Study Abroad France: Silk Related

During my study abroad in Riorges we spent Saturday in Lyon. It was pretty amazing to see the city and spend a whole day out and about. I'll write more on the whole day, but this post is all about the silk. My mini group decided to go to the 2 different silk factory places with our free time. We started off at this really fancy looking place, but their tours of the factory had already taken place for the day. We got to walk around and see their mini exhibit, which was really nice. They had the process laid out for you on how silk is made and then the weaving and also some history on Lyon and their silk. A lot of what I saw regarding the process and machinery I had learned about in my textiles class. I did enjoy reading the history of silk in Lyon, it was very interesting.

After the first place we decided to walk to another silk factory location. This one was less fancy and older looking. It was great to see the differences. This location actually used the machines, they weren't just for display like the first location. I was able to get 8 "coupons" for 2 euros and I plan on creating my own fabric swatch book with information and such, similar to the books we made for my early design class (and then used in textiles). It was a great experience to go to both places and actually see the machinery, read the history, and just explore Lyon.

After heading back towards the center of Lyon we decided to just walk around for some shopping. I found a fabric store and just had to go in and look around. I had asked the woman if they had any silk, because why not, and they only had 1. It was a golden mustard color and cost 99 euros per metre...so I kept browsing around the store. I came across some "coupons" and decided to get them, they're white with black circles. Then I found a really cool upholstery fabric that is very colorful, different on both sides, and was really wide so I knew I could afford the 1 metre of 35 euros. It's not silk, but it's beautiful and I can't wait to finish my senior collection and make a really awesome jacket for myself.

Stay tuned for more on Lyon & the rest of my travels from this past week!