The Passamaneria Valmar is a tiny gem of a shop that carries an amazing selection of specialty trims. Ribbons, cording, tassels, fringe – you name it and they have some. The shelves literally go from floor to ceiling. (Be sure to click on these panorama shots to see them larger in more detail.) The shopkeeper and I didn’t have a lot of vocabulary in common, but when he saw the kinds of ribbons I was admiring, he started pulling out the ones that he thought were real treasures. The two pieces I got he tells me were woven in Florence in the 50’s.
Both are woven from silk and metallic threads (each is about 1.5 inches wide) The blue and silver one is very shimmery and the cords on the black and brown one are thick silk cords that are couched on the top of the weave. They are beautiful pieces and the photo doesn’t do justice at all to the rich colors (silk is too shiny to photograph well.)