New Savignano Braid Embroidery Book

Since the book pictured above will be presented at the upcoming needlework show Trecce, Intrecci, Merletti that I told you about here, I thought I'd give you a sneak peak at the cover.

Savignano Braid Embroidery has recently enjoyed a revival, and Cristina Notore and Paola Paglierani of the TALÈA Textile Workshop have been so innovative and creative with ideas for bringing it back to life.

This new publication is subtitled: Ancient Inspirations for Modern Items. You can just tell from the cover photo how much fun their new projects are going to be.

Over at Nuova S1, the publisher's website, the book's synopsis is as follows:

In this manual, the intention of the authors is to propose a varied course which combines innovation in the revival of tradition through a selection of some 15 projects. Almost all the designs are inspired by the motifs of oxen blankets from the first part of the 20th century or are embellished decorations from ancient pottery of the same era or design stamps from the Romagna.

Each project is presented with a technical pattern and a series of detailed images.

The final part of the book is dedicated to the instructions for the stitches.

Apart from a few tricky parts, the execution of Braid Embroidery is simple and fun and is a suitable technique for passionate beginners or those more experienced.

If you're going to the show on March 11th, there will be a class in this technique with a project for a bag which will be combined with the ancient Japanese art of furoshiki: the embroidered fabric is knotted around two round bamboo handles to create a seamless bag. I want to go!!!!!!

Photo copyright TALÈA Officina Tessile.

If you go, will you leave a comment and let us know how it was?

Savignano Braid Embroidery

Savignano sul Rubicone (until 1933 called Savignano della Romagna) is located near the north-eastern coastline of Italy, between Ravenna and Rimini. Savignano Braid Embroidery, which originates from this area, was once used to decorate cattle and oxen in local country expositions and fairs - kind of like county fairs as we know them.

Image from Peasant Art in Italy, The Studio Magazine, 1913:


Kind of like the fairs we know, but of course different. The cattle and oxen were paraded along the main routes of the town so the people could admire and appreciate them better. Animals for sale were also dressed to impress. The country folk made covers for their beasts' parade and decorated them with simple yet effective motifs on homespun cloth using cotton, linen, hemp or woolen threads.

In the early years of the 20th century when all over Italy school-workshops were springing up to offer women education and means to support themselves through needlework, Savignano was not excluded. Countess Maria Luisa Rasponi of Ravenna was responsible for the School of Savignano di Romagna where she revived this ancient technique and where reproductions of antique motifs (from antique covers that she was able to recover) were reproduced on tablecloths, bed covers, curtains and other household items.

Savignano Braid Embroidery entails applied braids and chains which form rustic patterns in traditional colours of blue, red and off-white. Simple or knotted fringes border the pieces or tassels adorn the corners. Suitable fabrics are hemp or linen.

As part of the Italian Feminine Industries exhibit at the 1906 World's Fair in Milan, Savignano Braid Embroidery was exhibited in a veranda suite (image taken from Elisa Ricci's article in Emporium, July 1907):


Elisa Ricci included this picture of an oxen cover made by the School of Savignano di Romagna in her article about the Italian Feminine Industries organization written for the magazine Emporium in July 1907:


...and this one in 1913 for her chapter on Women's Crafts in Peasant Art in Italy for The Studio magazine:


Savignano Braid Embroidery won several awards at various fairs and exhibitions of the period and enjoyed success until the death of the Countess Rasponi in 1919. It is occasionally mentioned in various magazines and exhibition reviews until the early 1940s.

In 2007, acting on information written in the early 20th century, a small group of Italian women went to visit the Romagna Ethnographic Museum of Forlì in the hopes of finding one of the antique oxen covers that the Countess Rasponi had recovered. The tale of their discovery and the history of Savignano Braid Embroidery along with the basic stitches and patterns can be found in the book: Ricami a Treccia di Savignano, 2007 by Bianca Rosa Bellomo, Cristina Notore and Paola Paglierani (text in Italian).

The TALEA Officina Tessile teaches Savignano Braid Embroidery, and as mentioned here previously, offers kits (though not yet for sale overseas). If you go through the Gallerie Foto on their website you will see many works of Savignano Braid Embroidery.

There is a short article (in Italian) with a picture here.

You can download a pdf file of Peasant Art in Italy here (Holme, Charles, The Studio, 1913).

TALÈA Officina Tessile

Whenever I want to investigate something that someone tells me about, I leave their email in my inbox until I can get to it. Sometimes this takes a long time.

Last November, I received an email announcing the 6th Annual Hemp Fair in Gambettola, Italy which was sponsored by the hand-stamped fabric manufacterers Bertozzi and Pascucci. At this exhibition lessons in Savignano Braid Embroidery were offered and in the email was a photo of a cushion done in Savignano Braid Embroidery which was auctioned off with proceeds going to charity.

This is the cushion:


Now, I already knew about Savignano Braid Embroidery, but I was interested in the school that was teaching it as the instructors listed where women that I had met: Cristina Notore and Paola Paglierani of Italia Invita. These two delightful women are co-authors with another woman, Bianca Rosa Bellomo in a book on Savignano Braid Embroidery, and Cristina Notore wrote a beautiful instructional book on Macramé borders called: Macramé in Toscana which is already in it's second printing.

It has taken me 8 months to investigate, but better late than never! The school is called: TALÈA Officina Tessile and is currently holding courses in three different locations: Rimini, Riccione and Bellaria – all on the north-eastern coast of Italy. Cristina and Paola have participated in numerous exhibitions and have won many awards for their work.

If you visit the TALÈA Officina Tessile website, you can check out many photos and watch a video which shows a little of what you might expect to learn in their Macramé courses. Clicking here will show you some of the techniques of needlework that they teach and there are even kits available for the techniques of Macramé and Savignano Braid Embroidery. When I asked if these kits where available for overseas customers, Cristina told me that they are not set up for online sales at the moment but are looking into it. She promised to get back to me with details after summer holidays.

We will talk about Savignano Braid Embroidery next post...