidering! It still has a long way to go and I'm hoping to not run out of the green thread in the picture before I finish the design!

I also spent some time designing some recipe cards on Photoshop! Turns out I've been hoarding an Italian cook book from the library and figured I might as well get on with the whole business of turning it back in! I used watercolor and painted the little sink+dishes drawing after seeing a free clipart of it online, scanned it into the computer, fixed it all up and did the layout in Photoshop. Printed it out on some card stock and now I have my own, one of a kind recipe cards! 

And on the topic of libraries, I also picked up a French textbook. More info on that soon, though- including a video! (it's been a while, hasn't it?)