Puncetto Workshop

While in Italy at the Italia Invita Forum in Parma this past month, I took a three-day workshop with the Puncetto needle lace maestra Angela Stefanutto of the Società Operaia di Mutuo Soccorso di Varallo from the Piedmont region of Italy.

Angela was an incredibly patient teacher and she had her hands full! There were six of us, two ladies from Spain, two Italian ladies, a lady from Israel and myself. One of the Italian ladies was also an English language interpreter for the Israeli lady and Angela was able to speak to the Spanish ladies in their mother tongue. I admired everyone greatly as learning and teaching an embroidery technique is difficult enough but having to switch languages while you're doing it is even more challenging. Angela was never impatient and made sure that we were all able to finish our little square of Puncetto needle lace by the end of the course. We each got a little certificate for having completed the workshop and Angela was surprised by getting her own certificate for having taught us! She was a very sweet lady and I enjoyed her very much.

Here she is in the Puncetto booth at the show:

Angela Stefanutto.

My little square is quite warped but I felt very good leaving the class having learned so much just by watching Angela work her magic hands with the needle and thread.

The Puncetto square is worked first and then inserted into the fabric.

Nothing was a problem, not even when I broke my thread, our maestra had a work-around for every difficulty we encountered. For those that finished early, she showed us a little fancy Puncetto edging:

The Ventaglietto or little fan edging is done by hooking onto the hem of the fabric.

Then she showed us the two books that she co-wrote and all of the beautiful pieces of Puncetto needle lace she had done which were featured in the books. I was delighted to discover that I had both of her books at home!

Book number one is really for advanced levels or for once you have a good understanding of the technique.

Book number two which is really the one you need to get started.

I was excited about getting home to now finally understand the patterns which I had been unsure about when working on my own.

Angela told us that if we were ever in her neighbourhood, she taught Puncetto classes for the Società Operaia di Mutuo Soccorso di Varallo. One day I hope to visit her and do just that!

In the meantime, there is a series of German videos on YouTube which show you some Puncetto basics.

Florence and Needlework shopping

I have a couple of other places to add to my post about great textile-related shopping places in Florence.

As some of you may have already read, in this post I told you about some of my discoveries the last time I was there (make sure to read the comments below that post as other people added places too).

This time we noticed a few other places worth checking out...

Campolmi Roberto Filati is almost right behind the Duomo in the historic centre of Florence in Via Folco Portinari no. 19/21 Red. The sell large cones and skeins of yarns and threads of all types, though they specialize in wools. Their prices were fantastic, we saw big cones of embroidery cotton no. 25 for 2 euros! The shop is quite large so make sure you go all the way in and around to the left at the back to see everything. The front window display is quite inviting and well presented but inside the shop there is no decor. Don't let that put you off and be sure to ask about anything you don't see, the ladies know their inventory!

There are the two TAF (which stands for: Tovagliati Artistici Fiorentini or Artistic Florentine Tablelinens) stores in Via Por Santa Maria, no. 17 Red and across the street at no. 22 Red which have beautiful hand-embroidered things, there is one store on one side of the street and the other store which specializes in baby and children's things on the other side, don't miss looking at the window displays of both stores... the children's items store also has a huge display window above the street level window.

We stumbled across this store at Via Lambertesca, no. 8 Red called Laura Nutini:

Unfortunately it was closed for the afternoon lunchtime but there was lots of needlework in the window! I'll have to check it out next time.

Filet Lace Jewelry

An interesting and attractive approach to wearable art! Filet Lace Jewelry made in Sardinia.

This necklace was a gift to me, it is hand-made Sardinian Filet Lace from Cagliari which has then been coated with fabric glue and then painted with fabric paint so it is durable and can get wet without destroying the work.

Each piece is made on a frame in the traditional Sardinian way, the Filet Lace is then embellished with coral, Swarovski crystals or other semi-precious stones and then treated with non-toxic fabric paints and glues. The hardware is made of silver or gold-plated brass or other non-nickel metals.

These Filet Lace Jewelry creations are the work of Mariangela Porcu, an embroiderer and teacher of Sardinian Filet Lace.

She makes pendants, earrings, bracelets and sets from traditional Sardinian Filet Lace as the base of the designs. All of her creations are exquisite!

Click here to see an exhibit of some of her brooches and other Filet Lace Jewelry.

While you're visiting Mariangela Porcu's website, don't miss the gallery of photos of her lovely Sardinian Filet Lace works!

Antique Deruta Embroidery Book

I have written previously about Antique Deruta Embroidery which is a pulled thread technique (not to be confused with Deruta Drawn Thread Work or Coloured Deruta Embroidery). Modern Buratto fabric and linen thread are used and this embroidery it is especially effective when done on curtains as the patterns show up nicely when light is behind them.

I was delighted to find that the Accademia Punto Deruta had finally published a book on this technique after more than 15 years of researching ancient pieces. There is a bit of the history of the different Deruta embroidery techniques on the first page and then 12 patterns for Antique Deruta Embroidery which have photos of the patterns stitched up beside each one so you can see the end result, these are followed by instructions on how to execute the two main stitches and photos of different typical hem treatments, then instructions on how to make a tassel with a fuseruola or ceramic bead. After that there is a page on the history of the fuseruola and a series of photos.

In 2007 at the Italia Invita Forum, I tried to do some of this embroidery. Here is a little square that I finished (the rest is still waiting for me to pick it up again!)...

...you can see the hole that is formed by the path of the pulled threads in the middle. The secret to Antique Deruta Embroidery is the path of your stitches.

Here is a tassel made with the linen thread used in the embroidery and attached to the hem of a piece of Antique Deruta Embroidery, notice the fuseruola:

And here you can see the beautiful effect of Antique Deruta Embroidery on table linen:

You can read the history of Antique Deruta Embroidery at the Tuttoricamo website, click on the British Flag for the English pages, then 'Techniques', then 'Deruta Embroidery', don't miss the history page under the 'Links' heading on this page.

If you would like to get this book, contact Anna Lisa Piccioni, President of the Accademia Punto Deruta: annalisapiccioni@gmail.com

Sicilian Drawn Thread Work

In April I went to Sicily with a stitching friend to take a Sicilian Drawn Thread Work course from Roberta Rizza in Comiso.

Roberta has a lovely shop in Comiso called Passione Ricamo (at the corner of Via Salvatore Quasimodo and Via dei Roveri) where she and her mother Franca run workshops and have a large display area for all their wonderful embroideries.

Lots of beautiful things in the shop windows!

There is a special area for embroidery courses well away from the commercial area with lots of great lighting. The course lasted three days for a total of 12 hours. We started on a Wednesday morning and our fabric was presented to us already cut and ready to go.

We learned that Sicilian Drawn Thread Work is made up of three principal types: '400, '500 and '700 and a few variations. The '500 Inverso is a variation of the '500. Patterns from the different historical periods are traditionally used with each different type (eg. patterns from the 15th century are used with '400 and so on). You can, however, use any cross stitch or filet pattern you like for executing this kind of embroidery.

A netted ground is prepared for most types of Sicilian Drawn Thread Work by cutting the ground fabric warp and weft threads and then wrapping the bars with thread. The fabric used is usually a high count evenweave linen. For the Cloth Stitch which is used in the '400 type of Sicilian Drawn Thread Work the fabric is then "rewoven" back into the netted ground with thread to fill the squares of the design. The '400 is done before wrapping the netted ground. For '700 the design is woven onto the completed netted ground using the Darning Stitch. Here is an example of the two types together, the top left corner is the '700 and the petals are done in the '400:

In the '500 type of Sicilian Drawn Thread Work the design area is not cut out of the middle of the netted ground but instead the ground fabric is left and it is outlined with an overcasting stitch:

'500 Inverso is the design made up of the netting and an overcast stitch outlining the edge of the design:

Here is our course project, the first photo is what I've got done so far on mine and then a photo of the finished stitched sample in the shop:

On the last day of the course, we were taught how to cut the fabric. Of course I miscalculated and cut mine wrong! It is fantastic to have a teacher to explain everything to you, so much more enjoyable than learning from a book at home alone! I feel confident in cutting out a new design but I'll have to lock myself in a room alone with no distractions to do it!

Roberta is an excellent teacher and gave us lots of hints and tips for working our patterns. She likes to travel around Italy to teach and you can invite her to your place by giving her a call: +39 333 705 3976.

There is an excellent tutorial at Tuttoricamo, click on the British flag for the English pages, then click on "How it's done" and then on "Sicilian Drawn Thread Work". 

Thanks to Elisabetta for the photo of the works in the shop window!

The Parish of San Giovanni Suergiu

Parish photo copyright by giorgiodiana

While in San Giovanni Suergiu in Sardinia this past month, I visited a stitching group which calls the Parish of San Giovanni Suergiu home.

These ladies donate their earnings from embroideries sold at two exhibitions a year to six children adopted from the Garba Catholic Mission Camp Isiolo in Eastern Kenya.

The were kind enough to let us join them, once in the afternoon and once in the morning for a bit of stitching. The range of work that they do goes from classic embroideries like works of cutwork and counted threadwork, to knitting and crochet and everything in between.

They also do work on commission like the bomboniere for weddings, first communions and other special events.

The ladies also proudly showed us the embroidery of the Parish itself, there were so many beautiful works!

This is "false cutwork", the red part is painted with fabric paint and the design is executed with chain stitches.

Of course they do works of Bosa Filet:

With one of the ladies from this group, we went to Bosa to visit with La Foce, a group of women who study and work this ancient Sardinian technique, but more on that later...

Visit the blog of this group from the Parish of San Giovanni Suergiu to see all of the beautiful things they make!

Borders of Aemilia Ars

The long awaited Bordi [Borders] of the Quaderni di Aemilia Ars series is out!

78 pages of clear instructions on how to make this breathtakingly beautiful needle lace.

Once again the pupils of the Aemilia Ars master Antonilla Cantelli have worked hard to bring you step-by-step instructions. This book is in the same format as their previous publication Fiori [Flowers], this time they present numerous borders, edgings and inserts with large clear colour photos.

If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know that I have spoken often and lovingly of Aemilia Ars needle lace. It is truly a jewel in the crown of needlearts.

The ladies of the Association I Merletti di Antonilla Cantelli also had a booth at the Italia Invita Forum in Parma this year and it was full of exquisite pieces of Aemilia Ars needle lace, both new and old (click on the underlined text for some pictures).

I was the lucky recipient of this needle lace flower which is absolutely perfectly made and attached to some wire so that you can hook it around a button:

While in Bologna, I couldn't miss the opportunity to revisit the Collezioni Comunali d’Arte museum and the only continuous exhibit of Aemilia Ars needle lace that I know of.

Can you see the snails? Ah well, more about that later...

If you're interested in the book on Aemilia Ars needle lace borders or even the one on flowers, check out the online needlework store Tombolo Disegni.

As always, many thanks to Elisabetta for the photo from the museum in Bologna!