Round Knotted Netting

I told you about Enza Termine of Sicily and her Round Filet Netting in this post here last year but I didn't have any photos of my own to show you her exquisite work.

That has changed, look what came in the mail today!

Hand-made knotted netting made with gold thread by Enza Termine.

Hand-made rete a rosoni [circular netting] by Enza Termine.

Today I received two pieces hand-made by Enza herself and they are marvelous! I can't stop looking at them.

Enza has a tutorial (in Italian) on her website for the art of Round Knotted Netting, and you can find an English translation of an article she wrote on the subject at Tuttoricamo, click on the British Flag for the English pages, then click on "Techniques", then "Filet and Bosa Filet", then click on the word "circular" in the fifth paragraph. There are also some great tutorials in English at Rita Bartholomew's website here. There is a bit on circular netting here.

Thank you Enza!!

Goldwork in Bologna

Some of the best places to see needlework when you're traveling is in religious buildings. There are usually excellent examples of the best needlework as historically the Church had money to spend and the habit of conserving their embroideries well.

The Basilica of San Francesco in Bologna is no exception, when we walked into the 13th century building I was immediately struck by a stunning Goldwork altarcloth:

Besides couched gold threads there are also areas of raised plating to accent the turn-over parts of the leaves.

Jewels and other ornaments are worked right into this amazing piece.

Bobbin lace at the top made of gold thread and gold fringe at the bottom!

This altarcloth was a work of particular magnificence, utilizing many of the techniques and materials of Goldwork embroidery. It was so incredible and so well executed! If Goldwork interests you and you're in Bologna, don't miss the opportunity to study this piece!

There was also a lot of other needlework on display in the Basilica, like cutwork and needlelace but we'll look at those another time.

Anghiari Embroidery

Anghiari is a town in Tuscany located northeast of Arezzo. The town is perhaps most well-known for the Battle of Anghiari fought in 1440 and painted by Leonardo DaVinci in a fresco at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence between 1504 and 1505. The fresco was lost but a drawing by Peter Paul Rubens around 1603 is said to be a copy of the center scene, perhaps you recognize it:

The Battle of the Standard by Peter Paul Rubens, image taken from Wikipedia.

In the early twentieth century Anghiari was, like many Italian towns, participating in an arts and crafts movement with laboratories of needlework springing up all over Italy to provide women with a means to earn money and support their families. Ladies of the aristocracy promoted and supported these schools and workshops and much of the handiworks produced were exported to other countries for sale.

A lady from the UK by the name of Beatrice Lyle Smith living near Anghiari was instrumental in the production of Anghiari Embroideries beginning around 1901.

A photo from the Italian Almanac for 1904 shows a picture of the rustic style of Anghiari Embroideries:

From the collection of Bianca Rosa Bellomo, Italy. Almanacco Italiano 1904, R. Bemporad e Fo. Editori, Firenze, pg. 336.

The world had already seen Anghiari Embroideries displayed at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in Turin in 1902 resulting in a flood of orders and praise. I saw the catalogue of this exposition sitting on the shelf in one of the displays in the Liberty House Museum in Chiaramonte Gulfi and begged the curators to let me look at it but alas, they refused.

In 1904 at the World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri "Ethle-Beatrice Smith, Arezzo", took a gold medal for hand embroidery. I have been unsuccessful in finding out more about this prize-winning piece, the people at the 1904 World's Fair Museum tell me it is unlikely that a photo would have been taken of it, even though it won a gold medal.

Anghiari Embroideries are mentioned in reviews of the works at the 1906 World's Fair in Milan and other international exhibitions in Europe during the early part of the 20th century.

In 1907 in Venice at the Seventh International Exposition of the Arts, Anghiari Embroidery was featured as part of a doorway exhibit with "Bice Smith" mentioned:

From the collection of Claudio Romeo, Italy.

Close up detail of the photo above. From the collection of Claudio Romeo, Italy.

From the collection of Bianca Rosa Bellomo, Italy.

No trace of existing pieces of Anghiari Embroidery in Italy have been found, as the works were mostly made for export to the United States, I had hoped to find some examples on this side of the Atlantic, but I have been unsuccessful so far.

More precise information on the execution of Anghiari Embroidery and the information which has been found can be read at TuttoRicamo, click on the British flag for the English version, then "Techniques", then "Anghiari Embroideries".

If you know anything or have seen anything of Anghiari Embroideries in the US or elsewhere, would you leave a comment below?

Heartfelt thanks go to Claudio Romeo and Bianca Rosa Bellomo for permission to use their photos!

San Vero Milis

I met so many talented stitchers on my last trip to Italy. I have to tell you about a fantastic lady from San Vero Milis in Sardinia. Her name is Rossella and she invited us to her lovely home and showed us lots of her needlework of which I can only show you a few pieces today as unfortunately most of my photos did not come out well.

Rossella is curious about all kinds of embroidery and needlework and she has tried many different techniques!

Punto Madama or Catherine de' Medici Embroidery

Fantastic Macramé fringe!

These last two Filet Lace pieces are designs by Maria Lai a famous Sardinian artist who uses textiles in her art. Rossella arranged for us to meet her but I'll tell you about that in another post.

After showing us her needlework and offering us coffee and delicious typical Sardinian pastries, we all piled into our cars and drove to Bosa, for a meeting with the ladies from the association La Foce which practices the ancient art of Bosa Filet Lace. Rossella had arranged for us to visit during one of their sessions where many ladies were working on fine pieces of Bosa Filet Lace.

I wish we could have spent more time in San Vero Milis, they have lots of artisan traditions and the scenery is breathtaking. I'll have to go back!

Burano Lace Museum Reopens

Burano Lace Museum under restoration in 2009

The Museo del Merletto on Burano in the lagoon of Venice re-opens it's doors tomorrow after years of restoration, reorganization and restructurization!

You can find the museum in the Podestà di Torcello in Piazza Galuppi at number 187 on the island of Burano. Take the Linea LN vaporetto from Fondamenta Nuova to get to Burano, it takes about 40 minutes.

Here is a translation of what is written about the opening exhibition:

The exhibition, organized for the inauguration, by Doretta Davanzo Poli [author and expert see a list of her publications here], features over 150 pieces of lace selected from the most significant collections of Venetian Civic Museums, as well as some paintings, engravings, drawings, documents, magazines, textiles and costumes from the 15th to the 20th centuries.

During the opening hours of the museum you can see the work of skilled and tireless lace masters, still custodians of an art passed down from generation to generation. 

The new museum guide will be available from the 27th of June in all the bookstores of the Fondazione Musei Civici.

Colourful houses on Burano

Burano is worth the trip without the museum but with the museum it would be exceptional! Beware of lace pieces with prices too good to be true... they are made in China!

You can check out a video made by master lacemaker Lucia Costantini in the Burano Lace Museum here.

Thanks to Vima for the heads-up!

Old Italian Needlework Encyclopedia

I recently made a great find on the Italian version of ebay, Il Nuovo Libro dei Lavori Femminili, Volume Primo [The New Book of Woman's Works, First Volume] by Amelia Brizzi Ramazzotti, Sonzogno, Milan. The first volume of an old Italian needlework encyclopedia from 1911:

Now, I thought, it's probably a lot like the DMC encyclopedia which pre-dates it by a few years but it will be interesting to have all the same - I was wrong - the illustrations are drawn in a similar style but that's about it. This book definitely has Italian taste where needlework is concerned!

Check out the delightfully strange creature for embroidery on Tulle:

I love the softening of the straight lines of hemstitching with these lovely floral patterns:

Some of the drawn-threadwork section looked familiar... I found it had been previously published in the weekly women's journal Il Ricamo, No. 1, 1906 which was also published by Sonzogno. In the 1906 journal it says that the article is a continuation from Il Ricamo No. 53, 1905. Unfortunately Elena at Italian Needlecrafts doesn't have that issue so I can't check it out (she has generously put up scans of many issues though, have a look when you get the chance!). However it would seem that the author Amelia Brizzi Ramazzotti had material for this particular encyclopedia well before it's publication in 1911. The preface of the encyclopedia says only that she saw the need for a book which had all the techniques of women's work complied together, not that she had taken material from existing publications though it would seem reasonable that she collected material from the same publishing house and a journal that she was the director of.

This is a pattern for bretelle which are braces embroidered in Stem Stitch... I wonder what it would be applied to... an apron? Worn over a blouse? If you know, please leave a comment below!

The book has five sections: sewing; whitework; coloured work which has four sub-sections: silk embroidery, goldwork, beadwork, paillettework; drawn-threadwork and Hardanger. In the silk embroidery section there is also silk-ribbonwork featuring many designs with complex compositions of silk-ribbon flowers:

It is a great addition to my library and I hope one day to find the second volume which has chapters on: Embroidery on Tulle; Filet work; Knitting; Crochet; Macramé, Tatting; Bobbin Lace, Renaissance Lace, Teneriffe Lace and Needle Lace.

The author Amelia Brizzi Ramazzotti (1872 - 1945) edited and/or wrote several publications in the early 20th century and was the director of the needlework journal Il Ricamo [Embroidery] and Il Ricamo Moderno [Modern Embroidery] during the same period. I have been unsuccessful in finding out much on the life of Amelia Brizzi Ramazzotti, if you know anything would you leave a comment below?

I've been corresponding with assistant professor Dr. Silvia Valisa at the State University of Florida who is researching old publications from the Sonzogno publishing house of Milan. She is involved in Project Sonzogno which is trying to collect at least one copy of every old Sonzogno publication for the Sonzogno Historical Library and compiling a catalogue listing of the old publications. Whenever you come across an old Sonzogno publication, please contact her if you don't see it in her catalogue listings either here or here.

Veronese Crochet Lace Samples!

Just before I left for Italy I received a delightful package in the mail (I just love getting things in the mail, this strike is killing me!)

Donatella Granzarolo, one of the authors of the book Pizzo di Verona - Veronese Crochet Lace, sent me the above samples that she had made so I could see for myself the loveliness of her work.

I love the intricacy of this lace. Anna Castagnetti, another one of the authors of the book sent me the crochet and cro-tat hooks used to make Veronese Crochet Lace... sizes 1.0 and 1.5!! They are **so** tiny!

Speaking of Anna, there is a lovely little video of her explaining about her work on the Italian program Voce delle Donne [Voices of the Women]. Even if you don't understand Italian, you can see her passion for her work in how she talks about it and the woman interviewing her shows some of Anna's finished pieces of embroidery and lace.

p.s. If you go to Anna's website, you can download the original books on Veronese Crochet Lace published in the early 20th century!