Skip to main content

Boutis of Provence with Madame Francine Born


This summer, I am very fortunate to be taking some classes in "boutis" with Madame Francine Born. Madame Born is one of the "Grandes Dames du Boutis" in southern France, and as such, has a vast amount of knowledge related to the history and the traditional techniques of the craft. Along with the many samples of her own work that she brings to the class for her students to study, she also has many stories to share about the history and the tradition of boutis. And of course, through out the class, priceless gems of technique are taught.

She showcases her work on her own website: http://www.boutis-provence.fr/ or http://www.boutis.fr/. (Google will translate).

"Le Mireille" is one of Madame Born's designs, using traditional motifs and symbols for the design. In the design on the left, she uses coloured cording in the channels. The same design on the right uses white cording.
"Les papillons" (butterflies), combines boutis with "matelasse" ( hand quilting with batting).
My work in progress for the next class at the end of July. These are some of the sewing notions required for boutis.

Her kits, as well as some of the materials, are available on her website.


Labels:

Comments

  1. MonicaJuly 11, 2012 at 4:30 PM

    While I am very much a colour girl myself, I do have to say that Le Mireille is stunning in the all white version. Thanks for the link!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Seams FrenchJuly 12, 2012 at 8:04 AM

    I agree with you Monica. The all white boutis is my favourite as well and most traditional boutis is all white. To see these quilts up close is really very inspiring. I will continue to post blogs about boutis throughout the summer. Thanks for checking in.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Tristan Quilt at the V & A

On our recent visit to London, one of our first stops was at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Established in 1852 and named for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who were strong supporters of it's founding, the museum is a facility that is both educational and cultural, and open to everyone. It is here, in the "Medieval and Renaissance Gallery" that I finally saw the "Tristan Quilt", one of the earliest surviving quilts showing stuffed, corded whitework (known as "Boutis" in France). A Chihuly chandelier hangs in the grand lobby of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Medieval needlework was often a medium for storytelling. It told of wars and conquests, heros and warriors, love won and love lost, etc. Myths and legends were recorded for future generations through the nimble fingers of the artisans. Through the intricately depicted figures stitched into the Tristan Quilt, this classic Norman legend follows Tristan into battle...
6 comments
Read more

Boutis: Traditional French Needlework

" Piqûre de Marseilles" or "Boutis" is a traditional French hand stitched and corded needlework technique, which uses embroidery stitches to create intricate channels that will later be stuffed with yarn, thereby creating a raised design with three layers. It's origins, and it's name, can be traced to the port of Marseilles in southern France to the 15th century. Traditional boutis was a technique invented to embellish otherwise plain white cotton with intricately patterned channels that would later be stuffed with a plump white yarn to give it relief. The resulting corded whitework created an elegant, embossed textile that was much sought after. Not only was it aesthetically appealing, but it also provided warmth and absorbency, so could be used for bed coverings, toilette linens (like towels), clothing items, home decor, etc. The first two photos below are from the collection of Mme. Monique Alphand, a well known French expert and collector of antique t...
3 comments
Read more

Blocking and Squaring Boutis

The door of her cage has been opened. She is free to fly off and find her destiny. After many months of hand stitching and then many more months of cording, my little "colibri" is ready to set off on her own. As this was my first attempt at designing so large a boutis piece, it was a learning curve. All of the tight swirls, curls and circles are a great deal more difficult and time consuming to cord then are the longer more gentle channels. Maintaining an even tension is absolutely necessary throughout the process, so patience comes in very handy when doing the cording. The process of stitching and cording a work of boutis subjects the fabric to a lot of handling and manipulation that can distort the design. For this reason, once all of the stitching and cording is complete, the boutis must be washed, blocked and squared.  The first step of washing is to remove all traces of the marking pencil as well as any soil that may have collected over the many months of working w...
17 comments
Read more