Literary crafter of the month: Mme Hermelin

Yikes - it has been nearly a month since I last posted, and several months since I posted a literary knitter/crafter. However, I started reading a new book last night and on the first page I found a literary crafter, so I'm taking this as a sign to get back to the blog.

Her she is, Mme Hermelin, literary crafter for April.

'On this sixteenth day of May 1942, Mme Hermelin was wearing a new dress. It was made from an offcut of mattress ticking, long considered unsuitable for any other purpose, following the last renewal of her bedding. But after three years of war, in a moment of creative inspiration, it struck her that the blue and grey striped cotton was actually quite attractive, and with typical decisiveness she immediately had a dress made. The result was indeed strikingly novel, while suitably understated,  as became a lady of her standing.'

Mme Hermelin in Welcome to the Free Zone by Nathalie & Ladislas Gara, translated by Bill Reed.

The book is set in a small village in Saint-Boniface in the Ardeche during the Second World War, and is 'a lightly fictionalized tale, based on the true story of Jewish refugees, the authors ... echo their experiences of trying to lie low in Nazi-dominated France. As I only started reading it last night I can't say a huge amount about the book, except I'm enjoying it so far and you should read it. You'll have to forgive the plug, but the translator is a friend :-)

I think there a several things I need to take from this quote; 'creative inspiration' and 'typical decisiveness' in my sewing, with the aim of a look that is 'strikingly novel, while suitably understated'.