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.

Italian needlework at EGA

Slowly, slowly I'm getting organized. I've been home from San Francisco for 4 days and while there are still piles of things to sort, the piles are getting smaller!

Here are a few pics from the Embroiderers' Guild of America National Seminar at the Marriott Hotel in San Francisco:

This is the display table we set up on Saturday, September 4th (no sympathy for jet lag, we got right to work!) with lots of help from Giovanna of Tuttoricamo...


Beautiful Italian needlework from Assisi, Panicale, Deruta, Perugia, Lake Trasimeno and other towns in the delicious region of Umbria, Italy.


Clara Baldelli Bombelli of the Giuditta Brozzetti workshop with some of her daughter's handwoven pieces.


Signora Derna stitching some Assisi work (she's been doing it since she was 5 years old!), she was a joy to watch. It was her first ever journey outside of her hometown of Assisi, Italy and she had an excellent time in San Francisco.


Anna Maria Porzi braves an extreme close-up to display some beautiful crocheted earrings from the Lake Trasimeno area of Umbria.


On Market Day the two ladies from Assisi dressed in Medieval garb to sell their wares, this is Tiziana Borsellini, President of the Accademia Punto Assisi.

It was a fantastic week of Italian needlework emersion. I helped the Italian ladies with their display tables and their booths on Market Day, I took Vima deMarchi Micheli's four day Notebook of Italian Embroidery course, attended her lecture on September 5th and helped with her Exhibition on September 8th.


On the 12th of September we rented a car and drove up to Vima's home for one last taste of La Dolce Vita before returning to our respective homes. I miss them all already!

Thanks to my daughter for taking the group shot!

Rodi Stitch

Punto Rodi or Rodi Stitch is a Pulled Thread Stitch used for filling spaces of a design and creating a light, open area. It is used a lot in Italian needlework especially for filling the insides of flowers.

This image taken from the book Nuova Enciclopedia dei Lavori Femminili by Mani di Fata:


When I went looking to find instructions on how to execute it, I found that there are many variations! All have one thing in common and that is that Rodi Stitch is executed in diagonal lines.

I took needle in hand and made you instructions of two different variations. First we'll look at the way Vima deMarchi Micheli teaches it in her Italian Needlework Techniques class that she teaches for the Embroiderers Guild of America. I used 38ct Sotema 20L ivory coloured linen from Italy and DMC Spécial Dentelles #80 thread.

Rodi Stitch - Technique 1
Worked from right to left, bottom to top, turn the work 180 degrees to do the return row. Pull the stitches firmly to open up holes which are bigger than the ground fabric holes for the desired effect. Each stitch is executed twice.

Click on the photo for a closer look:


I did it in coloured thread so you could see the stitches, then I did it in thread matching the background colour so you can see the effect. I also show you how the back looks:


With this method, the back looks the same as the front.

The second working I did was from Liliana Babbi Cappelletti's excellent booklet (see info below).

Rodi Stitch - Technique 2
Worked from right to left, top to bottom, you do not turn the work to do the return row. Again, pull each stitch to open up the fabric. Each stitch is executed only once. You must make a cross-over stitch at the end of the row in order to return.

Click on the photo for a closer look:


And here is the back:


As you can see, the back looks different from the front with this method. The overall effect is the same, though with only one stitch instead of two, this way looks a bit more delicate (it's hard to tell from these small patches, I know - it is the impression I get when looking at the two patches on my fabric here in my hand).

Liliana Babbi Cappelletti has at least six variations of Rodi Stitch in her instruction booklet: Il punto rodi e le sue varianti, il punto principessa e altri retini di fondo. Text in Italian but very clear diagrams. You can get this booklet from Tombolo Disegni. Click on "Libri/Books", then "Libri Ricamo", then "Ricamo Italiani", send an email request to order. (Note: there are no photos of this book on the page, it is the first entry in a listing.)


I believe the English terminology for this stitch is Faggot Stitch.

Here is a short video on YouTube.