I stumbled quite by accident upon this wonderful boutique in the Opéra quarter, and promptly spent about 45 minutes in there, browsing fabrics and ribbons and imagining all sorts of creative possibilities!

Ultramod mercerie

3 rue de Choiseul 75002

This address started out as a chapelier, a hat maker, in 1832, and almost a century later became a mercerie. The current owner left a financial fast lane career to purchase the boutique and made a huge effort to preserve the authenticity of the place. Perhaps he needed a guide to career education before he got into finance! The 19th century charm still remains. In English the term for mercerie is derived from the French term. Mercery, or a mercer who would be a notions dealer, are terms that are now obsolete. This is a merchant who would sell anything related to the creation and embellishment of textiles and clothing; from ribbons and buttons to scissors and needles. I don’t think in the USA we have many of these types of stores left. So I enjoy them even more so when I find them here, for the way they can make me feel pulled out of time and placed in a different era and because it is a place simply dedicated to particular types of purchases and therefor have an immense and varied selection of colors and sizes of all different sorts of products pertaining to sewing and fabrics.

It is a wonderful address for creative types, people who work in couture, sew-at-home moms, fashion students and DIYers. From fabric to buttons to ribbons and tassels, there is everything you could need to garnish your creations.