“Rose Bleue”

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

Rose Bleue Boutis: Diameter 33 cm
The southern transept of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Designed and stitched by Elizabeth Janzen

During our years in France, every trip between Vancouver and Montpellier included a stopover in Paris before we headed south. Most often staying on the left bank, we found ourselves in close proximity to Notre Dame Cathedral, where our wanderings through the streets of Paris took us past the cathedral on a daily basis, often stopping in for a few moments of quiet solitude and reflection. The church became a familiar friend where we felt welcome and accepted in a country not our own.

A visit to Notre Dame Cathedral is always inspirational, whether it inspires quiet mediation, or whether thoughts on a particular visit are more inclined to reflect on its rich history and the grandeur of its architecture and art. It is one of these visits that inspired the idea of designing a boutis piece of the rose window of the southern transept, Rose Sud.

Interior image of the Rose Window

Using one of our many photos of the Cathedral as the basis for the design, my husband made a digitized pattern of the photo which I then used as a template to create my pattern.

Exterior photo of the “Rose Sud”

I traced the digitized template to create the pattern.

The original intent of the project had been to make a traditional white on white boutis piece. I started with two of the most basic stitches used in boutis; "point avant" (running stitch) and "point du piqûre", a tiny backstitch which is the traditional stitch used for boutis. The addition of the cut out "rosettes" (roues a brides), a technique that I had been wanting to try for a while, were added to lend a sense of luminosity to the window.

With the rosettes done, the stitching was complete, and the piece was ready to be corded.

But then, on April 15, 2019, when much of the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris was destroyed in a devastating fire, the white, airy translucence that I had been trying to achieve, no longer seemed appropriate. I felt that the piece needed to be darkened, dirtied somehow, to convey this recent destruction.

As the project was not yet corded, it was possible to add some colour with the threads. To achieve this darkened smokiness, I chose various shades of smoky blue silk threads to represent the charred remains.

Overstitching the arches with a stem stitch.

I started by over-stitching one row of arches with a simple stem stitch (point de tige) in a smoky blue silk thread, (above) hoping that this would be enough. When the one row of arches didn't achieve the desired effect, I added some blue background stitches to areas of the window that would not be corded, “remplissage” almost like a stipple stitch is used when free motion quilting).

Re-stitching and cording complete.

La Petite Rosette Bleu

Also handstitched and corded boutis, "La Petite Rosette Bleu" (above) is my interpretation of the second, smaller rose window which sits at the top of the south transept tower of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Because I made the smaller rosette after the fire, I made the choice to use a backing fabric with graduated shades of charcoal and greys to add even more smokiness to the piece.

Sadly, the panel is currently in need of some repair work to re-adjust and tighten the tension of the boutis center, which over time has relaxed. I will post a future blog on the process when the reconstruction takes place. So it seems that this little piece is ever evolving, however slowly and steadily she goes, just as the cathedral itself.

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