Ordering French Cross Stitch Books

June 13, 2009 | 3

My order from Amazon France arrived in only 8 days!

Recent order from Amazon France

Recent order from Amazon France

This was my second experience in ordering from the French version of Amazon, and it was just as pleasant. I ordered La bible des lettres au point de croix : 844 alphabets et suites de chiffres, tome 1, de 1 à 55 points de haut by Valérie Lejeune, an author who has renewed my interest in cross stitch by compiling vintage French designs, letters, and motifs from rare vintage French sources.

“Cross Stitch Letters Bible” is a thick, chunky book, 711 pages hot of the presses and full wonderful alphabets, and a pleasant surprise is that this edition includes multilingual versions of the authors introduction.

From the same order is Broderie et dentelle sur carton perforé by Véronique Maillard. There is a revival of the art of creating with perforated paper underway in France, unfortunately the paper used to create these lace-like projects is of a higher holes-per-inch count than is readily available in the US, although there is at least one vendor who will ship to the US. I will post  more information on the subject shortly.

If you already have an account with Amazon.com, you can log into Amazon.fr and should find all of your shipping information carried over. The layout and navigation is nearly identical, and translating French into English is easy with the help of Google. I have never used the “one click” ordering feature, I recommend disabling that if you have it on, just to avoid accidentally purchasing a book if you are not yet ready.

You can also find some answers to shipping questions for Amazon.fr in English here.

As for the cost, when I checked out this time there was an option to use Amazon’s currency translation tool, something that I did not notice when I first ordered back in April. The currency of Amazon.fr is Euros, you can use Yahoo’s tool to get a rough idea of the cost. At the time of this posting, the Cross Stitch Letters Bible cost 29,45 EU, translated by Yahoo here.

Next time I place an order, I’ll try to take some screen shots to illustrate the process, although you may find this link on ordering a product from Amazon France to UK addresses to be useful in the meantime.

I hope you found this post to be interesting. Cross stitch is such a rewarding and often inexpensive pasttime, and the right alphabet can give your project just the right personal touch. While ordering from Amazon France is a bit expensive, I have found that when these books are available in the US, the price is often higher. I recommend finding a few books or teaming up with some friends to place your order to save on costs.

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Comments (3)

  1. Thank you for the post. I have used amazon.fr once before while I was in France for 2 months and it is very simple and straight forward. My grandmother was very into cross stitching and i have been doing a bit of research on it myself. we have many pieces at home they she has made over the years and given them to us however i rarely use them because i am afraid of damaging them.

  2. Hi,
    I am really interested in purchasing ‘La bible des lettres au point de croix : 844 alphabets et suites de chiffres, tome 1, de 1 à 55 points de haut by Valérie Lejeune’ but before I spend such a large amount on a single book and as I can’t actually see it before I buy I wondered if you would be kind enough to tell me if all the alphabets are in cross stitch or are some in back stitch as well. I’m looking for a script font to write a poem in for a sampler I have just completed but cross stitch letters themselves (however small) would be too big and bulky for the design.
    I also wondered if you had ‘Répertoire des alphabets : Plus de 5 500 minuscules, majuscules et chiffres mariés à broder au point de croix. And if so out of the two books which you think is the best.
    I hope you don’t mind me emailing you to ask about these books, only you are the only person I have been able to find who speaks English who may be able to answer my questions.
    Many thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.
    Very best wishes.
    Jane.

  3. Miss Mary

    Hi Jane. I do have both books. La Bible alphabets are all charted for cross stitch, with the exception of 10 small alphabets in back stitch, and there are a few very small lower-case script fonts. By small, under six stitches high. It certainly has enough alphabets to keep anyone busy, and if I had to choose between the two, I’d choose that one. Although there is something about the layout of Repertoire that I like better, and flipping through the books, it’s hard to find any duplication.

    Hope this helps :)

    Mary

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