Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Toile de Joy

When I admit that I made my wedding dress from the curtains of my bachelorette apartment, people usually wrinkle their nose and furrow their brow in an effort to comprehend, why on earth, out of all of the fabrics available to me in Paris, especially that I live down the street from the world's best fabric district, would I make my wedding dress out of old curtains?!?!

I made those curtains for that little apartment in the first place because I loved the fabric, and so when I moved in with Beau into his modern man style apartment, I was sad that this fabric no longer had a place in my life! Truth be told, I've made many day dresses out of old curtains and tablecloths, so I was happy to revisit this particular curtain fabric for my wedding dress - and what a fabulous destiny for bachelorette curtains! In French, this kind of fabric is called "Toile de Jouy", and traditionally features scenes of country life from fishing to frolicking to little courtship scenarios. I call the fabric that I used for my wedding dress "Toile de Joy" because of all of the fuzzy memories that it recalls for me!

I figure the best proof that this fabric used to actually be curtains is to feature some photos of the infamous bachelorette apartment! While pulling these out of the archives, I realized that I used to do SO MUCH Crafting and recuperating! Just in these photos, the "chandelier" I made out of yogurt jars and christmas lights, the "wall art" is old family photos taped behind a window pane that I found in the street, the slip cover for the couch is fabric that I dyed beige to cover the cheapest available ikea sofa, the side table and lamp I found in the street, along with that chartreuse coffee table and those chairs that my sweet brother is sitting on... I think I furnished and decorated that entire apartment for less than 300 euros. I had just got my very first fashion job, I was earning the minimum wage and I was SOOOO HAPPY to be moving out of the various crummy accommodations that I had been in for so long and into my very own apartment... The nostalgia!

My sweet brother was studying for a semester at La Sorbonne and slept in a sleeping bag on my hardwood floor every night! He is such a trooper! Between the both of us we had some of the most hysterical moments on a super tight budget. Like the time we took a trip to Sweden in the Winter because the flights were cheap (go figure!), stayed in a youth hostel that used to be a prison (our room was an old cell with bunk-beds!) and had no money to actually do anything (like have a warm cup of tea) or go anywhere (like to a museum!), so we spent the entire time outside!!! Those were the days, but I'm also happy that these are the days now too!
And now for a few stunning photos from Studio Mathewes:
I re-embroidered over the leaves and trees printed on the fabric in silver thread to make it more special.

& here's one of me and my Matron of Honor next to each other in our fancy dresses with our fancy purses.



1 comment:

  1. I have such fantastic memories of that apartement at Nation... The summer breeze blowing in through the curtains, the perfect arrangement of recuperated furniture & trinkets, and discovering my new girlfriend's routines... I am so chuffed that she is now my chérie wife!

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