Italian needlework at EGA

Slowly, slowly I'm getting organized. I've been home from San Francisco for 4 days and while there are still piles of things to sort, the piles are getting smaller!

Here are a few pics from the Embroiderers' Guild of America National Seminar at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco:

This is the display table we set up on Saturday, September 4th (no sympathy for jet lag, we got right to work!) with lots of help from Giovanna of Tuttoricamo...


Beautiful Italian needlework from Assisi, Panicale, Deruta, Perugia, Lake Trasimeno and other towns in the delicious region of Umbria, Italy.


Clara Baldelli Bombelli of the Giuditta Brozzetti workshop with some of her daughter's handwoven pieces.


Signora Derna stitching some Assisi work (she's been doing it since she was 5 years old!), she was a joy to watch. It was her first ever journey outside of her hometown of Assisi, Italy and she had an excellent time in San Francisco.


Anna Maria Porzi braves an extreme close-up to display some beautiful crocheted earrings from the Lake Trasimeno area of Umbria.


On Market Day the two ladies from Assisi dressed in Medieval garb to sell their wares, this is Tiziana Borsellini, President of the Accademia Punto Assisi.

It was a fantastic week of Italian needlework emersion. I helped the Italian ladies with their display tables and their booths on Market Day, I took Vima deMarchi Micheli's four day Notebook of Italian Embroidery course, attended her lecture on September 5th and helped with her Exhibition on September 8th.


On the 12th of September we rented a car and drove up to Vima's home for one last taste of La Dolce Vita before returning to our respective homes. I miss them all already!

Thanks to my daughter for taking the group shot!

Places to buy needlework supplies

I'm back from the EGA National Seminar and I want to first post the links of websites that I like to buy Italian needlework supplies from as I promised my fellow classmates in Vima deMarchi Micheli's Notebook of Italian Embroidery class.

The following are two websites that I have ordered from many times and which also take PayPal as a method of payment which is so much easier for overseas customers than a money order.

Italian Needlecrafts - Elena speaks English well and goes the extra mile to make sure everything goes smoothly. Her website is in English, you can order through a secure socket and she will confirm shipping costs by email. She is based right in the city of Milan and so her deliveries do not take long to arrive. Elena is open to requests, if you are looking for something in particular, ask if she can get it for you. Her website is constantly growing and it is advisable to check back often as she is always adding new things. She carries books, patterns, fabric, threads and some kits and she is scanning lots of early 20th century Italian needlework books from her collection and making them available as free downloads. She also weaves in her spare time and you can buy her creations from her website or her Etsy page and follow what she's doing on her blog.

Tombolo Disegni - Gianfranca has a bricks and mortar shop in Grado which is a small island in the north-eastern part of Italy between Venice and Trieste. She is an accomplished bobbin lacemaker. Her shop is loaded with lots of things for all types of needlework. Her website is in Italian and you will have to send her an email with a list of the things you would like to purchase so she can then send you a PayPal request. She travels to many fairs and shows so sometimes she may not be able to answer your request right away and shipping takes a little longer as she is not on the mainland.

A note about ordering from Italy:
Italy has it's own culture and it is important to remember that you are not ordering from a country which is similar to your own. Most often, needlework is a hobby not a job and therefore it takes second place to family and work. What I'm saying is try to be patient as responses are not always immediate. The Italian postal service is notorious for doing the most inconvenient things. These two websites in particular do their best to serve their customers but if there is a glitch, most often it is not something they have any control over like the mail service or ordering from suppliers.

If you are searching for something that you don't find on either of these two websites, post a comment and I'll let you know if I know of any other websites where you might be able to purchase what you're looking for.

I have a lot of catching up to do with emails and translations, it may be a few days before I can start posting again but don't give up hope, I have lots to share with you!

Vacation

Well, I leave in the morning for a week in San Diego with my daughter and then a week in San Francisco at the EGA National Seminar.

While at Seminar I will be taking Vima deMarchi Micheli's course on Italian needlework and attending her lecture as well as helping out her Italian guests with market day and anything else they need. Giovanna from TuttoRicamo is coming and Clara from Giuditta Brozzetti as well as Tiziana and Anna Maria from the Accademia Punto Assisi too – I can't wait to see everyone!

I didn't get all the posts finished that I wanted to and I'm not sure how much (if at all) I'll be able to post while I'm away. I certainly won't have access to my library or a scanner. Please use this time to go back and check out some older posts. My statistics program tells me that on average each visitor only reads about three posts - there is so much more to see and I only started in March of this year so it won't be an endless task.

I do have so many more things to tell you about so I hope you will come back and visit my blog after September 14th and we'll resume our journey through Italian needlework!

Links of Interest

I'm leaving on vacation on Friday and finding it very difficult to get everything done before I go. Please forgive me if I just give you a series of links to explore!

This is Elena of Italian Needlecrafts' blog, she weaves and likes textile history too!
http://rossiele.blogspot.com/

This is Renata's Blog full of lots of lovely pictures of her stitching and even a tutorial on some Sardinian needlework:
http://ricamoealtro.blogspot.com/

This is Elisabetta's blog which has all kinds of great pictures of the stitching she and her friends do for charity:
http://elisaricamo.blogspot.com/

This is Laura's blog where you can find lots of tutorials for hemstitches and other embroidery stitches (look on the left under the headings: Sfilature and punti base):
http://neofita.splinder.com/

This is another Elisabetta's blog - her stitching is exquisite!
http://elisabettaricami.blogspot.com/

Anna's website full of her amazing threadpaintings:
http://www.annavigo.it/imieilavori.htm

Stella's website on Palestrina Embroidery - get something to drink and enjoy!
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/stellachiap/

Sorry, I'm still too new to blogging to figure out how to make these links "clickable" - copy and paste them into your web browser.

Fili di Liguria - Threads of Liguria

This exhibition is going on right now until September 30, 2010 at the Abbey of San Fruttuoso a little to the south of Genoa on the north-western coast of Italy.

Liguria is well-known throughout history for it's textiles, macramé and bobbin lace and there is plenty of all that at this little show.

Two dresses from paintings of Genoese nobilewomen have also been recreated in exacting detail. The gown from this portrait by Rubens of the Marchesa Brigida Doria Spinola (1606) and the gown from this portrait by Van Dyck of Caterina Balbi Durazzo (1624).

On YouTube there is a six-minute video of a television report on the exhibition. It is particularly interesting as they show some great details of the gowns. There are also some beautiful fabrics and macramé fringes as well as laces and gold embroideries. Worth a look!

Italian Stumpwork?

Sometimes you come across an embroidery that is so amazing that you can look at it forever – or never tire of looking at it.

This piece lives in the Don Mazza Museum in Verona:


Most of my photos of this embroidery turned out terribly blurry but this next one is okay and shows many of the different textures and three-dimensionality of this incredible needlework. (Click on the photo for a closer look.)


I'm so sorry that the detailed close-ups didn't turn out but do take a close look at all the things going on in this work; the hair, clothing, different fillings, padding – just each and every thing really.

It was embroidered by the young students of the Don Mazza school in Verona somewhere around the turn of the 20th century.

Italian Stumpwork?

Openwork Embroidery - Italian Style

It's here! It's here! I can finally talk to you about the latest book that I helped with!

Ricami a Fili Tesi - Openwork Embroidery by Anna Castagnetti of Verona, Italy:


Late this past spring Anna contacted me and asked if I would do her the favour of correcting her English on a book she was writing. Of course I agreed! I have had the great fortune to see Anna's needlework many times in the Italian needlework magazines RAKAM and Ricamo Italiano and also at her house in Verona.

Anna likes to fill voided spaces in her embroidery with needle laces stitches from techniques like Hedebo, Reticello, Teneriffe, Aemilia Ars and other needle lace techniques.

This book is filled with a great many step-by-step instructional photos and Anna includes little tips and tricks for achieving better results along the way. There are four different projects, each with a variety of different filling stitches all explained in great detail. Included also are photos of some of Anna's embroideries executed in this technique. There is something here for everyone, from elegant designs to cute ones like the Tortoise on the cover. Text is in both Italian and English.

You can read more about Anna and her needlework activities here and here.

For an extensive book review, go here.

The book is available from Elena at Italian Needlecrafts.