The Maastricht fabric market, a crochet sweater and a book shop in a medieval church
The Maastricht fabric market, a crochet sweater and a book shop in a medieval church
Last week I visited Maastricht (and Aachen) and now I have a plan: becoming a millionaire and buying an art nouveau mansion downtown Maastricht…. Such a wonderful town! I remember I said the same things about Lüttich last year, and to my defence, I would still graciously accept a mansion there, so that I could live my wild crafting life in Lüttich.
I am so modest and nice, aren’t I?
But back to Maastricht which is a sewist and architecture lovers heaven. After several days of intense rain in Aachen, we decided to spontaneously visit Maastricht. With no plan in mind we drove directly into the city centre, found a parking place – which by the way was up to date the most expensive underground car park we ever encountered 1 € per 20m minutes – and wandered directly into a fabric market.
A great hurray and joy for me. After the first glimpse my joy transformed into maniacal excitement, as all fabrics were half the price or less than at home. And the slightly disturbing realisation I made is, the fabrics are exactly the same as the ones at home… only cheaper. After my coat sewing experiment I have this inflated self image which tells me that I am able to tackle all sewing projects indifferent how complicated (ok, besides this gathered skirt, this is simply not possible :-DDD) and so I decided to forget my husband and go hunting after a thick wool fabric for a winter jacket. But I was so overwhelmed I was unable to decide while my husband was slowly and silently freezing. After conversing with several completely unknown fabric shoppers (who also were so kind to take a photo of me, so that I could decide if the color of the fabric suits me) I bought…. tada… nothing. With the idea to return later I had pity for my husband, and we started to research eateries and cafes. And we were successful in such an unexpected way: coffee in medieval cathedral.
In Germany and the Netherlands are many churches which are no longer in use. Many of them are abandoned and no longer cared for, slowly decaying, which let my heart bleed. In Maastricht they found a wonderful solution to rescue this historical building. They built a bookstore and a confectionery into the church. It was like a wonderland for us, high ribbed vaults and amazing pillars framed by rows of books and garnished with a strong and creamy espresso macchiato. Although I do not speak Netherlands I could not resist and bought a sewing book, hoping that I can make sense of the patterns, photos and drawings. The book presents 15 dresses in sizes from 30 up to 56, which is amazing and so inclusive. I already have plans for four of them.
But back to the market I was a bit disappointed as it was closed… but as I can be very persistent in my pursuit of fabric and wool, we visited Maastricht a second time on our way home from Aachen. The market on this day was much smaller but I was able to find a thick woven wool fabric in dark grey and an even darker, I will say mysterious, flower fabric with a slight stretch. The flower fabric is dedicated for the flared brown/black dress on the photo above and the grey wool will become a short jacket.
I also tried to get a bit of crochet time during our Aachen and Maastricht visit, but I made a strange mistake (I somehow lost two clusters in a row) and I had to unravel everything I crocheted during the last week. Graaaahhhh. But I am still excited about this pattern, which will be a raglan sweater not worked top down but flat and then seamed. Hopefully the sweater will resemble the image in my head :-D
Thank you @crosheille for initiating and @muscara, @shanibeer, @marblely for hosting the #needleworkmonday. If you want to see more beautiful projects with yarn, fabric and most of all needles, follow @needleworkmonday. Or even better grab your needles and keyboard and join the #needleworkmonday community.
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Shopping in lovely Maastricht is always fun.
Greetz from close by.
I never knew... it was my first time there and as you could read, I really love the town. And yes, I may have bought some shoes (besides the farbic) :-DDD
Sunny greatings back
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I am in love with how they transformed the church. What a great way to keep it up and still make great use for it. I can imagine how nice it would be to sit down and have a coffee and read books there. It’s nice you were still able to find some goodies to take home. You are so adventurous in that you are going to try to figure out those patterns by the pictures and drawings. I would be so nervous to do that...at least in this beginner sewing stage that I’m in lol. I really like the style of that black and brown dress. Great post as always!
Yes the church was very impressive. You could walk four stories up and be near the vaults. ANd they had a wonderful concept for the caffe. There were table for students, but also tables were tablets/laptops and so on were forbidden. So, people could decide if they want to be communicative or want to work on there own.
ANd with the patterns.... 😂😂😂 We will see, if I am able to translate the Netherlands (or if the pictures will be sufficient) But I could not walk away from this book. I have three friends here who want to sew a bit more and all of them need bigger sizes and it is so hard to find them in Germany (mostly the pattern stop at 42 or 44) and as we often swap fabrics and patterns, I thought this pattern book with the bigger sizes will be a useful investment.
And as always I am happy you liked the post... 🌈💕
I am so curious if you are starting a quilt on your own (I already told you... this seems so tough for me)
I hope you are able to translate those patterns! I’m rooting for you! 😉
Yes, I have decided the quilt will be my next sewing project. My SIL will be doing one as well so we’ll be encouraging each other along the way. I get it, you know your strengths and know what things are challenging for you.
Oh no so nice travel you had. I add Maastricht/Lüttich to my travel list. I'm happy to visit your future apartment. I'm sure you will generously open a room for Needlework fans 😁
Apartment!!? I naturally will buy a complete house 😂😂 And then you are absolutely invited. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a kind of artists residence.... I always dreamed about this. But sadly we never really managed for long. We had an old school for some years together with another dance ensemble and some visual artists, but this building was reactivated into a school again, and all was over.
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