I found a wonderful little shop in Lucca, Italy where I purchased the buttons. It is called Casa del Buttone and is located on Via Michele Rossi. The shop has a floor to ceiling supply of buttons, stored in boxes with the buttons shown on the end. The friendly clerk who assisted me brought out samples of black and/or silver buttons for me to peruse. LOTS to choose from. I bought 5 each of the three shown in the photo. I am planning to make a couple of jackets in the near future and can hardly wait to put these on a garment! DH even helped me to select these from the large selection I was shown.
My other quest is always to find local sewing magazines. I bought the top one in Padua--the September Burda in Italian. What a wonderful surprise to find that the patterns are NOT the cramped version I get in the US, rather the type we used to get. I will enjoy tracing from these less crowded sheets. I have already selected a couple of garment to get in the queue.
The second is a La Mia Boutique, an Italian sewing magazine. It isn't inspiring me yet, but I often return to these magazines for inspiration or ideas after some time has passed. I bought this in Orvieto where we spent a couple of fabulous days enjoying the Umbrian hill towns.
The final two are Patrones magazines I picked up in the news shop at the Madrid airport while waiting for a connecting flight. Score!
I am sewing--I have begun my Willow pants in a Theory wool/rayon/lycra. Only the zipper and hems left to do! I will share some photos--maybe a few of me on vacation wearing garments I made prior to departure. It is great to be home!
