My Couture Notions Shop
The Blog

Welcome in our online shop

€ $ £...

Previous or back to : Back to General Store Back to  Wedding store Back to Traditional or historical costumes store Back to Lingerie store Version française

Sewing, knitting, embroidery, easy and fashion blog

--- ---

16 Item(s)

Set Ascending Direction
per page
Page:
  1. 1
  2. 2

I am Charlie

Jan 8, 2015 12:00:00 AM

I am Charlie

We would have preferred to offer you our best wishes in 2015 in other circumstances.
In this day of national mourning this tribute is obvious:

For (by alphabetical order) :

  • Ahmed Berabet, policeman,
  • Frédéric Boisseau, maintenance worker,
  • Frank Brinsolaro, policeman,
  • Jean Cabut dit Cabu, cartoonist,
  • Elsa Cayat, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst,
  • Stéphane Charbonnier dit Charb, cartoonist,
  • Philippe Honoré, cartoonist,
  • Bernard Maris, economist journalist,
  • Mustapha Ourrad, reviser,
  • Michel Renaud, organizer of the "Carnet de Voyage" biennial of Clermont-Ferrand,
  • Benarrd Verlhac dit Tignous, cartoonist,
  • Georges Wolinski, cartoonist,

And also :

  • Clarissa Jean-Philippe, policière

And finally :

  • Philippe Braham, cadre commercial.
  • Yohan Cohen, employé du supermarché Hyper Casher,
  • Yohav Hattab, étudiant,
  • François-Michel Saada, cadre supérieur retraité
Comments | Posted in General information By A&A

A creative comeback

Sep 23, 2014 12:00:00 AM

The big bang of the season being over, it's time to get creative!

We present you a small selection with Scottish colors. From the binder clip, to sewing custom labels through the pretty old book and the beautiful red woollen fabric you will be equiped for a creative comeback!

Season haberdashery

All materials are available online:

1- Scottish buttons 0,65 to 1,05€
2- School bag clip 2€
3- Scottish bias 1,80€/meter
4- Red woollen fabric color 036 45,50€/meter
5- Pretty old haberdashery book 12,50€
6- Lurex Scottish ribbon 1,30€/meter
7- Iron-on embroidered badge 4€
8- Silver custom woven labels from 22,30€/100 and Size labels to be sewn 1,40€/meter

Bookmark and Share

Blog tags:

Comments | Posted in General information By Amandine

Find us on social networks!

Apr 18, 2014 12:00:00 AM

It's official, A&A is a well-connected haberdashery!

It is important for us to keep you informed of the latest news in haberdashery but also to let you know the latest blog posts, or even to react or share information, bloggers, artists, events that we enjoy.

Social networks are widely developed in recent years and may allow us company, to be a little closer to you, our customers. That is why we chose to be a little more present on it.

We therefore propose to follow us on Facebook, sur Google plus, but also on Twitter, to see our videos on Vimeo, to see the latest news about haberdashery by images Instagram and share our pins on Pinterest !


Do not hesitate to react, give your views on our various articles, images, photographs, etc.. These reactions can help us serve you better!

Bookmark and Share

Blog tags:

Comments | Posted in General information By Amandine

Different knitting fibers

Jan 9, 2014 12:00:00 AM

There are many brands, sources and materials of yarn to knit or crochet. It can be sometimes confusing. Astonishment that one might think the wool has a very marginal position in the international market for textile fibers, only 2% of production against 37% cotton and 60% synthetic materials.

We chose A & A to put forward of fibers and spinning that we hold dear such as animal and vegetable fibers carded, spun or put ball in France to ensure that ancestral know-how. To help you better choose your yarn and wool, a summary of the fibers and their characteristics:

- Animal material

As the name suggests, these are all the fibers that may have knit from an animal. So general, it is called wool.

Many animals produce wool , the most common being the sheep , animal inhabiting a variety of regions of the world counted among 1 billion animals. There is also a breed of sheep prized for its particularly rich , soft and warm wool : merino . Sheep wool now comes largely from Australia, China and New Zealand.

Unfortunately, the production of wool in sheep in France today is very valued, it is also very competitive . However , spinning Rougnat ( Fonty ) created a project in partnership with a local association of the Creuse to upgrade and use local merino black sheep . They relocated Portuguese Merino breed in the Creuse and have created a range of unbleached wool black (with white merino wool blend ) natural undyed: The Fado wool.

Besides the sheep, wool can also come from the alpaca, a native animal of the Andes in South America whose production is mainly in Peru. Its wool is soft, very warm and slightly hairy. We find more and more alpaca wool mixed with sheep's wool or merino wool in the ranges of French mills. In Fonty, we have Boréal and Pole , in Cheval Blanc, we have Quito .

Mohair is a very hairy wool from the Angora goat (not to be confused with the wool of the same name from angora rabbits) from Turkey. Mohair is very soft and light, especially used for stoles, shawls, scarves... Mixtures of wool or mohair and lurex knitted yarn in some loosing way can also give a beautiful rendering. Mohair now comes from South Africa or the United States.

Cashmere wool is known as a "luxury" because it is very fine and soft and dear formerly found everywhere today. Wool from goats of the same name is produced mainly in the region of Mongolia. Part in the country of the same name, and the vast majority in the Lower Mongolia in China, in the Gobi Desert. Cashmere production has greatly increased in recent years in this country, flocks of goats have intensified, causing an increase in desertification and dust to the region of Beijing. The country is mobilized today to avoid the problem takes more important.

The angora comes not from goat but the rabbit! This is a very soft and supple fiber. Raising Angora is made on a large scale in China (the first world producer) and on small farms in France and Eastern Europe.

The camel also should be knit. It is a soft, fine wool like cashmere but quite rare. The hair is from the Mongolian camels down and from Kazakhstan.

The rarer Yak wool is very soft and warm. This wool is mainly harvested in Mongolia. Fonty offers camel wool and yak wool in different natural colors.

Silk is an animal material from the cocoon of the caterpillar of the mulberry tree. This is a popular fiber because it is very light, strong and unusual amount even if production is rising sharply. Industrial sericulture is mainly developed in Asia. We offer a range of merino wool and silk that is silky and very enjoyable to knit from spinning Valgaudemar: Merisoie. .

- Plant material

There is much to say about least hot plant material, much less known knitting because lighter and therefore preferred for spring or summer. Still, there are some very nice models top, dresses, accessories for spring and summer knitting cotton or linen.

The cotton plant material par excellence. It is a soft, highly breathable, and inexpensive, this makes it the most widely used natural fiber in the world and the most cultivated plant (2.5% of global agricultural land). The main producers are China, the U.S., India and Pakistan.

Unfortunately, the cultivation of cotton requires a lot of water and pesticides which resulted in many soil degradation in producer countries.

It is therefore important to highlight the culture of organic cotton much less profitable but helps preserve the environment. Spinning Rougnat (Fonty) offers organic cotton yarn from natural or stained Peruvian without chemicals (through dye plants): Coton Nat . This is an extremely soft and comfortable knit cotton.

There are also cotton yarn from recycled jersey: the trapilho. This large wire turned on itself is very pleasant to knit or crochet to quickly create large pieces bags, baskets, baskets, mats, etc.. We offer on-site large or small coils trapilho.

The cultivation of flax goes far back in the history of agriculture. This is a very resistant and extremely breathable fiber for great heat. France to long been a major producer of the material. Today is also China and Russia produce. World production of flax is losing momentum. Fonty once decided to enhance the production of yarn Calin available in cone or ball of 50g and more still.

- Synthetic materials

Less expensive than natural fibers, synthetic fibers are now ubiquitous in all the clothes: acrylic, polyamide, polyester ... you see them everywhere! acrylic may seem soft and silky and is very easy to tint. The polyamide is very durable and wrinkle resistant. The polyester is silky and very lightweight.
Synthetic fibers such as acrylic are created from chemically fused to obtain a wire polymers.

Moreover, these fibers pose many problems:

They are charged easily with static electricity, which can sometimes make it not very pleasant to wear clothing.The acrylic can look very soft to purchase and easy to maintain in the long run proves very biased to pilling. Synthetic materials are often heat-sensitive. Their chemical production releases harmful gases.

We offer little or virtually no yarn from wool plastic because we opted to develop natural fibers. Whether animal or vegetable fibers, their production and manufacturing issues are often of an ancestral know-how that we wish to highlight to allow income to local farmers that produce them. Find all our knitting yarns on this page .

Bookmark and Share

Blog tags:

Comments | Posted in General information By A&A

Results of our poll #1

Mar 12, 2013 12:00:00 AM

It was our 1st poll : 70 % of very positiv votes! Thank you to all participants.

Poll #1

See our new poll:

Are you rather?

  • Sewing
  • Embroidery
  • Knitting
  • Crochet

Bookmark and Share

Blog tags:

Comments | Posted in General information By A&A

Measurement tables

Oct 16, 2012 12:00:00 AM

A brief history
AFNOR (French Standards Agency) conducted in 1977 a campaign of measurements on the French population, in order to develop tables of body measurements: man, woman and child and a standardized labeling of making . This labeling was never actually put into practice because of the disappearance of the frech sizes (36,38 etc. ..) in favor of a significant measurements ranking, chest, waist, etc...

These measurements were used as a basis for the designers work and the world of clothing into the 2000s (for those wanting to follow because many companies have their own references, which explains the disparity in size following brand). The customer feedback on the non-matching clothes with the bodies showed their evolution and thus the need create new measurement tables.

In 2008, at the request of a professionals group, IFTH (French institute of textile and clothing), organized a major measurements campaign performed throughout France with cabins developed for a more reliable action. All data were analyzed in order to establish new measurements tables.

Tables available on the website are those of the AFNOR 1977 revised in 1987.
Tables of measurements developed by IFTH in 2008 are reserved for professionals, use is under license ( the purchase is quite expensive).

How to use the measurements tables
Firstly, you should know they can help you and give you a basis but they don’t reflect anymore the French population today.
Comparing with the recent measurement tables, we can see that, specially for women, the waist measurement is thicker.
They are still used to manufacture sewing or knitting patterns for home designing and sewing. Professional use is definitively not serious.
All measurements given are body measurements taken without any ease.

Gradation sheets sold on the website:
First, what is it?
A gradation sheet, from a standard size reference pattern, enables to get all other sizes by direct drawing.
All gradation sheets have been developed in the A&A design office. Developments have been based on AFNOR 1987 measures tables data.
All points of the pattern change in abscissa and ordinate in parallel to the straight grain and to the bust line.
This method is only valid when starting with a basis pattern in standard size, a custom tailored pattern fits to a single person and can’t  be graded.


Measurement tables are freely available on line here.

Bookmark and Share

Blog tags:

Comments | Posted in General information By A&A
--- ---

16 Item(s)

Set Ascending Direction
per page
Page:
  1. 1
  2. 2