Macrame Fringes

I have been asked to tell you a bit about Italian Macramé Fringes for things like towels, placemats, tablecloths and other household furnishings. North Americans tend to think nostalgically to the 1970s and hemp macraméd plant holders and the like but in Italy, Macramé is still very much alive in the textile arts and in use frequently.

I showed you some summer Macramé purses that I saw in a shop window in Cesena and we talked about tassels and Macramé here and here.

What I saw most often in Italy however were Macramé Fringes of both the simpliest and the most elaborate combinations, all making the finishing touch on very attractive pieces.

In the Collezioni Comunali d’Arte Museum in Bologna there are several exquisite Macramé Fringe samples.

Here are a couple of my photos which turned out, there were many others but alas, my photographs are terrible! These Macramé Fringes are very small and delicate.

Here is an example of Macramé Fringe from the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan:

An excellent book on Macramé Fringes with text in Italian and English is Macramé in Toscana by Cristina Notore:

It has many clear colour diagrams and lots of full colour photos of magnificent Macramé Fringes.

Macramé Fringes are worked on pillows, held either in the lap or on a tabletop, covered in striped or gingham fabric to be used to keep the knots lined up all the way across and evenly spaced. Large-headed pins keep the work securely fastened to the pillow. Materials used can be the warp threads of the actual furnishing you are making the Macramé Fringe for, Pearl Cotton, Cotone Povero or just about anything you like. A crochet hook helps with the pulling through of threads.

Here Liliana Babbi Cappelletti demonstrates on a Macramé pillow made of upholstery foam of her own design:

Special thanks to Stefania for the photo from the Poldi Pezzoli Museum!

Aemilia Ars Exhibit in Bologna April 10 - May 15

Oh to be in Bologna in springtime... this springtime!

At the Museo Davia Bargellini, Strada Maggiore, 44 in Bologna there will be an Aemilia Ars exhibit called: Aemilia Ars: merletti di inchiostro per merletti di filo. [Aemilia Ars: ink laces for thread laces] It is an exhibition of antique designs from the Aemilia Ars workshop, purchased by the City of Bologna in 1937.

I've translated the description from the website link above:

The exhibition is 30 antique designs from the early 20th century drawn for the embroidery and lace section of the Aemilia Ars Society. 

Sketches of large tablecloths are exhibited alongside detailed drawings, designed by Alfonso Rubbiani, Alfredo Tartarini, Alberto Pasquinelli and other designers who prepared them in order to aid embroiderers and lacemakers to create with the needle the refined and much sought after textile products which were sold around the world.

Thanks to the efforts of the promoter of this commercial company, Lina Bianconcini Cavazza, at the end of the nineteenth century a new technique of needle lace was developed, today commonly called 'Aemilia Ars', suitable both for reproducing the drawings published in sixteenth and seventeenth century pattern books and to create works in line with the contemporary Art Nouveau taste; an essential step in the realization of the artefacts was the preparation of designs with specific characteristics which established artists performed by translating these cultural stimuli.

For the occasion of the exhibition Aemilia Ars: ink laces for thread laces, some events are dedicated also to modern 'Aemilia Ars lace' - at the Davia Bargellini Museum you can admire the lace and embroidery workshop's original designs which are usually kept in depositories to better ensure their conservation.
 
These valuable materials will be able to interact with some examples of decorative ironwork preserved in the first room of the museum, in particular the spectacular sign of the Sante Mingazzi workshop and the refined gate of the Matteucci of Faenza company; in fact, these craftsmen were themselves a part of the artistic craftsman redevelopment project sponsored by the Aemilia Ars Society, active from 1898 to 1903.

Other events in conjunction with the exhibition will be three presentations sponsored by the Italian book store Feltrinelli in Piazza Galvani: a volume published for FENDI about the ability of Italian handicrafts; the books dedicated to Aemilia Ars needle lace produced by the Association Il Punto Antico of San Giovanni in Persiceto and a free workshop on the making of Aemilia Ars needle lace by teachers from the Association Il Punto Antico. 

The event inauguration will be April 9th at 5pm at the Museo Davia Bargellini. 

If you are in Bologna for this event, do not miss the stunning collection of needle lace pieces at the Collezioni Comunali d'Arte Museum!!!

Assisi Pattern Source

Just a quick note today about a website with some fantastic patterns for Assisi Embroidery (among many other types!). Worth a look and some time spent exploring!

Check out Jos Hendrik's website Embroidery and Embroider.

Special thanks to Marnie and her Country Fried Stitches blog, without her I would never have discovered this wonderful source of patterns!

Cyber Classes

Something exciting for those of you who can't get to Italy to take a class in Reticello embroidery!

The Embroiderers' Guild of South Australia is holding cyber classes!

You don't have to be a member of the Guild to participate, though of course costs are higher for non-members. Costs, however are very low and the chance to study under embroidery master Christine P. Bishop is a treat in itself (click on her name to visit her website).

Right now you can sign up for a cyber class of an intricate cutwork purse with "reticella style fillings".

Cutwork purse with reticella style fillings by Christine P. Bishop.

Sign up ends May 9th with course completion by June 13th. This cyber class is a 4 week class so the cost is $35.00 Australian dollars for non-members of the Guild and an additional $17 AUD for materials plus shipping.

Take a look at all the pages under the Cyber Classes tab on the Embroiderer's Guild of South Australia website to fully understand how their cyber classes work. Christine tells me that due to her busy schedule of teaching, she may not be able to do another cyber class for some time so if you've been longing to study with her, wanting to try some Reticello, or been intimidated by non-English instructions, now is your chance!

If you would like to learn more about Christine P. Bishop visit her website or Tuttoricamo (click on the British flag for the English pages then click on "Prominent Characters" then under the "Today" heading click on her name).

One year later and an award!

Well here I am one year after starting this blog. 176 posts was all I could manage in a year. I had rather hoped to post everyday and it started out that way, but then I took on more and more projects... I just can't say no to interesting collaborations!

However, I'm still here and I still hope for time to post more often. There are some 200+visitors a day which I find mind-boggling. I have heard from so many people! Some looking into research, others are people hoping to sell antique pieces of needlework, still others are people looking for appraisals!

I never even thought about what I would do about receiving messages from people... it never occurred to me that anyone would write to me. Now I am often overwhelmed by the amount of email to be answered and have some messages still in my inbox from last August!

I recently received an award from a fantastic blogger named Racaire who lives in Vienna. You can read her blog here. I received the same award from Eva in Finland, you can read her blog here. The requirements of receipt of this award as I understand them is to answer the following questions and then nominate five other blogs. I have to say that blogging myself has made me much more aware of other bloggers and it is difficult to choose only five gorgeous blogs but I will list my choices at the end of this post, they of course follow my interests!

Gorgeous Blogger Award questions:
When did you start your blog?
I started this (my one and only blog) on March 21, 2010.
What do you write about?
I write about Italian needlework and pretty much anything Italian textile related.
What makes this special?
When I first discovered the Italian needlework arena, what I noticed most was how little was known about it to the English-speaking world and how many treasures were just waiting to be brought to light. The more needleworkers and textile enthusiasts I met, the more I wanted to show them the wonders of the Italian needlework and textile world.
What made you start writing?
After 10 years of collecting and exploring and researching, I felt it was time to share what I had discovered as I don't feel that all the information that I have collected should be closeted away for my own enjoyment. I am still learning so much that I think I will never run out of things to blog about!
What would you change in your blog?
If I could change anything it would be the amount of time I have to blog. I wish there were more hours in the day and I could post more often!

Five Gorgeous Blogs I pass on this award to:
Elisabetta - ricami a mano
The Textile Blog
Ricamo, fichi e fichi d'india
Dentelles d'abord
Ricami e... altro

There are so many others but I must stop at five.
Thank you dear readers for a very pleasurable year of blogging, I hope to deliver more interesting things to you in the year to come!

Italy's 150th Birthday

2011 marks Italy's 150th birthday and the country is celebrating for 9 months! If you are planning a trip to Italy this year, don't forget to check for celebrations wherever you are going. Discover Italy in Turin has a lot to look at and plan for on their website (click on the British flag for the English pages).

Cover art for the book Le Donne del Risorgimento by Bruna Bertolo.

Among the things that are textile-related is the Fashion in Italy 150 years of Elegance exhibit which goes from July 23 to December 11, 2011 at the Venaria Reale about 10 km outside of the center of Turin.

There are several exhibits of Bandera Embroidery in Chieri.

Artisan exhibits with an "Arts and Crafts Supermarket" featuring textiles and other hand-crafted articles in Turin from March 17 to November 20, 2011.

In Como at the Silk Museum there is a lace exhibit from March 16 to April 29, 2011.

There are historical and cultural events in many cities and towns. Don't miss the opportunity to see period costumes and take advantage of reduced rates at many newly restored museums, palazzos and monuments. There will be shows, plays, films, books, historical documents - more than I can list.

Tricolore by Gaetano Ricchizzi.

Please let me know of any textile events you attend, I'd love to see photos!

Gigliuccio Hemstitch - Attaching the hem

Lots of readers have asked if there is another way to attach a hem while doing the Gigliuccio or Peahole Hemstitch at the same time as executing the hemstitching instead of in a separate operation. The answer is yes! However, the rules of how to execute the Gigliuccio change and instead of executing the work on the frontside of your fabric, you will have to do everything on the back side.

I finally got around to reading up on my camera's settings and was able to do a relatively nice set of super-macro photos for this, though it took many tries and hundreds of photos! I got a great table-top tripod for Christmas from my photographer-daughter and with a ball-head attachment it is perfect for what I need it to do! (If you're wondering: the camera is a Canon S5 15 and the tripod is a Joby Gorillapod.)

So, withdraw your threads for the Gigliuccio hemstitch, turn up your hem and baste it down (to the backside of the fabric). I tied a knot in my thread and then went into my hem area about 2 inches away from where I wanted to start stitching. Come up at the top of the hem fold right where you want to begin. Just to be clear, you are coming up from inside the hem fabric, you are not catching any of the front fabric at all.

Step One: Moving left to right, slide the needle back toward the left under four ground threads:

Step Two: Insert the needle into the hem fabric without catching any of the front fabric to the right four threads, only catch about two ground threads of the hem fabric:

Step Three: Slide the needle behind the same four ground threads as in Step One:

Step Four: Moving diagonally to the right, go up and over four ground threads and slide the needle behind the four ground threads directly above:

Step Five: Insert the needle four ground threads to the right and down, coming out right where your previous stitching is:

Now we begin the whole procedure again, to the right four ground threads and slide the needle back toward the left under four ground threads and carry on from Step Two above:

This is what it should look like on the backside:

This is what it should look like on the frontside:

This is the first step of the Gigliuccio hemstitch which is, in this case, the Four-Sided Stitch and the Simple Hemstitch combined. You will have to do the second part of the Gigliuccio (the other row of Four-Sided Stitch and the bundle knotting) on the back side as well in order to have your stitching match. Click here for the second part of this tutorial.

An excellent publication on the finer points of the Gigliuccio Hemstitch is Liliana Babbi Cappelletti's booklet which is available in Italian from Tombolo Disegni. There was an English version done (called Peahole Hemstitch), you may want to contact the author to see if you can get a copy from her. The step-by-step images are fantastic and even if you can't get your hands on the English version, you should have very little trouble with the Italian version.