Anchor Threads

Until quite recently it seems, it has been relatively easy to find a wide range of Anchor Threads in Italy.

In 1904 J & P Coats acquired the Italian thread manufacturer Fabbriche Italianne Filati Cucirini which became Cucirini Cantoni Coats. Production was very successful and at the beginning of World War I they had 1000 employees. In 1931 Cucirini Cantoni Coats acquired Industrie Sete Cucirine and became the market leader with their brand "Tre Cerche" [three circles]. In 1993 the company name changed to Coats Cucirini. They have become quite diversified from the early days and now produce and/or distribute products for clothing, footwear and leatherwear as well as threads, zippers and every kind of craft supply and accessory. Their head office is in Milan but the thread has been manufactured just outside of Lucca for over a hundred years.

Until quite recently.

Rumours of imminent bankruptcy have dogged the company for the past few years. Last year there was some pretty strange colour changes in their pearl cotton line exclusive to Italy called: Ritorto Fiorentino, causing speculation that they were having the threads dyed in Asia. They have undergone some massive restructuring and I assume "closure of the Italian production site with delocalization of supplies" means the manufacturing plant in Lucca but don't quote me on that, I'm speculating too. I have been told by a reliable source however, that some of the thread manufacturing is now done in Hungary.

They have reduced the range of threads in Italy which is all I'm really interested in.

For needle lace there were Coton a Broder numbers like 40, 35, and 30 which were quite easily found... threads which are almost non-existent this side of the Atlantic. Now they are getting harder to find in Italy too. These threads are still listed on their website, but try to find a shop that carries them.

Even Coton a Broder number 25 has been vastly reduced in it's colour range. This weight is not that widely known in North America, but there are some stores that carry it at least in white, ecru and black. I never even knew it came in other colours until I went to Italy!

Since I'm a thread-a-holic I bought myself every colour available from Italian Needlecrafts when Elena got her Coton a Broder no. 25 stock in mid-May. They arrived today!


I had to break into them right away to show you the difference between Anchor Embroidery Floss (called Mouliné in Italian), Coton a Broder no. 25 and Ritorto Fiorentino no. 12 (which is like Anchor Pearl Cotton no. 12 - it just comes in huge hanks of 45 grams or on cones!)

The top row is Ritorto Fiorentino no. 12, the middle row is Coton a Broder no. 25 and the bottom is Embroidery Floss. The linen is Sotema 20L - 38 count (an absolute dream!! Shhhh! Let's not awaken the linen-a-holic in me!).


I did some buttonhole stitches: every two holes and then every one; stem stitches with the thread held to the left, running stitches, lazy-daisy stitches, french knots: one wrap, two wraps and three wraps, cross stitches over two and satin stitches. Remember, this is 38ct linen and this kind is quite compact. I did the scan at quite high quality, clicking on it should get you a pretty nice close up.

I thought that for this linen (my preferred count) the Coton a Broder no. 25 was the perfect weight. The Ritorto Fiorentino no. 12 was a bit tight and started to look worn really fast and the Embroidery Floss didn't give me the coverage I like. What do you think? The label says they are colour-fast.

One last thing to note. I already have a skein of Coton a Broder no. 25 - colour no. 131, which I got two years ago. The label says it's made in Italy and the company name is Coats Cucirini, Milan. The skein that arrived today says it's made in Hungary by Coats GmbH, Germany. Hmmmm. This made me check the label of the Anchor Embroidery Floss I have that I got last year from Italy... made in Germany. The Ritorto Fiorentino label says made in Italy by Coats Cucirini but I bought that in 2007.

Notice the colour difference? Its more noticeable in real life but the Italian skein is the one on the left, the colour is richer, slightly darker.


But I'm happy to get it! My daughter is out for the evening, I'm off to catalogue all those new colours!

Oh! I almost forgot... on June 18th there will be a new Punto Antico book available with English and Italian text called: Ciclamino - Oggetti a Punto Antico di Bruna Gubbini. Projects will be smaller items than before. Watch this website for more info!

Easy, effective tassels

I really like Italian tassels. They are exquisite. From the more elaborate to the very simple, they have a style all their own.

Some of them are very easy to make. Vima deMarchi Micheli wrote a lovely little book called: Tassels Italian Style which is full of ideas and very clear instructions.

The Anchor Manual of Needlework (Interweave Press) has a few in the second to last chapter: "Finishings and Decorations for Embroidery".

My most recent acquisition on tassels is the book: Nappe e Pendagli by Giuseppa Federici of San Paolo di Jesi, Italy. The book has 15 different tassels explained from start to finish with lots of clear diagrams though the text is in Italian. You can get this book from Tombolo Disegni - its under the "Libri" section, then "Libri Ricamo Italiani" - send an email request.

I recently tried to explain how to make some knotted tassels to a friend and ended up getting my daughter to take some pictures. I followed the instructions from the Anchor Manual of Needlework except that I had seen some tassels in Assisi made of twisted cording and wanted to try that.

First things first.... get out your kitchen string or any other thick cotton yarn and your cord-maker (not essential but certainly faster!) - I have the Kreinik Custom Corder but I understand you can use a drill and a hook just as well.

Run out a length of 10 feet of kitchen string, fold it in half and tie the two ends together. Twist until the length is tight and begins to twist back on itself if folded. Grab the length in the middle and release the two ends to let them twist themselves up into one thick length. You now have a twisted length of cord about 1/3 of your original length.

Make knots down the length in a series of about an inch apart, then half an inch apart, then an inch apart, then a half inch and so on.

Then cut between the half inch distance so that you have little pieces like so:


After that run out another length of string of about 18 inches and fold it in two, thread one end into a needle, something with a big eye and a sharp point like a chenille needle. Position the needle in the middle of the length and knot the two ends together. Thread the pieces of knotted cord onto your length in the needle, piercing the centre and pulling them down to the end knot, as if you were stringing beads:


You should end up with something like this:


Make a knot in the length in your needle to keep the pieces together like so:


You now have your tassel! You can attach it to the corner of a placemat by inserting the needle into the outer corner point and coming out at the inner hem corner point. Take the needle back down into the outer corner point and make little couching stitches to hold the threads in place (one per thread will do), then needle weave down the length to your tassel head and either bury the thread back in your needle weaving and up into the hem or pierce the centre of the tassel head and make another knot where you come out.

Hint: the longer the distance between the knots you cut between, the longer the fuzzies on your tassel. I have seen instructions for just making your initial length full of knots of equal distance apart (for example one inch) and cutting between every second knot. If you get them wet, they fluff up even more.

I have made these tassels many times for works of Punto Antico Embroidery or Catherine de'Medici Embroidery.

Italian Kits

One of the things I wanted most when trying to learn about Italian needlework in the beginning of my research was a kit... I thought a kit would give me a little window into all aspects of a technique. I imagined a little packet with a design, technical instructions, some Italian fabric and threads with the right needle for the embroidery.

Italian kits, if you can find them, are, for the most part, not anything like that. Most people I wrote to told me they didn't make kits. Since we're talking about 10 years ago, most people didn't have books about their specialty technique either. No one had any written instructions that they wanted to give out, even if you were willing to pay.

When I did find "kits" they consisted mostly of a blurry picture of the finished product, sometimes with a separate drawn design (rarely at actual size), a list of the stitches used and the fabrics and threads recommended (no colours were ever listed precisely either). To be fair, the kits weren't made for going outside of Italy, so it is logical that they wouldn't have details about things Italians would already know, or be able to find out relatively easily. In a time of few websites and even fewer email addresses, this was a slow and often disappointing process for me. Even when I managed to assemble all required materials I then couldn't proceed for lack of instructions.

Making things from the magazines was equally disappointing. More often than not the stitches weren't explained or only some of the project was, for example the central motif but not the hemstitching.

I discovered some essential things necessary for understanding Italian stitching instructions. No one, no one, could understand why I wanted to reproduce an exact replica of a piece. Wouldn't I like to change it a bit to personalize it? It was expected that I would want to change the size, colours, fabric, threads - even the stitches used to make the design my own. I can tell you that when you show "anglosaxon" stitching instructional books and kits to Italians they are amazed at the detail. I believe this to be a fundamental cultural difference and its an important one. I am at my most comfortable and happiest when being instructed on every step... having to make my own decisions (which could be wrong!) is scary to me and I am very reluctant especially when using expensive threads and fabrics that I went to a lot of trouble to acquire.

I bought an Italian encyclopedia of embroidery and an English one and started to compare stitches, finding that some of them were the same and just had different names. This helped a lot with things that weren't exactly "Italian" techniques.

Over time things have progressed quite a bit but we are still very far from equal. At the Italia Invita Forum in 2007, I purchased all the kits I could find at the various booths hoping to be able to work them out later at home. This is a perfect example of what I'm trying to tell you:


It's a kit I purchased at the Puncetto booth. The stitched sample was an attractive bracelet of red and blue thread. Inside an opaque little bag (not unlike a travel make-up bag) was a colour computer printout of the pattern, with the steps for creating one motif. Nothing about assembly, borders or the filling between motifs and no stitch instructions. There was a fuzzy colour printout of the stitched sample (red and blue) on one side. There were two small balls of Finca no. 12 thread in orange and green and the clasp for the finished bracelet. I don't remember what it cost but I remember thinking that it was expensive, at the same time I bought two books as well with a total cost of 50 euros. Unfortunately neither of the books had instructions either, they were just patterns. Okay, so it is my own fault that I didn't look carefully enough at what I was buying but seriously, I don't think it would have mattered. I would still have bought them all in the hopes of getting home and figuring it out. Here we are three years later and there they sit still waiting for me. Even though by now I've done some experimenting on my own and even taken a two hour lesson and had a friend patiently show me some stitches.

Other kits I bought at the Forum that year were: one that had fabric with the traced design on it, a needle and thread and a colour photo of the finished piece. No stitch instructions; One that was a colour printout of a scan of the finished piece with reference to a book written by the same author. I had the book so I wasn't worried... upon arriving home however I saw that the book had the stitches explained but the composition of the kit was no where to be found, meaning I would need to understand enough about the technique in order to assemble the motifs myself; some came with washed out photocopies of stitch instructions; I have not stitched any of them.

This is not to say that by Italian standards they are not good kits. They are excellent kits if you already know how to stitch the techniques. Every single one would be useful to someone who knew what they were doing. I guess what I learned was that Italian kits are not for beginners and they are not like the kits I am accustomed to in my "anglosaxon" world.

As I said, things are beginning to change. I have a completely amazing Italian kit for a cushion that came with a very professional booklet with all the instructions for the stitches and assembly, Italian linen fabric for the front and back, thread, needles even some tips and tricks...


You can't see in the scan here but there are even English instructions below the Italian... comprehensible English!

Just lately there has been some interest in producing Italian kits for the non-Italian needlework world. These kits, produced by Fiorella Collection, will be on Italian needlework techniques or techniques with an Italian flavour. The booklets will come in Italian, French and English to start and you'll need to specify the language you want as each booklet is produced separately. In order to make them affordable, they are instructional books without the supplies, however they will be sold online where you can order the supplies needed in most cases.

Here is one of two already available:


The booklet even has the instructions for executing the picots along the edges! This work is known as Catherine de'Medici Embroidery and it is a Counted Thread Technique. The design is by Rosalba Pepi from the Laboratorio Tessile di Alice in Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy.

They are the closest thing to what I dreamed of long ago - made by the Italian needlework schools and masters. I hope they catch on as they will be perfect for giving us a little taste of the numerous different Italian needlework techniques.

The times they are a-changin'.

You can get the two Fiorella Collection booklets already available from Elena at Italian Needlecrafts.

Sicilian Drawn-Thread Work - I

I never get tired of looking at Sicilian Drawn-Thread Work, especially the style called '500 or Cinquecento. I am probably (once again) attracted by the texture of it as much as the motifs. Strange animals are the things I delight in the most and there are plenty of monsters in Sicilian Drawn-Thread Work - especially sea creatures.

Unfortunately I could not find anything with strange sea creatures that I could afford when I wanted to buy a piece of this technique but I was happy to settle for flowers...

This is a piece of '500 style on relatively high count ivory-coloured linen:


The work is done by cutting out the design, then building the surrounding netting and overcasting the edges. This must be done in an embroidery frame and the fabric must be on the straight of the grain and drum tight. I took a two-hour class and only got a small heart done but I have to tell you, I've never seen anyone stretch and pull fabric like I saw our teacher do to get it as taut as possible in the frame. I'll never handle my own stitching with care again... linen fabric is strong!

The fabric must be tight and not move because you actually cut the threads first and then overcast them so they can't be moving around at all. We basted our linen to a big piece of muslin first and then cut out a centre square window of the muslin so that the linen could be worked on. Tiny stitches overcast three ground threads using one or two padding threads. I kept forgetting to breathe while I was stitching! I was waiting for the ground threads to work their way out of the overcasting but they didn't. We didn't get to do any of the netting in class but I have made netting on fabric before so that was okay.

I bought a pre-cut piece to do at home...

I was afraid to start it as I didn't know if I'd be able to figure out what to do - then I remembered that the design is drawn on the back first and the work is executed on the front...

... okay, without the drawn design to distract me I feel better... maybe I can figure out what to do.

This lady does some amazing work, don't forget to click on "vai alla pag. 2" at the bottom of the page for more pictures!

I would love to have this tablecloth (middle picture - click on it for a closer look).

There are lots of things to look at here and even a video of a display of embroideries.

There is an article on Tuttoricamo with some instructions on how the different styles are executed.

The Anchor Manual of Needlework (Interweave Press) has a bit of information.

Elisa Ricci's Old Italian Lace has some great photos of antique works, you can download it at the Online Digital Archive.

One day I will get to the Museo del Ricamo e dello Sfilato Siciliano [Embroidery and Sicilian Drawn-Thread Work Museum] in Via Lauria, no. 4, Chiaramonte Gulfi, near Ragusa in Sicily...

Piave Embroidery

In the years before the Second World War three sisters named Nella, Mimi and Marta Sammartini devised an embroidery technique which they named after the area where they lived. The Piave Valley Region lies a bit north of Venice, Italy.

Piave Embroidery is executed on Tulle with diagonal Darning Stitches, Padded Satin Stitches, Rush Stitch and other embroidery and filling stitches and then applied, using Overcast Stitch and Stem Stitch to the backside of Organdy fabric, the very finest transparent cotton. Excess Tulle is cut away around the embroidery and often areas inside the embroidery too. Sometimes secondary layers of Organdy are applied as well to create varying levels of transparency. It is done most often in white on white with 1 to 3 threads of embroidery floss: the incredible transparency of this embroidery makes it perfect for delicate pieces like soft, gauzy curtains, overdresses, veils, and tablecloths.

In 1940 Italian decorator Piero Fornasetti lent his designs to works of Piave Embroidery which were exhibited at the International Exposition of Decorative Arts in Milan. It is not clear if this is one of them, though the information on this photo says that it was exhibited in the same exposition in Milan in 1940. This photo is from the Manuale del Cucito e del Ricamo, 2nd edition. The dress on the figure is in embroidered Tulle, the solid areas are made with multiple layers of Organdy:


In the late 20th century this lost technique was reborn and brought to life by Silvana De Marchi working with Luisa Cigagna, Doretta Davanzo Poli, Tudy Sammartini, and other descendants of the Sammartini sisters. Antique pieces of Piave Embroidery were recovered from the homes of descendants and used to inspire new designs. Tudy Sammartini remembers her aunts recounting that Marta would design the patterns and Mimi and Nella would embroider them.

Ricamo Italiano, an Italian embroidery magazine, ran a story on the rediscovery of the technique along with modern interpretations which used old designs with coloured embroidery floss in their June 2006 edition.

RAKAM, another Italian embroidery magazine, ran a series of photos of several pieces from the 1930s in their March 2008 issue.

Instructions can also be found in old issues of the Italian needlework magazine Fili: specifically no. 28 from 1936 and no. 37 from 1937.

Tuttoricamo has a brief article under "Techniques" on their website with a link to a free downloadable pattern from the Italian embroidery magazine Ricamo Italiano.

There are a few pages in the Anchor Manual of Needlework (Interweave Press) on Piave Embroidery.

Sardinian Bosa Filet Lace

The major difference between Sardinian Bosa Filet Lace and the Filet Lace that is common in other countries are the motifs and the heavier use of the Linen Stitch (or Cloth Stitch) and the Double Running Stitch used to outline motifs such as flowers, leaves and vines. Together with the Darning Stitch and Dove's Eyes these stitches make far more interesting Filet Lace, both to admire and to make. Bosa is a small town in the north-western part of Sardinia in Italy.

Historically embroidered on both ancient Buratto woven linen or Modano knotted netting, today Sardinian Bosa Filet Lace is done almost exclusively on the Modano knotted netting.

Two variations on the Linen Stitch, the Darning Stitch, the Dove's Eye Stitch, edge finishing and frame mounting instructions can be found here in Italian but the diagrams are clear. How to execute a flower and some rings can be found here: click on the various circles in the photo, this will take you to a close-up photo of that particular stitch and then to the right click on the word: "qui" which is underlined to go to a series of photos of how to execute that particular stitch.

This is a lovely Bosa Filet border from the Italia Invita Forum 2005 book:


At the Sardinian Digital Library you can download a book called Arte Sarda - there are many photos of Bosa Filet Lace starting with Chapter Four on page 246 of the pdf.

Here is a piece from the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan:


At the Online Digital Archive you can download Peasant Art in Italy (text in English) by Charles Holme - the chapter Women's Crafts (page 73 of the pdf) by Elisa Ricci has some exquisite examples of typical Sardinian Filet motifs. (Make sure you download the right file, it's the second listing under Charles Holme!)

The first section in Elisa Ricci's book Old Italian Lace (downloadable from the Online Digital Archive) has many examples of Sardinian Filet Lace. I love these birds:


Visit Tuttoricamo and under the "Techniques" heading you'll find an article called "Filet and Bosa Filet" which has lots of links to pictures. While you're there you can read about ancient Buratto woven linen under the "Materials" heading. Learn about Elisa Ricci in the "Prominent Characters" section.

Thanks to Stefania for the museum photo!

Reticello Handkerchief

Reticello is another one of my fascinations... I really like the chiaroscuro of the filled and unfilled areas. I'm always drawn to it and have many books on the subject. My own attempts have been relatively successful though no where near the perfection of true Italian masters.

Handkerchiefs are a nice way to collect samples of different techniques, if you can find them reasonably priced in antiques markets. I am stunned by the amount of work that has gone into artifacts which are so small. You need really fine thread to work these, good eyesight and lots of patience!

In October of 1987 the Palazzo Davanzati in Florence published a catalogue of some of its collection of laces and embroideries which had been donated by various Italian collectors. In this catalogue is a section on the collection of mostly handkerchiefs donated to the museum in 1986 by the Duchess Franca di Grazzano Visconti di Modrone (1905 - 2003).

This one is still on display in a drawer while many of the others are stored away:


The catalogue information says that it is made of Batiste and embroidered in Reticello and Rodi Stitch (inside the bigger leaves), Padded Satin Stitch, Tailor's Buttonhole Stitch and "Cordonetto" (I don't know what that is referring to) finished around the edge with needle lace. It measures 37 x 37 cm and all the corners are rounded and in one, above the motif, sits the coat of arms of the Viviani della Robbia family, the Duchess's maiden name, topped with a marquis crown. It is an excellent example of Drawn-thread work and Cutwork and is dated the first quarter of the 20th century.


The square Reticello motifs are worked into the fabric, not inserted - can you even think about working Cutwork and Drawn-Thread work on this fine of fabric?! I'm sorry my photos are a bit blurry, I was leaning overtop of the open drawer which was at shin-level.

Though all the catalogue photos are black and white, there are many, many fine examples of embroidered and lace-worked handkerchiefs with their relative information (in Italian). The section on the Duchess's handkerchiefs is one of three; the others are Lace and Embroideries from the 18th and 19th centuries and Lace and Embroidered Baptismal and Newborn artifacts which includes an exquisite collection of bonnets. The catalogue can be found in used bookstores online, it is called: Eleganza e civetterie: merletti e ricami a Palazzo Davanzati, 1987, Marina Carmignani.

If you are looking for a book on handkerchiefs with a more Italian flavour, The Handkerchief by Paolo Peri, 1992, is in English and has mostly Italian examples with particular attention to the 20th century. It has lots of good historical information, there are many colour photos and examples of handkerchiefs in art.

In the "History" section of Tuttoricamo's website there is an excellent article called: Handkerchief, a protagonist in decline. There are also two great how-to articles on Reticello in the "How its done" section.

Different Styles of Reticello - Part One