Since 1989, Italian-born Sara Spirelli has been showcasing home furnishings, gifts, and unusual apparel unearthed during her world travels in this Soho boutique. She can often be found seated at the sewing machine in a nook near the register, where she stitches variously sized fabric shopping bags for shoppers to cart home their purchases (regulars amass small collections). Collaged place mats from India, silky bunches of roses made of feathers, recycled paper bowls from Vienna, and gold-flecked dishes from Morocco are arranged on a long dining-room table, and one-of-a-kind leather bags adorn the walls. A couch beneath the skylight in back is piled with colorful throw pillows. Spirelli’s eclectic taste mixes the old and new, with room for both vintage postcards and Elodie Blanchard’s cushions printed with words like “Harry Potter” and “American Idol”—the top ten Google searches of each year. The original clothing features dresses and tunics with tucks at the hem or elongated sleeves, the work of French designers V. Barkowski and Catherine André. Cases display Monica Castiglioni’s sinewy sterling-silver earrings and chunky bronze rings from Milan. Vivid spools of ribbon from India are furled in rows near the doorway—an appropriate garnish for the handmade wares. — Lauren Murrow

Read more: Pastec - - Soho - New York Store & Shopping Guide http://nymag.com/listings/stores/pastec/#ixzz0ex2aUGWN