Lace Collection - Genoa

Jewels of Thread is the English translation for the title of the catalogue for the laces in the Genoese public collections.

This catalogue of the first of a planned series of exhibitions of almost the entire lace collections of the Civiche Collezioni Tessili [Civic Textile Collections] and the Collezione Tessile della Soprintendenza al Patrimonio Storico Artistico della Liguria [Textile Collection of the Department of Historic Artistic Heritage of Liguria].

Written in Italian, it has a wealth of information regarding the laces in the collections (which number about 300 pieces dating between the 16th and 20th centuries) but also the history of lace in Genoa, mechanical laces, commercial production in Genoa, a glossary and of course a rich bibliography to investigate if you want more information on Genoa and lace.

In this volume, Maria Daniela Lunghi and Loredana Pessa have shared some of the wealth of their knowledge on these subjects and have offered detailed particulars on the lace pieces in the collections. This is a valuable resource also for the names and dates of contributors and collectors, if you have been trying to access information relative to this area of study, this catalogue is a gold mine of information.

Needle lace pieces include borders and inserts, tablecloths, collars, sleeves, scarves, frills, handkerchiefs, doilies, furniture coverings, bonnets, baby shoes, some religious articles and a bolero.

Bobbin lace pieces include borders and inserts, cuffs, collars, shawls, ties, sleeves, head coverings, furniture coverings, handkerchiefs, bibs, veils, fans, doilies, parasol covers, a sleeveless jacket and a bed spread.

There is a large assortment of items of a wide variety of mechanical laces (including whole dresses!) and also quite a lot of Macramè, crochet lace and metallic bobbin laces.

These collections are held at the Palazzo Bianco by the DVJ (Damask, Velvet, Jeans - Textile Fashion Museum) in Genoa.

Thanks to M. Daniela Lunghi for sharing this with us!

Textile History in Genoa

From time to time, readers write and ask me about Italian textiles from various Italian cities that I have not previously mentioned. Either they have some family ancestors who come from these cities or they are planning a visit and want to know what they can see.

For those who asked and also for the possible benefit of others, I would like to draw your attention this spring to Genoa. There seems to be a series of lectures and exhibitions with a textile theme than makes me sorry that I won't be able to see any of it.

Here you'll find a listing of the different events and the museums which will host them, it seems a terrific display of Textile History in Genoa.

Damask, Velvet, Denim - seven hundred years of textiles in Genoa. This event goes from January 15th to May 7, 2013. (Closed Mondays)

There are courses, lectures, guided tours, workshops and more to celebrate the first 10 years of the Damask, Velvet, Denim Fabric and Fashion Study Centre (DVJ Centro Studi di tessuto e moda). From their website:

The City of Genoa, which has been a centre of activities connected to silk processing for centuries, houses two important public collection of textiles: the Collezione Tessile della Soprintendenza, on display since 1999 in two rooms at the Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola, and the Collezioni Tessili dei Musei Civici, which are located at Palazzo Bianco.
Both comprise an heritage of a high artistic and historical level.
The import of the textile heritage of the two collections called for the founding of the DVJ Damasco Velluto Jeans - Centro studi tessuto e moda, housed in Palazzo Bianco, which will also make use of the exhibition rooms of the Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola.

They have a FaceBook page as well. If you get to see any of this, please leave a comment or write and let me know!

Aemilia Ars Flower Freebie

As a New Year's gift, the Association "I Merletti di Antonilla Cantelli" of Bologna has made an Aemilia Ars needle lace instruction booklet available for free download on their website.

This is such a treat! Both beginners and those of you with previous needle lace experience will be delighted to find that the location of support stitches and the order of working are clearly indicated. While the text is in Italian only, the diagrams and photos are clear - you can always use Google Translator if you need to.

The freebie is an exquisite flower proposed in DMC tatting thread no. 80 which opens up your options for coloured thread. You will no doubt become very skilled at executing the picots by the time you're done, there are definitely a lot of them!

On the last page of the freebie Aemilia Ars instruction booklet you will find a photo of the finished project which is followed by another photo which serves as inspiration for doing different flowers. That last photo was taken by myself and is used with my permission.

Some of you might recognize it from the post I wrote about the Association's book on Aemilia Ars borders (available for purchase from Lacis in the US). That particular flower (photo above) was given to me as a gift by the Association "I Merletti di Antonilla Cantelli" when I was in Italy in 2011. I am delighted that they could use my photo so others could appreciate their work and perhaps use it as a source of inspiration for their own creations of Aemilia Ars needle lace.

If you're interested, the Association "I Merletti di Antonilla Cantelli" also published a book on Aemilia Ars flowers, the book is called Fiori and is available in the US from Lacis.

Excellent Puncetto Needle Lace Tutorial Online

Way back in April of 2012, Carmen wrote to tell me about Brona who had posted a tutorial on her blog for Puncetto needle lace. Now when you send me emails, I always save them in my in-basket until I can answer them or investigate the information that you send. However, often I am unable to do it right away. Please don't think I have brushed you off or ignored you - unfortunately my blog is my hobby, not my career and it gets the very last of any free time I have which means that sometimes it takes months for me to investigate information I receive.

Brona has done an outstanding tutorial on Puncetto needle lace in a series of seven posts which she has gathered together in one page on her blog.

Her diagrams are clear and easy to understand and there is a google translator button at the top right of the homepage to help you decipher what she has written as Brona's blog is written in Czech.

She has covered the basics and then tackled the more difficult motifs and even given tips on using more than one colour of thread!

I enjoyed Brona's Reticello project in the May/June 2012 issue of Piecework magazine and hope that she will treat us to a Puncetto needle lace project in the future!

Cadolingio Embroidery

Ebe Ciampalini Balestri has just released her latest book, this time it is a style of embroidery which she invented herself, inspired by the ruins of an ancient castle near where she lives in Tuscany. If you have Facebook, you can visit the archaeological dig's page and read in English and Italian what they've been doing and look as some photos in their photo albums.

Cadolingio Embroidery, or Ricamo Cadolingio as it is called in Italian, falls under the category of metal thread work and reminds me of the ancient works like Queen Constance's crown found today in Palermo's Cathedral.

The book is 51 pages long and is divided into two sections: Italian first and English second. Each section is further divided into subsections which list the materials used, technical information including finishing ideas, the history of the family and the castello which inspired this embroidery, seven different projects and more ideas and then the bibliographical notes.

Ebe, acknowledging the economic difficulties of our times, has sourced materials which are easier to fit into your budget than real gold threads and gems for the projects of this manual but if you have the resources for using more expensive materials, that option is always open to you.

The projects are delightful and not your usual embroidery items, here there are mirror and picture frame surrounds, small boxes of various shapes and eyeglasses cases. As the materials used are synthetic, they are also washable, making the projects more usable.

Speaking of eyeglasses cases, Ebe made one for me!

As usual when I translate things, I learned a lot. This book taught me not only about the different aspects of this embroidery style but also about a family's history which I always find fascinating.

You can purchase Cadolingio Embroidery from Tombolo Disegni, send an email request to order.

Genoese Needlework, Textiles and Fashion - Part One

I know almost nothing about Genoa, Italy in relation to textiles. I've never been there and so it is conspicuously missing from the range of needlework that I've talked about here.

I was recently contacted by Maria Daniela Lunghi, a fibre artist, author and textile history specialist from Camogli in the province of Genoa. She was kind enough to send me some textile museum catalogues from Genoa.

I colori del lusso. Scialli del Kashmir a Genova [The colours of luxury. Kashmir Shawls in Genoa] is a little booklet of 32 pages with lots of lovely colour photos of the collection of Kashmir shawls displayed at the exhibition in 2002 at the Museo di Sant'Agostino in Genoa. It covers the history of textiles in India, the production of cashmere in europe, woven shawls and printed shawls among a few other interesting things. (Text in Italian.)

Now, you might be thinking: What do cashmere shawls have to do with Italy? Well, you may or may not know that Europeans had some periods of time where Eastern designs, fabrics and customs became very fashionable. Periods of Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Bedouin as well as other eastern styles each had their turn influencing the latest fashions for European women and men and India had her turn as well.

Marchesa Emilia Negrone Centurioni by Giuseppe Antonio Frascheri. Oil on canvas. Villa Saluzzo Serra di Nervi, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Genoa.

This little catalogue also discusses the influence of these shawls on the fashion pages of French magazines, the commerce of Kashmir shawls in Genoa and the relationship between Genoese men and women and Kashmir shawls.

There is a small bit at the end about the restoration and conservation of this collection.

I learned quite a bit about these shawls and their high appreciation by Italian women of the period between 1770 and 1870.

Thank you M. Daniela Lunghi for this fascinating lesson in fashion!

Christmas Macrame

I finally treated myself to Adriana Lazzari's Christmas Macrame book, I've been looking at it since it come out in 2009.

Some years ago I tried to create a Santa Claus out of Macrame from a RAKAM magazine but he never really worked out and last year I wanted to create this bell, but even with help and infinite patience from the ladies over at Tuttoricamo, I didn't get very far.

This year, I've had some practise and am determined to create some kind of Christmas ornament in Macrame.

This nice little book has 55 pages, the text is only in Italian but there are lots of diagrams and photos, if you know your way around Macrame, you'd probably have no trouble if you don't speak Italian.

The first section deals with materials and the basic knots after which follows the patterns and ideas section which is the larger part of the contents. The projects include three angels, a chimney-sweep, a couple of brooms, two Christmas trees, a snowman, a witch, a poinsettia, the Nativity Scene from the front cover, three snowflakes and a bell. A bell very similar to the one I was trying to make last year. (If you're wondering, the broom, chimney-sweep and witch relate to the Italian tradition of the Befana coinciding with the Epifany on the 6th of January).

I like Adriana's books as she always tells you how much thread to cut. This helps math-challenged people like me as it leaves nothing to chance. I think I'll make one of the snowflakes to start out, they look like something I might be able to handle. I'll let you know if I succeed.

If you're outside of Italy, you can purchase this book from TomboloDisegni, click on "Libri", then "Libri Macrame": send an email to order, she takes PayPal. If you're in Italy, you can contact the author at her website.