Bandera Embroidery

I have a love-hate relationship with Baroque/Rococo ornament. While some things can be (in my opinion) over-decorated with scrolls and fruit and putti, I find I am always attracted to needlework of this period. I think a lot of it has to do with my love of texture.

Bandera Embroidery from the Piedmont region of Italy has the same effect on me. Sometimes there is absolutely too much ornament but mostly, if it is tastefully done, I love to look at it.

This embroidery style takes its name from the fabric it is stitched on, legend tells that it was first produced in Chieri a small town near Turin at the end of the 16th century. Recent studies however have led scholars to believe the cloth to have Turkish origins and to have already been well-known in the Piedmont region in the latter 15th century.

Today's Bandera fabric is 100% cotton and looks like this:


Long before Elena had Italian Needlecrafts in Milan, she hunted down some Bandera fabric and sent it to me. I could not find anything like it around where I live. A lady at a local fabric shop told me to look for Piquet but I never found any of that either, so I can't tell you how similar it is. I believe Elena found it for me at the Canetta store in Milan.

The idea to embroider on this fabric seems to date to the late 17th century, reaching its full height of popularity during the 18th century. Usually done in wool, the embroidery employs the Chain Stitch, Satin Stitch and Padded Satin Stitch, Long and Short Stitch, French Knots and Stem Stitch. Originally executed in one colour of either Savoy Blue or Wine Red, it evolved to include gold-yellow, greens and shades of pink. Wools used recently were DMC Medici Wools but I don't know what they are using now after DMC has discontinued this line.

In later centuries the tradition of this embroidery continued, various workshops were opened and products were made such as slip covers for armchairs and sofas, headboard covers for beds, cushions, bedspreads, tablecloths, footstool covers and curtains taking gold medals for excellence in the various World's Fairs of the day and carrying out commissions for the Italian Royal Family. In recent years it has known a revival, many embroidery schools in Italy, particularly in the Piedmont region teach courses and participate in exhibitions. There are often pictures in the Italian embroidery magazines of Bandera Embroidery.

Anna Ghigo in her booth at the Italia Invita Forum 2007 with all her Bandera Embroidery behind her:


There are some photos of Bandera Embroidery at this website, click on "English Version" and then "Bandera Embroidery" (top right corner).

Tuttoricamo has more information about Bandera Embroidery under the "Techniques" heading; under the "Prominent Characters" section you can read about Anna Ghigo, President of the Association Amici del Ricamo Bandera of Chieri - check out her beautiful work!

I have three books on this needlework:

La pittura ad ago in Piemonte - Il "Bandera" by Margherita Goglino, 2002. The text is in Italian though at the back of the book are three pages in English, French and Spanish with a bit of a summary. Lots of pictures of embroideries from private and museum collections, some patterns and stitch diagrams as well as historical info.

Il Mio Bandera by Gisella Tamagno Gazzola, 2007. (click on her name to go to her website and see some of her amazing work) This book is in Italian and English. It has historical info, stitch diagrams, colour photos of embroideries, designs and instructions on how to carry out some elements.

Il Ricamo Bandera, L'arte della pittura ad ago by the Associazione Amici del Ricamo Bandera, 2009. (click on the link to go to their website for some photos and info (some of it in English) This is a small book with lots of colour photos. Most of the text is in Italian but some of the picture captions are in English as well.

The Associazione Tradizioni Piemontesi sells kits for cushions, though you'd have to write to them for prices and forms of payment. The teacher Piera Girardi always has beautiful works displayed at the Italia Invita Forums.

Mani di Fata sells a book of iron-on patterns for Bandera Embroidery with stitch diagrams and ideas for application.

Thanks to Giovanna for the photo!

Cavandoli Macramé

Since I told you about Bricco Embroidery yesterday, it only seems logical to tell you the story of Cavandoli Macramé today.

Valentina Cavandoli was an Italian school teacher who came to be the headmistress of a house for poor and/or orphaned children in Turin around the end of the First World War. Many of the children were the healthy offspring of parents with Tuberculosis. There were many houses who cared for these children but we will concentrate on the Casa del Sole [House of the Sun] directed by this special lady.

The Casa del Sole was a mansion donated by a clothing manufacturer in memory of his daughter. He also donated enough money to build dormitories, a dining room and shower facilities for the 100 children who lived in the home. Children of both sexes were housed between the ages of 3 and 15.

To keep the children busy, Valentina had them create objects in a certain type of Macramé – an art she herself had learned from her great grandmother – which came to be known as Cavandoli. With this technique, the children made accessories for clothing and interior decorating and sold them in charity markets. Each child was assigned a savings book and the money earned from their products was recorded and then given to them upon their leave-taking of the home.

The Casa del Sole survived until 1936 when the political and social situation in Italy became too difficult for the mainly Jewish benefactors of the home.

Valentina Cavandoli died at the age of 97 in 1969, having received a gold medal of recognition for her life's work in 1961.

Cavandoli Macramé is always made of two colours. Each stitch consists of two knots, the pattern is created by inverting the knots. When done in larger pieces, it produces a kind of stiff "fabric", excellent for creating table mats, book covers and borders for pillows, purses, etc. Smaller items can be book marks, eye glasses cases, belts, etc. Patterns for single colour cross stitch or filet lace are suitable to use for this technique.

This is the front of my work in progress made with Pearl Cotton no. 8:


... and the back:


I don't recommend starting your first project with so small a thread – I am having a lot of difficulty keeping the work even!

There is an excellent book on the history and technique of Cavandoli called: Bricco e Cavandoli, due favole in punta d'ago by Gisella Tamagno Gazzola. (Click on the author's name to go to her website where you can see pictures of Cavandoli Macramé.)

To learn more about Cavandoli Macramé, go to Tuttoricamo and look under the 'Techniques' heading. Once there, you can also read a review of the book mentioned above: click on 'Books', then 'Other Italian Techniques'.

The book can be purchased at Tombolo Disegni, click on 'Books', then 'Libri Ricami', then 'Ricamo Italiani'. The book has two subjects, Bricco Embroidery and Cavandoli Macramé and is printed in both languages (Italian and English) together. (You must send an email request to make a purchase.)

The Anchor Manual of Needlework has a whole chapter dedicated to 'Cavandoli Work' with photos and technical instructions.

Bricco Embroidery

In 1913 Countess Tarsilla Petitti started a school for girls in a little town called Bricco de Faule (near Turin) in the Piedmont region of Italy. The people of the town were mostly poor farmers and the object of the school was to educate girls and train them in embroidery so that they could earn a living.

The Petitti family was in possession of a sacerdotal robe of richly embroidered fine cambric linen dating back to about the 17th century which they displayed in their chapel. At the time it was made, Church vestments were richly embroidered in what the Italians called Saxony Embroidery (Ricamo di Sassonia) which I strongly suspect is what we know today as Dresden Embroidery.

The robe was finely embroidered in white and silver threads with designs of roosters and peacocks, heraldic double-headed eagles, the emblem of Franciscan nuns, leaves and vines and many different types of stylized flowers. Tarsilla Petitti decided to create designs for her students using the robe as inspiration. Her pupils learned traditional embroidery techniques but became especially proficient at Bricco Embroidery as the embroideries born from the designs of the robe became known.

Instead of fine cambric, robust undyed homespun cloth made of hemp, cotton or linen was used. Thicker cotton threads replaced the fine white and silver ones of the robe resulting in a completely 'new' style of embroidery. Embroidered clothing done by the girls of the school were sold to the upper classes who were happy to support the project.

The outbreak of the First World War robbed the school of its pupils who were needed at home to replace the men who had gone off to war. Tarsilla Petitti then looked to the lower middle class women of the area who needed to supplement their incomes and to local nuns to keep her embroidery workshop open.

Bricco Embroidery took a gold medal at the 1923 Industrial Agricultural Exposition in Cherasco and became well known throughout Italy and abroad.

The Countess died in 1937. This unhappy event and the outbreak of the Second World War signaled the end of her workshop.

The technique had been all but forgotten until a recent revival has sparked new interest resulting in pieces of this unique and attractive embroidery being produced once again by various Italian embroiderers and the publication of the book: Bricco e Cavandoli, due favole in punta d'ago by Gisella Tamagno Gazzola. (Click on the author's name to go to her website where you can see pictures of Bricco Embroidery.)

This is a small purse kit that I purchased from the author in 2007:


To learn more about Bricco Embroidery, go to Tuttoricamo's website and look under the 'Techniques' heading. While you're there, read a book review of the publication mentioned above: click on 'Books', then 'Other Italian Techniques'.

The book can be purchased at Tombolo Disegni, click on 'Books', then 'Libri Ricami', then 'Ricamo Italiani'. The book has two subjects, Bricco Embroidery and Cavandoli Macramé and is printed in both languages (Italian and English) together. (You must send an email request to make a purchase.)

If you have the Anchor Manual of Needlework, there is a little bit written on this technique with a photo in the 'Italian Embroidery' chapter.

This is a fun Advent Calendar done in Bricco Embroidery: