Washing Day

Clothes line with a view!

We thought we'd fill you in on some of the background work in getting pieces ready for the website or our stockists. This is an important part of our process, as we can asses each piece in detail to be sure the fabric is strong, clean, and fit for its purpose.

Laden with textile bounty after a trip to a vide grenier or brocante, our first job is to soak out the dust, grime, and goodness knows what from the pieces. Luckily we have a huge bathtub in our house, so we start with a hot soak, and progress through stages until we are happy that the piece is clean and fresh. The colour of the water that comes out can be alarming, but we have finessed how to clean various pieces, in various textiles, and can usually tell at a glance at the market if a stain can come out. There are some (thankfully rare) stains that defy us, and they usually show up after washing!

There is a well placed clothes line in our garden, it catches the breezes up from the vineyard below and the afternoon sun. While it's still quite chilly here in mid-March, we can get good drying done in the fresh air most days, or bring under cover on the terrace. Often things need a re-soak at this stage as the marks and stains look gone when the garment or sheet is wet, then return to taunt us when dry. Most pieces go through two to three soakings.

Then onto the ironing! Tracey is pretty impressed with the iron in our house (we are renting a furnished cottage), so the ironing board has been set up looking out the window to the garden to the south, which also helps seeing the pieces in daylight as they are pressed. The quality of light here is beautiful - even on a grey day like today.

Measuring and photography are the next steps, and we take photos for instagram and website, showing the weave and pattern, the colour and design of the piece. We measure the pieces (torchons, napkins, sheets, and especially the garments to allow an idea of fit) and also note any quirks or imperfections.

We will be adding pieces over the coming days to our online shop - pop over to take a look.

Please sign up for our newsletter, the first one we will send out next week. It will be a mix of stories of our life here, with lots of pictures and anecdotes.

À bientôt!