The Palace
- Sarah Fielke
- Nov 8, 2025
- 4 min read
Hello Smites! You know when you've had a wonderful holiday, and then you come home and all the STUFF crowds in and it feels like you never went? It's that here this week. Lucky that lots of the stuff involves appliqué, and it's not all admin....
Continuing on with an excitable account of all the pattern and ornament I saw while I was away, one my absolute highlights was the Palace of Versailles. I have been here before, last year - however we were at lot later in November last time, and the gardens were pretty much bare, and the two smaller Trianon palaces were closed, the fountains shut off for the season. It was wonderful, but this time it was really spectacular. There was a large section of the palace that was closed for renovations last year too, the princesses bedchambers etc, and this time that was all open, so we got the full blast of splendour.
It was a cracking day too, the sun was shining, it wasn't cold and the crowds weren't too large! Did we find a four leaf clover or something??
I shan't bore those of you who aren't interested with the palace history, but if you ARE interested, here's a link with some info about when it was built, and by whom etc, and what happened to it during the French Revolution etc. Fun fact, did you know that the palace was saved from running into total ruin after WWII by two huge American donations? All the info is here:
And here's a bit of info about the Grand and the Petit Trianon as well.
The Palace is crammed full of things to delight a pattern lovers eye. I took a million and one pics, but I'll share a few favourites here for you. This incredible carpet:
And this wallpaper:
The corner of this carpet - Don't you think thats begging to be a quilt border?? I want to go and cut it out right now....
Can you imagine sleeping in here? At least by the looks of it everyone has to stay outside the railing..... I hope they're not perching on the stools to watch the royal personage sleep though.
The Trianon Palace is at the "bottom of the garden" - in that photograph at the top with the big long waterway, I am standing outside Versailles itself, and the Trianon and Petit Trianon are right down the other end. Just a short stroll. If you do go to Versailles, make sure that you book the ticket that includes the smaller palaces, because in my opinion they are every bit as spectacular as the big one, maybe even more so for me because of their history and the Petit's association with Marie Antionette. If you know anything about Marie Antionette, you might know that her use of colour and style influenced not only the French court of her time, but of courts long after her death (Napoleon's second wife, the Empress Marie-Louise, was fascinated with her and had dresses and hair pieces fashioned using her styles as inspiration), and of fashion and interior designers even until today. Far from being the selfish, spoiled "let them eat cake" queen that popular history paints her, Marie Antionette was actually a very clever and fascinating woman, who championed women's rights and was a wonderful, hands on mother (very rare in those days). Did you know that she never even actually SAID let them eat cake? It was all a part of the Revolution's propaganda machine, that put about pornographic drawings of her and spread awful rumours about her sexual habits, her marriage and her excessive spending. Much like Anne Boleyn, Marie Antionette was a woman dragged through the mud to further the political and power hungry aspirations of the men around her. I digress (don't get me started in history or you'll be here forever...!)
The Trianon is like the pretty baby sister of Versailles, and the Petit Trianon is like the beautiful jewellery box next door. They are both so so charming and filled with beautiful furnishings, crockery and art. The colours are what really charmed me - everything it like a box of macaroons, or sugared violets.
Every time I go to one of these beautiful houses, or to a museum or old building, I am so inspired and energised by the design and colour. I always want to be back in my studio with all my fabric available to start a dozen new quilts. Instead, I usually sketch from my photos and make scribbly little notes everywhere. And so you see this is where the problems start, because now I have THREE quilt designs I'm excited about for the 2026 BOM. They're all there percolating away in my head, and when the time is right one will sift to the surface!
I hope you're enjoying my trip through a screen :) More next week - we went to the recently opened and refurbished Notre Dame Cathedral, and I don't think I've ever seen anything so beautiful. Have a great week peeps
Sarah x
What amazing photos Sarah. The colours and design everywhere must have been amazing and an idea’s overload, I can see so much appliqué in the carpet alone. Not sure I could live with the bright yellow room though!!! Happy for you that you saw Notre Dame our daughter missed it by a month last year disappointing for her. Can’t wait to see what you come up with for next year. Cheers Rhonda