Passementarie - The Milan Stitch

The history of Passementarie is hard to follow. The term itself can mean so many different things: braids, cording, ribbons, tassels, gimp, fringe and more. There is evidence of Passementarie in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings and in ancient Chinese, Japanese and Roman legends as well.

Some historians think that elaborate braided Passementarie were the beginnings of Bobbin Lace. Most European countries have history of a different era where both clothing and interior decorating were embellished with Passementarie according to the fashion of the time and place.

In old texts, you'll find it under different names: Passaments (English), Passamani (Italian) stemming from the French term Passementarie which is widely used today.

During the Middle Ages and beyond in Europe, there were guilds for Passementarie shops and it was considered an art form (as is the handmade Passementarie of today) requiring years of apprenticeship. Long trims were executed on pillows (like lacemaking) or with complex hand-operated machinery. To see many technical illustrations from Diderot & d'Alembert's Encyclopedia (18th century) regarding Passementarie, click here.

In a previous post I told you about a Passementarie shop that I went into in Florence, where they make a lot of what they sell by hand. Here are only a couple of tassels that I got there.

I use this one as a scissor fob:


And this one for my clothes dresser handle:


Not the best photos, I seem to be very shaky today, but you get the idea of the intricacy of the work.

There are still many Passementarie shops in Italy and it's fun to check them out as they are full of all manner of trimmings which, if you are fortunate, are handmade and therefore so much more interesting than the coldness of the machine-made stuff. It takes a certain talent with colour and design to make beautiful Passementarie.

While searching for something else, I happened upon a Facebook page which is open for non-Facebook members (I know because I don't belong to Facebook) called Il punto Milano: sapresti farlo? [The Milan Stitch: would you know how to do it?]

For those who don't speak Italian, it says:
"The Milan stitch is a type of needle made braid generally used in passementarie to cover (in silk or cotton) the head of tassels (see photo) but also buttons, accessories and weapons, the name probably comes from here (as the production of competition weapons was one of the principle industries of Milan).
Widely used in the 18th century, counting the numerous [extant] examples from the first half of the following century, it then slowly fell into disuse and we completely lose the technique.
This group is formed with the precise intent of recovering that technique. Anyone who has news or knows enthusiasts and experts in the field of passementarie is asked to put them in contact with this group or me via email.
In the photos are also a few pages of a French book on passementarie in which a similar stitch is shown and explained.
Anyone - an enthusiast of braiding - who would like to try to figure out the technique of the 'Milan Stitch' from those instructions and is successful will have eternal gratitude and a substantial reward.

p.s.
Unidentified sources claim that certain Berber tribes from Morocco cover buttons with a braiding that is similar to the 'Milan Stitch'. Research of this lead is made all the more difficult as these are nomadic tribes. Therefore, on one hand it is difficult to trace them and on the other hand, if you did have such luck [as to find them] you would have to follow them across the desert in order to have them teach you the technique, with all the linguistic and logistic difficulties involved."

Since this post was left on April 16, 2009, no one seems to have helped this group achieve their goal. What do you think? Can anyone help?

Needle lace picture

St. George and the Dragon is a popular theme in needlework, I've seen them rendered many times. I wanted to show you this exquisite little bag from the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan made of needle lace stitches.

The bag has many things to look at, from the motifs around the edges to the painstaking detail of all three figures and don't miss those knotted tassels!


Click on the images for a closer look.


I love St. George's curly hair and the detail on his armour and the Dragon is really something frightening but the horse is pure magnificence!

If you can get to the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, don't miss the Lace Room and the Textiles Room! Two of the museum's latest acquisitions are baby bonnets, both richly embroidered.

Sincere thanks to Stefania for the photos!

Reticello Ornaments

Someone was asking if there were any freebie Reticello patterns available that could be used for Christmas tree ornaments.

Laura of Ricamiamo Insieme in Milan has 6 exquisite little Reticello freebies on her website. I didn't think them for beginners (which I am) but I decided to try to do one anyway to see how well it turned out. I feel pretty good about the framework preparation but you will see that my stitching leaves a bit to be desired.

Before we get started I have to say that this is how I executed the work and not how Laura or anyone else teaches it. This is strictly my own interpretation using the resources that I have. That said, Laura does teach Reticello if you live anywhere near her, or there are a number of good books on the subject if you're not in Italy. For books, check out my Library page or check out "Reticello" under the Labels heading on the homepage of this blog for a number of posts on Reticello.

I used 40 ct Giori linen called Cupolone for this project because a very kind person sent me quite a long strip of it some years ago. I'm not sure that Giori is still producing this linen as I have heard rumours that they have closed. Their website is still up so I'm really not sure what the story is. Anyway, a compact, high count linen is good to use. I also used DMC Coton a Broder thread, weights 30 and 35 for making the framework (if you don't have any, use Pearl Cotton nos. 8 and 12) and Soie d'Alger silk thread and Mill Hill beads for the design.

First I made a Four-Sided Stitch frame around the area (I counted how many from the photos of finished pieces here) using the Coton a Broder no. 30 over four ground threads ending up with a square of stitches composed of 21 x 21 Four-Sided Stitches. For a more open look you can withdraw a thread top and bottom or pull your stitches a little tighter. (I didn't do either for my project):


The trick is not to cut the wrong threads so I always baste to be more confident - remember to leave four threads all around the inside of the square for your overcast edge:


Then the cut threads are folded to the backside and basted down. This gives a much cleaner edge than Hardanger and we will overcast around the square when everything else is done. Basting them down keeps them out of the way so they don't get tangled up with other threads or accidentally pulled out or cut during the working process.


We're ready to needleweave our bars now - I used Coton a Broder no. 35. The needlewoven bars must not be too tight as you will have to travel about your design running your working thread underneath the needleweaving stitches:


Here is where I tread into unknown territory. I tried several threads before settling on the Soie d'Alger. Even now, I'm not crazy about it but my bars were starting to show wear from all the unpicking that I was doing so I decided to carry on with the silk. I only used one strand but I'm thinking that two would have been better.


I was unable to produce nice Bullion Picots so I substituted them with red beads! Once all this was done, I overcast my outer design area with Coton a Broder no. 30 using two threads laid on the fabric for padding. I took the work out of the hoop for this as I find it easier to find the holes I need by laying the fabric over my index finger. The overcast stitches go into each hole and stitches should lay side-by-side going into the row where the Four-Sided Stitch is. This is not as difficult as it seems, just take care not to split your Four-Sided Stitches but come up underneath them. In the corners I skipped two threads on each side like so:


After you have finished your overcasting then you can trim away (on the backside) the excess threads that you folded over and remove your basting.

I strung some beads for the trimming and made a little "star" at the top. I put some Organza behind the open framework but I think it's a bit strong, I'll have to find something more delicate:


Many thanks to Laura for the fantastic Reticello ornament freebies!

If you've got some tips for better execution – they are appreciated! Please leave them below in the Comments section.

If I hadn't unpicked several times, I think I could have done the whole thing in a couple of days, or even one long Saturday so there is still time before the Holidays to try these out!

Macramé Tassel Handle

All this talk of tassels made me remember that I had started a tutorial on a Macramé tassel handle back in September and didn't finish it. Anna Maria from the Accademia Punto Assisi showed me a neat way to do a handle for a tassel using an Alternating Half Hitch Knot when we were at the EGA Seminar in San Francisco.

This is the tassel with the Macrame handle Anna Maria made for my daughter out of varigated Egyptian cotton:


I had to try it out right away and used the pieces of yarn hanging from my suitcase handle to reproduce the knot so I wouldn't forget. Later at home I did a little tassel using single knots for the fluffy parts and did the Macramé handle. I was going to add more legs and then I got distracted by something else and it has sat on my side table for a couple of months now.


To incorporate the Macramé handle directly into your tassel, you start out in the usual way by threading your pieces on to a double length of yarn as described previously. This time though, I cut between each knot for pieces that only had one knot instead of two:


When I had a leg of the desired length I did a couple of knots to give it some space between the pieces and the handle:


... and pinned it to my Macramé pillow (you can use anything, even a clipboard):


Then I did a length of Alternating Half Hitch Knots. First starting on the left (click on the image for a closer look):


... and then on the right:


The hardest part was remembering to alternate!


Once the Macramé was long enough, I knotted it into a loop for the handle and continued on attaching my pieces on to the second leg.


Then I added a third leg by knotting it on just under the handle. I want to add at least two more legs to this tassel but you get the idea.

New Book on Italian Tassels

Rosalba Pepi and Maria Rita Faleri with Thessy Schoenholzer Nichols have just released their latest publication on Italian Tassels! It is a book called Nappe, forme di ornamento tessile [Tassels, forms of textile ornament].
(I've already sent my letter to Santa!)


The text is in both Italian and English.

You can go here to look at a few of the pages and see how the book is laid out (click on the picture of the cover to get started, then click the bottom right-hand corner to flip the pages).

There is a history section with photos of ancient tassels, you can zoom in and read some of it by clicking on the pages.

Then there are instructions and diagrams for making 30 different tassels.

For those in Italy, you can order the book directly from the website here, payment is by money transfer.

For those of us outside of Italy, Elena is carrying it on her website Italian Needlecrafts and she accepts PayPal (there are also a couple of different pages to look at there).

Latronico Netting

The small municipality of Latronico is in the province of Potenza in the Basilicata region of southern Italy. The town has about 5,000 people. Last year at the Italia Invita Forum in Parma, Rosanna Pirotto and Maria Perretti from the Cultural Association Il Tassello caused quite a stir among needleworkers with their Puntino ad Ago di Latronico [needle lace of Latronico] booth. They taught two hour workshops to some 80 people and sold a little booklet on the technique.

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

The technique had already caused a bit of excitement when it was featured on the cover of the February 2009 issue of RAKAM magazine and had a feature article in the April 2009 issue of Ricamo Italiano.

The article in RAKAM tells of ancient origins in the cities of Magna Graecia and of the early 20th century popularity of this technique in the surrounds of Latronico as an embellishment for bridal trousseaux. Today in the area it is often an embellishment of clothing, lingerie and table linens.

The projects in the Ricamo Italiano issue are realized using very small knitting needles (nos. 1 and 1.5) as mesh sticks and Pearl Cotton no. 12 with a Tapestry needle for the execution of the needle lace netting.

This technique can also be found in Thérèse de Dillmont's Encyclopedia of Needlework online – see figures 618 and 619 and the text under the heading: Loose loops in clusters.

If you're up for the challenge, check out Filiforme's latest freebie: gorgeous little bell ornaments made of Latronico Netting complete with stitch diagrams.

Ars Canusina and Reggio Ricama

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Reggio Ricama Cultural Club there will be an exhibit of the best of their member's embroideries from the past 20 years from the 20th of November until the 8th of December 2010 at the Reggio Emilia Diocesan Museum. (Reggio nell'Emilia is between Bologna and Parma in the central northern part of Italy.)

To mark the occasion they have published their fourth book, Canusino Embroidery over 20 years of Reggio Ricama. I hope it will showcase the pieces in the exhibit but I won't know for sure until I get my hands on it, I'll be sure to let you know!


As the title of the book is in two languages, I am assuming that the book is too, though it doesn't say on their website.

You can see some examples of Reggio Ricama's needlework at a show in 2009 here.

Lots of the Reggio Ricama work has been showcased in Italian needlework magazines like Ricamo Italiano and RAKAM over the years. Pieces I would delight to see up close!

I told you a bit about Ars Canusina in this post here. It is a very textural and stylized embroidery with designs inspired from architectural details from the castle of the Great Countess Matilda of Canossa and the churches of the surrounding area. If you want some interesting reading (in English) on the Countess, David John Hay's thesis is available for download in pdf format here.

At the Reggio Ricama exhibition will also be about 50 pieces from the famous Loretta Caponi collection, though it is not specified if these pieces will be clothing or embroidery, I hope it's a bit of both. If you check out the show, will you write and tell me about it?