Italia Invita Forum - Part Four - 2009

As I am trying to figure out how I can afford to go to the next Italia Invita International Lace and Embroidery Forum in 2011 (they have news on their website about events), I have been writing a series of recaps of the previous Forums in 2003, 2005, 2007 and now 2009.

My digital camera decided not to work the first night so I have no photos of my own. For this Forum I was able to attend as part of Vima deMarchi Micheli's Italia Mia tour. We arrived in Parma the new location of the Forum the night before the event and I saw many familiar faces on the streets of Parma as we did a little sight-seeing.

The theme for the 2009 Forum was "Italian-Style Weddings" and all exhibitors were asked to produce a Bomboniere in their specialty technique.

This is a Sicilian Drawn Thread Work Bomboniere from the Forum 2009 book:


This is a Punto Antico Bomboniere from the Forum 2009 book:


The event was three days, although the first day was restricted to students of the workshops while the public was admitted only on May 9th and 10th. There were 11 workshops which admitted a maximum number of 14 students. Techniques included were: Parma Embroidery, Casalguidi Embroidery, Punto Antico Embroidery, Filet Lace, Aemilia Ars Needle Lace and six courses in Bobbin Laces: Ligurian, Cesena, Rosa del Salento, L'Aquila, Contemporary and Colour Coding designs. You can read more about the workshops here on the old Italia Invita website, most of the links are no longer active but there is still a lot of information on the pages that remain.

The major difference between previous Forums and this one was that the group Italia Invita had turned over the actual running of the Forum to the company Fiere di Parma. Parma is a city of exhibitions and this company specializes in running shows. As the event had become too large for the seven women of Italia Invita to manage, this move was logical. There was quite a bit of talk however among Italians about how Fiere di Parma didn't understand the clientele for this particular show. Our group of North Americans however, enjoyed it immensely.

The atelier mini-workshops were offered as before, although they had been limited to two per person in total – in 2007 you could take two per day, for a total of six. I debated heavily on signing up as I remembered being totally overwhelmed in 2007 and not retaining much. In the end I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try to learn something and attended one on Puncetto and one on Sicilian Drawn Thread Work. I didn't finish either piece and I can't even find them now to scan them for you.

The Forum was situated in one corner of a massive building where an Antiques Market was being held. We had to pass through the Antiques Market to get to the Forum so of course we investigated all the antique embroideries and laces and stitching equipment that we saw along the way.

Once again the Forum was split into two sections, one for Schools and Associations and one for Merchants. There was the display of all the Bomboniere made in the various techniques of embroidery and lace; a display of several bridal bouquets make of flowers and ribbons (embroidered or made of lace); the competition for Italian residents this time was Textile Dominos which were mounted in a wall display; a stand dedicated to Elisa Ricci and the recent reprinting of a collection of antique pattern books complete with modern stitched examples using the antique patterns;


DMC's stand had stitched examples from their antique pattern books and the Encyclopedia of Needlework, they also released a new line of pearl cotton and gave away samples. The new pearl cotton is called Retors d'Alsace [Alsatian Twist] and is a revival of an old product that they used to carry in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. Fratelli Graziano had an interesting display of mannequins at the dinner table all dressed in Graziano linens...


The first day was hot and crowded but everyone's enthusiasm kept us going until we collapsed into bed way past midnight and then got up to do it all over again the next day. The frenzy to see everything was contagious and groups or individuals would meet mid-aisle and grab each other, and literally drag each other off to see something marvelous. I bought without looking. Totally taken up in the conviction that it whatever it was, I needed it and I could look at it later. Even as we gathered to leave, I ran off to buy one last piece of fabric and then had to run to catch up to my group as they were exiting the building. I was sorry that this event wasn't open to the public for three days like the previous one, but then to tell the truth, I couldn't really have fit anything else in my suitcase! This time, instead of leaving clothing behind, I bought a second bag at the outdoor market in Florence which was our next stop on the tour after the Forum.

This edition of the Forum saw over 6,000 visitors. The irony? The Italia Invita Forum occupied a small corner of the building while the Antiques Market occupied the rest of what was a huge pavillion. That weekend the reported number of visitors for the two events combined was over 10,000.

As before there was a book called Merletti e Ricami Italiani Forum 2009 [Italian Laces and Embroideries]. This book has an article on the history of Bomboniere; photos and information on all 63 Bomboniere; and there are also the designs and/or charts for most of them.

Thank you Isabella for the photos of the booths!

Italia Invita - Part One - 2003

Italia Invita - Part Two - 2005

Italia Invita - Part Three - 2007

Italia Invita - Part Five - 2011

Antique Deruta Embroidery

There are a few types of embroidery that take the Italian town of Deruta for their names but today we're going to look at my favourite one called Antique Deruta Embroidery. This Counted/Pulled Thread technique is enjoying a bit of a revival lately as the Accademia Punto Deruta has been studying old pieces in order to recuperate designs, teaching courses and exhibiting pieces in national and international shows.

The two basic stitches are Darning Stitch and Double Running Stitch. The work is done on openweave fabric called Buratto using 30/2 or 30/3 Linen Thread of the same colour as the fabric. Typical motifs are stylized animals, flowers and vines and geometric patterns.

Here is a border from the Italia Invita Forum 2005 book:


This cushion is from the Italia Invita Forum 2007 book:


This technique makes particularly great embroidery for curtains as you can really see the designs best when light is behind them or a darker fabric.

This banner if from the Italia Invita Forum 2009 book:


There is a piece here to look at, and another one here.

I took a small atelier 2-hour course at the Italia Invita Forum in 2007. The teachers were fantastic and helped me a lot. It wasn't their fault that I was on information overload by the time I attended the class! There is a certain logic to the path you must follow when doing the stitches in order to end up in the right position and with the right sequence in order to obtain the right effect. The Accademia Punto Deruta offers tours of their collection but you must make an appointment in advance.

You can learn more about this technique at Tuttoricamo, click on: "Techniques" and read the article called: Deruta Embroidery within this article is another link to some history - click on: History of Deruta Embroidery under the "Links" heading toward the end of the article. (Note the article called Deruta Drawn Thread Work is something different)

There is a little information on this technique with photos in the Anchor Manual of Needlework, Interweave Press, 1990. Some technical info can also be found in a couple of the Carmela Testa books from the early 20th century - you can find them at Iva Rose.

You can get the Italia Invita books and Buratto fabric at Italian Needlecrafts.

Venetian Beadwork

Over the Accademia Bridge and just a little ways from the Church of Santo Stefano in Venice there is a little shop, Le Burle Veneziane in the Piscina San Samuele no. 3436, which sells hand-made beaded jewelry and accessories.

Monica Burcovich is the artist, and she makes some incredible things out of Conteria Veneziana crystals, pearls and tiny glass beads made only on the nearby island of Murano. Taking inspiration from antique Venetian jewelry, Monica keeps this artisan Venetian beadwork technique alive. Every piece she creates is unique and exquisite.

Last year I had the task of finding that perfect graduation gift for my daughter. While on tour with Vima deMarchi Micheli, I told her I was thinking about getting some Italian jewelry to match my daughter's graduation dress - a lovely silk taffeta sleeveless full-length gown in cranberry red. Vima said she knew just the place to find something beautiful and original. She knows her stuff!

Sitting in the display window of the shop on the way in this necklace caught my eye:


I glanced briefly at it thinking "oh look! A perfect colour match. It can't be this easy, I'll have a look around". The shop is tiny but there are many, many beautiful pieces to look at and I had to go around the room a dozen times before I was satisfied that I'd seen everything.

Monica showed us her worktable (located right there in the shop) and the incredibly fine and long needles that she uses to string the beads together. Really the needles look like fine hair they are so thin! How she threads them without going crazy, I don't know!

An added delight to learn was that the owner of the shop, Grazia Leone was a costume designer! There was a period costume on a mannequin in one corner. Designing and producing everything from evening wear, to theatre costumes, carnival costumes and even wedding dresses – Grazia's specialty is styles from the periods between 1500 to 1900. The two ladies' artisan activities go hand in hand very well! As I understand it, the shop is well known as a place to rent costumes for balls during Carnevale.

As we were leaving I asked Monica about the necklace in the window and said that it was the perfect gift I was looking for but as we had only just started our vacation, I wanted to look around a bit. It still seemed too easy, I really had expected this quest to occupy most of the shopping during the trip.

Well two days later on our last day in Venice I still had not found anything to compare. Monica's necklace was made of tiny gold beads with garnet crystals and had a pearl clasp. I could just imagine in laying beautifully on the collarbone of my daughter, perfectly accenting her gown.

On our last afternoon I raced back to the shop to arrive just before Monica was closing for lunch. Closing for lunch in Italy can mean anywhere from 2 hours or the rest of the day depending on the merchant. I told Monica that I couldn't stop thinking about the necklace and that the only thing bothering me was that I'd never be able to find earrings that would go with it. As if it were no trouble at all, she said she could make me some over her lunch break. I explained that I had to leave to go to a farewell dinner at 5:30 pm (it was now 1 pm). She told me not to worry and to come back at 5 pm.

I was back at the shop at 5 pm and Monica was ready with two stunning earrings to match the necklace. I did not have enough cash however and had to have her draw me a map to the closest bank machine where I ran to get more euros and ran back to the shop. It was almost 5:30 pm and I still had to race back to the hotel to meet the group otherwise I'd miss the farewell dinner as I didn't know where we were eating. Sweating profusely now, I tried my best to quickly and correctly express my appreciation for the beauty of her work and say goodbye to Monica. She begged me to email her a picture of my daughter in her dress with the jewelry on which I promised to do and ran out. Gasping I arrived at the meeting point and enthusiastically told everyone that I had the perfect graduation gift.

You can see some of Monica's creations at her website, but only a very few, there is so much more in the shop! There are some more photos at this website along with some pictures of Grazia's costumes.

On An Evening in Roma

Last year after an exhaustive day touring the Vatican and all its textile treasures, we were invited to have dinner in our tour guide's home. Located right in downtown Rome, Simonetta's apartment had a beautiful terrazza where we ate the most delicious meal. We weren't there long before we started to notice the various embroidered household linens in use around the house. When asked about them, I expected Simonetta to say that she had done them herself but she said they were all done by her mother. I begged her to let me get a closer look and take some pictures.

All the linens were in use, so you will notice that some have stains because we did spill during dinner. Simonetta took it in stride telling us not to worry, she knew how to get out stains. It would be a pity to to put the linens away where no one ever saw her mother's beautiful work and she said that it felt a little like her mother was with her, to have her things all around.

This tablecloth has a design of applied Crochet chain lengths in different shades of Coral with Drawn Threadwork criss-crossing in sections around the edges...


This serving tray cloth is stitched in Punto Stuoia [Rush Stitch] which is similar to Roumanian Couching. It is an excellent stitch to use for filling areas as it is a self-couching stitch and gives great coverage without bulk as most of the thread lays on the front side of the work and only the tiny couching stitches show on the back (see the post on Bizantina Ars for an example of front and back):


This was my favourite and I took many pictures but this one shows a little of all the features. Padded Satin Stitched roses in an Art Nouveau (known in Italy as Liberty) design, Drawn Threadwork lines connecting motifs of Netting worked in the Linen Stitch (also known as the Cloth Stitch). It was exquisitely worked.


The wine stain was an excellent Chianti Riserva that we picked up at the Castello di Verrazzano on our way through Tuscany. They had the most interesting embroidered curtains... but we'll talk about that another time.

Our last evening together in Rome was spent in the very best way: among friends with great food and wine, admiring Italian needlework!

Italia Invita Forum - Part Three - 2007

My daughter and I headed off to Italy in April of 2007. Intended as a two-part vacation, the first part was all for her: she had never been to Italy so I got her to pick out places she wanted to go and things she wanted to see which we did first, then the last few days were to be for me at the Italia Invita Forum, this time to be held in Rimini, Italy.

We arrived in Rome and were picked up by Giovanna of Tuttoricamo and her son at the airport. I had never met Giovanna before but we had corresponded over the past two years and she generously offered to put us up for a few days when we arrived and again just before we left. I often wonder what she and her family thought of us on that first night... we arrived exhausted and in bad need of a shower. They had held dinner for us and we were very sorry to try to explain that they feed you every two hours on a long flight so we weren't the least bit hungry! We managed through dinner (everything was delicious even if I thought I'd never eat again, I was so full). Giovanna and her husband had found us a spare cell phone, got us bottled water for excursions, bought us transit passes and investigated everything we would need. We wandered out the next day into Rome (where I hadn't been for at least 15 years or more) and despite all efforts to prevent it, promptly got lost... and sunburnt.

We wandered into the museum at the Palazzo Venezia and enjoyed the air conditioning while going through the Applied Arts exhibition. I am mentioning this here instead of taking you on to Rimini right away, because it is worth mentioning that if you are in Rome, and some people do opt out of spending the day at the Vatican, there are other museums which have needlework. This is one of them. The collection covers the period around the turn of the 20th century, there are many things to look at, lots of military stuff (bring your husbands!) but there is also embroidery of various types.

Okay, fast forward. My daughter and I worked our way from Rome to Florence where we stayed in a convent. The nuns who worked the reception desk passed the time embroidering some designs from RAKAM, an Italian needlework magazine, and we had a great chat about the show I was headed for. They took us on a tour of the convent and showed us embroideries which were out of the view of the public. The stitching sisterhood is a great club to belong to! Off to Siena and Pisa and then we met up in Verona with Maria Rosaria of Tuttoricamo and her daughter and stayed with them for a few days in Mantua. I had never met Maria Rosaria before either but again, the passion for needlework brought us together. From there we went on to Ravenna and then to Rimini for the Forum.

The 2007 Italia Invita International Lace and Embroidery Forum was held at a bigger venue than the previous two editions in Bellaria, and this time it was in Rimini, Italy. Rimini is quite the place for conferences, exhibitions, shows and the like, busloads of people were arriving from other places when we arrived! I went straight to my first atelier class which was on Sicilian Drawn Thread work and toiled diligently for two hours before I could look at anything. This is what I made (well, almost - I had to complete it at home but we did get quite a lot done in class):


The space for the Forum was divided into sections, on one side were all the vendors and on the other side all the schools and associations had their booths with displays of their works and things for sale like books, kits, supplies.

The Laboratorio Tessile di Alice booth with a display of Trapunto:


The Palestrina Embroidery Booth:


This edition of the Forum's theme was Cushions and 70 schools and associations stitched a cushion cover in their specialty technique which were displayed together in one area;

This cushion was done in Palestrina Embroidery:


Orvieto Lace Cushion (picture taken from the Forum 2007 book):


...there was a competition open to all Italians to produce a 20cm square of embroidery or lace, traditional or freestyle and there were 160 entries displayed on the walls to marvel over:


There were displays of works from textile artists and a memorial display of the works of a beloved stitcher, recently passed on. A booth dedicated to early 20th century Italian needlework scholar Elisa Ricci and her work. I met Bianca Rosa Bellomo who is occupied with researching Elisa Ricci's life and got to see some of her own antique needlework book collection. The stories of her research are fascinating!

I left my daughter with Giovanna's son and Maria Rosaria's daughter at the Tuttoricamo booth which they kindly manned for their mothers while they took turns looking around the Forum. We used the booth as a depository for purchases and a place to go and sit down, compare purchases advise others of things of interest, eat lunch and visit. In the afternoon I attended a Bizantina Ars class and learned that the Punto Stuoia (Rush Stitch) was something that was going to take me more than two hours to learn!

I did eventually complete this piece though:


That night in our hotel after dinner we all met in the hotel's bar and questioned each other about the many things we'd seen during the day, this turned into a two-part tutorial on Puncetto needle lace and Sardinian Knotted Stitch... we fell exhausted into bed sometime after midnight to do it all again the next day. Three days of frenzied learning, buying, meeting people... I met the infamous Agnese who, without knowing it, had helped me so much in finding out things about Italia Invita with her column on SuperEva. I met so many people I got confused as to who was who... I lost my voice from talking so much, I literally wandered around the Forum with my mouth open. I took two other atelier classes, one on Aemilia Ars needle lace and one on Deruta Pulled Thread Embroidery. I can't show you pictures of my finished projects because they don't exist... my mind was so overloaded that unfortunately I retained nothing from these two classes. In the end I could no longer speak either language but spoke a kind of bad mix of the two and my daughter had to constantly remind me that she didn't speak Italian and couldn't understand a word I was saying.

Over the three days of the Forum, I tried to absorb as much as possible about where to find out things later, where to buy things later, who had a website, a book, kits... I bought so much stuff that I invaded my daughter's suitcase with my things and had to leave some clothes behind in my hotel room! It took me months to come down from this experience and I still have a sack of kits and materials in my room that I haven't sorted out yet.

The Forum was the biggest one yet, receiving more than 6,000 visitors. They produced another book (in Italian and English) called Merletti e Ricami Italiani Forum 2007 [Italian Laces and Embroideries] with pictures of all the cushions, stitch diagrams, a glossary of stitches and techniques and a couple of very interesting articles – especially the one on Elisa Ricci and her book collection. This book on the 2007 Forum is still available but I understand that it is nearly sold out at the publisher's. It is truly gorgeous and a fantastic resource for examples of many different Italian lace and embroidery techniques. I understand that Italian Needlecrafts has just received their supply.

Tuttoricamo has pictures of the 2007 Forum in the Italian pages of the website, click here to see some of the booths and click here to see some of the cushions.

Next time I'll tell you about the 2009 Forum which I also went to. I'm sure that I've forgotten to tell you a hundred things but I think you get an idea of how fantastic this Forum is.

Italia Invita - Part One - 2003

Italia Invita - Part Two - 2005

Italia Invita - Part Four - 2009

Italia Invita - Part Five - 2011

Thank you to Giovanna for some of the photos!

Monograms and ciphers

I'm a monogram junkie, I'll admit it. I love monograms, ciphers, crests, coats of arms that sort of thing. As I really like Whitework embroidery as well, I am continuously drawn to Monograms... I haven't stitched that many but I sure do enjoy looking at them. Even though there are quite a few books out there that are free, downloadable patterns... somehow I need to have the glossy paper, the heavy, hardcover book - it helps with the mood of far-away times.

I have a gorgeous book from Italy on embroidered ciphers, in fact its called: Il libro delle Cifre Ricamate [The Book of Embroidered Ciphers] by Liliana Babbi Cappelletti. This is a very special book. Hardcover, large format (9.75" wide x 12.25" high), printed on glossy paper, it was recently reprinted in a third edition in a small print run of only 1000 copies. Each copy is numbered and signed by the author. Though the text is in Italian, there are many, many lovely colour photos of incredible, gorgeous embroidery, some of it done by Lilli, some done by her students or women she knows, some are antique pieces from various private collections.

The photography is also beautiful. The pictures are full of antique needlework tools, flowers, ribbons, old pattern books, pottery... giving everything a romantic 19th century sort of feel.

There are designs throughout the historical chapter but also lots of pages that are solely dedicated to designs: combined letters...

I thought this was a single "M" but the text made me realize that it is in fact, two "A"s intertwined together:


...various alphabets of all styles - many with shading or drawn details which make you think of the perfect embroidery technique for them like Cutwork, Padded Satin Stitch, needle lace, etc....


...some very elaborate letters designed to stand alone or be the central focus of the embroidery, some names - this is fun as there are many strictly Italian names like Giovanna but there are lots of other names too like Hans, Marcelle, Clementine. There is a section of pattern designs for sayings: Amore, Buon Riposo...


...one for numbers, one for ornaments and embellishments, frames and ovals, love knots. Diagrams in the back illustrate various stitches like Padded Satin Stitch, Raised Padded Satin Stitch, Overcasting, Cutwork, Stem Stitch, Chain Stitch, Bullions and Rush Stitch which is similar to Roumanian Couching. There's more... how to set up your frame or hoop; how to take care of your linens... the bibliography is two columns of historical books on embroidery.

Can you see the little half moon in the centre of the crest? He has a face!


It's just a lovely book to sit in your lap with a cup of tea beside you and daydream the afternoon away thinking of forgotten eras where a woman's trousseaux was filled with these lovely items and better still, when one used these items on a regular basis. The perfect way to spend some time to yourself on Mother's Day!

Il libro delle Cifre Ricamate is available from Tombolo Disegni (send an email request to order).
Or email Elena at Italian Needlecrafts and see if she can get it.

Looking for things to read to keep that 19th century feeling? Check out Tuttoricamo - under the 'History' heading there are articles on trousseaux, the handkerchief, the laundry, the tea towel, and others to help you keep the mood.

Italia Invita - Part Two - 2005

As Italia Invita has now announced their plans for the 2011 Forum in Parma, Italy, I've started a series of posts to tell you about this amazing bi-annual event. I started with the first Forum in Bellaria in 2003 here.

For me, the build up to the 2005 Forum was even greater than for 2003. By then I'd joined an Italian embroidery message board frequented by Italian women who were searching for the same information about Italian embroidery and lace techniques that I was! I learned that there wasn't a lot of information about Italian needlework, not even in Italy! Imagine my surprise. It seems that technical instructions were for the most part passed on verbally and that unless you frequented an embroidery school there wasn't any easy way to learn them. Books on technique were scarce. Imagine my surprise too when I discovered that these women who were searching for information were all young. Modern living in Italy, as in most other countries, meant less leisure time for women who were working and so techniques were in danger of being lost as the women of previous generations were literally taking their needlework secrets to the grave.

I joined an embroidery message board but didn't post - yes, I lurked for a whole year! I absorbed everything they learned about the next Forum which was to be held again in Bellaria on May 13th to 15th, 2005. Everyone was very excited about it and there were lots of messages. I also discovered the girl Agnese from SuperEva (see previous post) was now involved in the running of the Forum and she was a member of the message board, so there was lots of reliable information from her. My Italian needlework vocabulary grew as did my desire to go back to Italy. Again, I wanted to go so badly but just couldn't afford it.

For the 2005 edition of the Italia Invita International Forum of Lace and Embroidery the theme was Origins and this peaked my curiosity so much. There was to be historical data about Italian needlework – exactly the stuff I was searching for. All schools and associations exhibiting at the Forum were asked to produce a sample of a Border in the technique of their specialty. There was a competition open to everyone to produce a shoulder bag with the "Original Stitch - Basting" on it. There were special exhibits amongst which were: Byssus, a thread obtained from a Mediterranean sea mollusk; Hemp weaving and a stand dedicated to Elisa Ricci, an Italian needlework scholar from the early 20th century and her publications. There were lectures on the methods of transferring patterns, Elisa Ricci and her work, embroideries and laces from the 16th and today. There were workshops and mini-workshops called ateliers for learning techniques. The Forum had 3500 visitors - a good 2000 more than the 1st edition. It all sounded like a dream come true. I resolved that for the next one, I was going no matter what.

On the message board after the Forum I read about how everyone got to finally meet each other, having previously only known each other through email, how they were all overwhelmed with elation about all they had seen and learned. There had never been so many different Italian needlework techniques, masters, schools and associations together at the same event before. The newly born website Tuttoricamo now had a wealth of information to draw on having made so many contacts at the Forum. ** Update: Tuttoricamo has now changed to blog format, the link has been updated from my original post.

And it got even better... there was a book! ...and it was in Italian AND English! Of course I sent off a money order for it right away. It was a beautiful thing. Merletti e Ricami Italiani Forum 2005 [Italian Laces and Embroideries]. It was full of historical articles, colour photos, a regional breakdown of the techniques exhibited at the Forum with photos of all the Border samples the exhibitors had stitched, stitch diagrams, bibliographies... I had to go to the next one.

I told my daughter that I was going. Period. I told her she was welcome to come and that I'd love to show her some of Italy but I was going in May of 2007 and she had better get used to the idea - we'd work out how to make up the school she'd miss somehow... nothing was going to stop me. I started saving every spare penny.

Here are some sample pages of the book:


Next we'll talk about the Italia Invita Forum 2007 which I actually got to attend and where I lost my mind...

You can learn more about Byssus at Tuttoricamo, look under the 'Materials' heading for the article entitled: Sea Silk. Information on Elisa Ricci can be found under 'Prominent Characters'.

You can still get the book Merletti e Ricami Italiani Forum 2005. Send an email request to Italian Needlecrafts and ask Elena to get it for you.

Italia Invita - Part One - 2003

Italia Invita - Part Three - 2007

Italia Invita - Part Four - 2009

Italia Invita - Part Five - 2011