The knitting bar offers courses in sewing, knitting and crochet.

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CULPIN / SOLENT NEWS / SIPA

  • Two friends are opening a knitting bar in Pau this Monday.

  • Sewing, knitting and crochet lessons will be given and machines made available to clients.

  • The wools and haberdashery accessories are all made in France or even locally sourced.

It's not grandma's thing at all.

Sewing and knitting are becoming more and more popular, even among young people, interested in hand-made products, from ecological or local raw materials.

Believing that for many it is necessary to "move the salon" to do a little sewing, or because some people need advice, lessons or even just company, Amandine Mache and Laura Bertin, aged 35, open the knitting bar “In tea mesh”, this Monday in the city center of Pau.

The two friends have known each other since college.

- In tea mesh

The two friends, who have known each other since middle school, have been working on this project together since the end of 2018. They will be offering lessons (sewing, crochet and knitting) for beginners who are friends as well as lessons on their electronic machines.

If the knitting and crochet lessons can be held in their small shop, respecting the distances between the sofas, those in sewing are postponed to a long-awaited post-Covid era.

Those who do not need lessons can still come and use the machines on site.

“Zoom” workshops are also offered to customers who need advice after collecting their equipment.

They spin their own wool

Anxious to answer all the requests, they want to give the possibility to carry out “all that one can do with needles and hooks”.

Their wools, threads and haberdashery accessories are at least made in France and of local origin when possible.

They launched their own brand, from sheep raised in Lourdes and whose wool they themselves spun in Ariège.

“We sorted it out ourselves,” remembers Amandine Mache proudly.

We were lucky because it was 23 degrees that day ”.

They even offer vegan wool, made from sugar cane fibers (which come from the French West Indies) and aloe vera.

Their small shop opens on Monday, with restrictions linked to the health crisis.

- In tea mesh

Lessons are offered for children from 8 to 10 years old (that they can touch the pedals).

“We explain to them that we can create a

Star Wars

plush

with wool, without having to buy it made in China,” points out Amandine, who has already sharpened her argument with a great-niece.

She specifies that the latest machines also work without pedals so that they can be used by paraplegics, for example.

With a shop near the University of Pau, the two friends also hope to offer a distraction to students, particularly affected by this health crisis and offer them preferential rates.

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  • Society

  • Pau

  • Aquitaine

  • Sewing