Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Oh Hai, I'm Back From Italy!

Sorry about the blog silence (and lack of replies to all of your thoughtful comments on my last post...I'll get to that soon, promise!) recently, but I've been busy traipsing around Rome and Florence! Yes, that's right, Mr. Cation whisked me away to a certain boot-shaped country to celebrate the end of the school year (although I still had to read final papers input grades...but better to do that on a train through the Tuscan countryside than in TCOCC!) and our third anniversary. We managed to quite a bit of walking and sight-seeing (and eating) in the course of eight days:

It was a bit of a nightmare actually getting to Rome, thanks to a United snafu that gave us only 45 minutes to make our connection in Newark, and so of course they delayed our flight out of LAX by two hours. At which point they offered to put us on a flight two days later, but Mr. Cation talked them into sending us to Heathrow that night, where we were able to wrangle a Lufthansa flight to Munich and then finally to Rome. That shower and sleep after 36 hours of travel was one of the best I've ever had in my life. Thankfully, the wonders of the Eternal City soon put that poor early start out of my mind!

While I loved our previous Europe anniversary trips, this one probably wins in the epic grandeur category -- I've dreamed about seeing the Colosseum since I was eight, when I was first intrigued by a book that my parents had originally bought on their honeymoon trip there. I was fascinated at the time by the thought of secret pulley systems used to bring tigers up to the arena from the underground passages, so it was a little surreal to actually be at the Colosseum (which I also spelled wrong countless times while typing it because of the stupid Oakland Coliseum's influence). And of course, all the other piazzas, palazzos, and chiesas were gorgeous and ornate and so very ancient feeling! It's not a feeling one gets too often here in TCOCC, where it's a big deal when a building is from the Jazz Age.

It was just as spectacular as I was hoping it would be. After all, it was spectacular enough to convince my very thrifty Asian dad to actually purchase a gift shop book!

Almost as exciting as the Colosseum though (okay not really), was the prospect of going fabric shopping in Rome. I'd read the NYTimes article about Fratelli Bassetti Tessuti (how's that for a name that I'm never going to remember, except that I typed it into Google maps countless times) and marveled at the Selfish Seamstress' pictures. I thought I was mentally prepared, but there's nothing like actually wandering through the labyrinth of rooms stacked with fabric in person. I was too overwhelmed to do any actual shopping (or take any pictures), probably to Mr. Cation's relief, which is fine because the fabrics were Ex. Pen. Sive. Buon giorno, signorina, would you like to purchase some lace for $500/yd? No? Other fabric stores in the area weren't any better, even if they were a little easier to not get lost in.

This was around the corner from FTB.
Fabrics so nice, they're still wrapped up in protective plastic. Also, what happens if you want to take a look at something that's ten feet up? 

That rack on the left was just one many racks of almost identical-looking bolts of wool suiting. Gray pinstripe? Gray pinstripe with slightly larger stripes? Gray pinstripe in a slightly different shade of gray? Gray pinstripe with slightly wider-spaced stripes? 
Not the same store, but equally scarily priced, this gorgeous silk is €95/meter, or about $125/meter! Incidentally, I learned the Italian word for silk while I was there: seta. It took me a little bit to figure that one out. 
It's not just the silk that's scarily priced, either -- that dotted gingham-ish cotone-viscosa blend at the top is €196/meter, on sale from €327/meter! What could possibly make it that expensive???
See, at least bridal laces I can understand. These went for anywhere from €165-398 a meter. Yikes! 


In the end, I didn't bring home any Italian fabric, but I'm strangely un-sad about that. When it comes down to it, I'm a thrifty Asian at heart, my favorite yardage is thrifted sheets, and I'm generally too haphazard in my sewing to do justice to a fine piece of material. Instead, I got my sewing souvenirs at a lot more affordable place and price...

Is that cans of pet food to the left? Yes, it is!

That's right, a normal grocery store has a whole rack of sewing notions! A closer look reveals that besides the more normal measuring tape, hand-sewing needles, elastic, and velcro, they also carry Gutermann thread in quite a few colors,

And not just in black, white, navy blue, and beige, either! They also had gold, neon orange, and invisible nylon thread, among other colors. 

jeans needles,
I do wonder at the selection of only standard and jeans needles, though...do people sew that much denim there?
What about ballpoint needles for knit fabric, or Italians just secretly wear Canadian tuxedoes? 
Sorry about the blurriness, I was apparently too wriggly with excitement!

Jeans buttons! In a regular grocery store at the Termini bus station! What kind of gloriousness is this?! Oh, what I wouldn't give to have this kind of thing at my local Trader Joe's. I ended up coming home with lots of jeans buttons (but no jeans needles, since I wasn't sure if they'd fit my machine), elastic in various sizes, sewing machine oil (now I have no excuse for not doing maintenance), and four different Italian sewing magazines. Because that's right, they've also got sewing magazines at normal newstands on the street corner. I'll show you those tomorrow, though, so that I can give them a properly thorough look. In the meantime, I'm trying to fight through the jetlag by sorting through our gazillion photos...

Mr. Cation was all about the auto-stitch app. 
The Fontana di Trevi was just as impressive as I remember from my parents' honeymoon pictures.
The Arno River at night...we totally fell in love with Florence!

35 comments:

  1. Ha! My guy loves the panorama and stitching apps too. :) I'm the one who takes pictures of all the food, so we're even. Awesome looking trip!

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    1. Boys! They're all the same! My dad did the panorama thing too when he was in Italy, but he did it the old-fashioned way, just snapping and turning and hoping it connected up properly!

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  2. It looks you had a lovely trip! So glad for you! As for the fabric... well we, "normal" sewers don't buy fabric that costs that much ;) I don't think I paid enough attention to your previous post announcing this trip, otherwise I could have advised you where to find good fabric at an affordable price. There is a chain called "GS Scampoli" which also has stores in Rome, I think, and you could also find Liberty fabrics as for 6-7€/metre!!
    As for the sewing notions - well, you can find those in every supermarket now :) Lucky us - but I use them only in case of emergency, because prices are a lot higher than in a haberdashery ("merceria").
    Can't wait to see what magazines you bought! Hope you got "Modellina facile", too, as it has Simplicity, McCall's and Butterick patterns inside ;)

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    1. Oh, I was wondering what "normal" people did! It's too bad I didn't know about that chain, but I still doubt I would've bought anything...we were trying to travel extra light so as to avoid checking any bags. I did notice that the notion prices were rather higher than what I was used to, but I think it'd be super useful for the times when you run out in the middle of a project and just want to finish it!

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  3. From the pictures you had a beautiful trip. As far as fabric goes, I will not complaint when I see fabrics for $7.00 or more dollars. How lucky we are in USA.

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    1. Per the above comment, apparently home-sewists don't shop at these places! Still, I'm really grateful for the prices we pay here.

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  4. fabric is super cheap in the US compared to europe. glad you had a lovely time - i love italy! (and what is it with the splat pigs? we just came back from sicily and they were everywhere there too!)

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    1. As is gas! And how funny that the splat pigs are in Sicily too! Did yours make this super annoying squeak when they splatted too?

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  5. Fun! I've always wanted to see the Colosseum And man, I wish I could find threads and notions in the grocery store. It would make the thought of moving away from the only decent Joann's in the state more palatable, because what am I going to do now when I run out of thread in the middle of a project or forget to buy a zipper?

    Also, what IS a splat pig?

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    1. That's how I feel about 24 hour Walmarts...kind of a travesty, but also good for sewing late into the night.

      The splat pigs are these little squishy gel balls that are shaped like pigs, and when you throw them against a hard surface they spread out into a "puddle" and then reform.

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  6. I was lucky enough to visit Fratelli Bassetti Tessuti a couple of years ago. It was definitely overwhelming. I was NOT leaving until I bought something, which turned out to be a uniquely coloured wool houndstooth – $30/m. I bought 2m. I figured that I wasn't buying many other souveniers so I went for it. I should have looked up (bargain bin) in Italian before I went. And... ha! I remember splat pigs in Rome too!! Glad you had a great time!

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    1. I really wanted to buy something too, but it was the end of a long day of walking around, so I didn't feel mentally alert enough to actually do a serious search for something I could afford. Still, your purchase sounds like a good affordable price/length.

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  7. Wow, looks fabulous! What a special trip. Love your collage at the beginning. So interesting to see what fabric shopping is like in other countries. Thanks for a peek from your wonderful vacation.

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    1. I think those high end stores were more interesting as a learning experience than an actual shopping experience! It was fascinating just watching people do their thing there.

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  8. Hooray for the end of the school year! You two take such great vacations. I can't believe the prices on those fabrics, though, I couldn't have bought anything either!

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    1. We've definitely been really blessed with miles donated from parents and good sales and such, but this is definitely our last one in a while!

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  9. There must be more economical places to buy fabric, but you probably were having too much fun to explore those options, and rightly so! Italy! Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I'm going to google splat pig right now...

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    1. According to an earlier commenter who lives in Italy, there are cheaper chain stores, but alas, I didn't know about their existence when I was there!

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    1. The nice thing about visiting such a popular location is that so many other people have done it too! A friend of mine was looking through our pictures and commented that it was like reliving her honeymoon.

      The first time I went to Mood here in LA, I also felt that way! I still haven't bought anything there. And ooooh, top secret project!

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  11. I love Florence! It's perhaps my favorite city ever. :)

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    1. I think Mr. Cation and I will always be Anglophiles at heart, but we really did love Florence quite a bit!

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  12. Your description of "thrifty Asian dad" made me smile - aren't they all that way? LOL. I was in Rome in spring 2008 for a "babymoon," but it seems less long ago than that. Your pics brought back memories for me.

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    1. Hahaha, I wouldn't know! But my dad makes it a point to never indulge in gift shop purchases, so that book is a very rare exception. I'm glad my pictures brought back happy memories!

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  13. What a coincidence - I came back from a trip to Rome only a week ago and I could have posted almost the same pictures! Of the colosseum of course, but also of the fabric shops. Like you, I marvelled at the fabrics but did not buy anything. I too thought that even the standard fabrics were just too expensive. I only live a few hundred miles away in Germany, but prices are not even half of what they asked in Rome, and I am not a good enough sewist to really warrant an expensive type of cloth.
    I look forward to seeing more pictures of your trip!

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    1. Hahaha, good to know someone else was overwhelmed by the fabric prices there! With even regular cotton muslin being ten euros, I knew there was no way I would ever be able to afford anything at FTB. I would love to visit Germany one day!

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    2. Italy is generally expensive.
      Germany is much-much better in fabrics/notions from a pricing perspective.
      Although I'd love to go once to a store of only high quality fabrics with sky-high prices just to look at (and then go to my favorite webshops and buy similar stuff on sale for a few EUR/meter :))

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  14. Aaah, brings back memories from my honeymoon last year. Italy is definitely my favourite country that isn't home. Glad you loved it too. Forza italia!

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    1. Awww, I'm glad to hear that! Okay, sad question: what does Forza Italia mean?

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  15. Italy is pretty cool. I wanna go back!

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    1. I think everyone I know who's been there says the same thing!

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  16. How fun! Great vacation photos! Gosh, how I wish there were such wonderful notions end-caps in my grocery store!

    You really need to come visit me in Dallas! I can show you all the warehouses full of reasonably priced fabric that look very much like the places in Italy.

    ~ Brooke

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    1. I would really prefer Gutermann thread instead of endless Pringles displays.

      Maybe I can convince Mr. Cation that we should visit our friends in Dallas sometime soon...

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  17. I'm just a thrifty Czech at heart, and those prices scare me just as much as you! 95 Euro? And that's one of the cheaper ones? Oh my, that's... that's... about 2500 CZK per metre. I might pay as much for a whole silk sari here!

    But Gutermann thread in grocery shops? I'd love that very much.

    I've never been to Italy. My sister and her husband have been to the north; she never mentioned any fabric, probably because she does not sew, not really.
    But it's like that with old buildings in Europe vs America. She has a funny story of how she was visiting an old building in a university (I temporarily forgot which one it was) in the USA, and off-handedly mentioned to her hosts that our house was older than the super-historical building they were visiting... which it is, to the best of our knowledge (based on the house numbering system), it's from late 18th century, and it's such an ugly neglected old thing. :D

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  18. Gorgeous photos! Thanks for sharing!

    Wow, I can't believe they sell Gutermann thread in grocery stores! I wonder if a higher percentage of people sew there, and if so, how much higher? Very cool!

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