Italian Hedebo Embroidery

Most days, 50% or more of my readers come from Italy. I find this odd as I started this blog with the idea of exposing "English-speaking" embroiderers (read: outside of Italy) to the wonders of Italian needlework. Right from the beginning however, at least half the readership has always been from Italy. Why am I telling you this? Well, today we're going to walk on the fine-line of subject matter. I want to tell you about a new book that is about needlework and is written by Italians but it is not "technically" Italian needlework if you want to be black and white about it. Hedebo Embroidery originally comes from Denmark.

There are, however a lot of elements of Hedebo Embroidery found in Italian whitework embroidery and I have many times seen absolutely amazing pieces in museums, the work of Italian embroiderers.

Guida al Ricamo Hedebo by Laura Marzorati and Stefania Bressan is a very good book and I don't see why I can't tell you about it. The authors are talented Italian needleworkers and teachers and have a handful of other books on various embroidery and lace techniques written both separately and together. The collaboration of these two is fantastic for us the needleworkers as they both believe in exhaustive explanations and instructions.

Step-by-step photos which are taken from close-up and are very clear are complimented by accurate and impressive computer illustrations. There are tips and tricks scattered throughout the text (in Italian) and photos of both antique and contemporary pieces of Italian Hedebo Embroidery.

Sample page from Guida al Ricamo Hedebo.

The preface is followed by a bit of history and definitions of what makes up Hedebo Embroidery along with the materials required. Next is a section on the basic stitches and then the basic motifs, nearly 30 in all! Three projects are proposed and then there is a useful bibliography. This soft-cover manual consists of 64 pages.

So, if you're not in Italy, I hope you don't mind that we've talked about Hedebo Embroidery with an Italian connection here today and if you are in Italy, I hope that I've helped you out!

Puncetto Needle Lace Tips

I've been practising my Puncetto and it's true what they say, practise makes perfect. Well, not perfect but better! There are many pieces that I have had to abandon because I didn't count correctly, or because my tension is just too wildly different from place to place but slowly, slowly it's starting to look somewhat decent. I still seem to break or split threads quite a bit and am resolved to not force the needle in where it doesn't want to go so that I can avoid this most hardbreaking problem.

I have been diligently using my Puncetto Valsesiano book by Angela Stefanutto, Paola Scarrone and Carla Rossetti which I understand has been updated and is ready for reprinting but has been delayed due to permission difficulties with some of the photos.

I now understand that I should have followed the exercises in this book in the order that they were presented because if I'd done that, I would have understood the technique much better than skipping around and working "in the dark" so to say. If you start out and follow the (seemingly) boring first exercises, you actually understand the formula for making Puncetto work properly.

Some things that I have learned are:

• Twist your thread in the direction you are going for each stitch. This helps tremendously and allows for longer threads lengths for things such as the selvedges where you don't want to have any thread joins. I found that I was spending more time undoing knots than doing stitches until I starting doing this for every stitch.
• No matter how tempted you are to not start a new thread, do it when you need to and plan where to do it. While blocks of solid stitching may seem to be the easiest place to change threads, they are actually the most visible place - you can always see the bulk of the secured ends. I have found that changing threads on the return trip over some empty holes is the least noticible place to do it.

Visible joining of threads.

Less visible joining of threads.

• Make an effort to do very tight stitches in the first couple of rows because inevitably, they end up being the loosest stitches and once you get to the top you'll notice!
• On your return trip over empty holes, look ahead to see what will be stitched in the next row. If you have other filled holes above, then do less return stitches so that you obtain the correct amount of stitches across, I'll show you what I mean:

In this case, I did two instead of three knots to accommodate the filled hole above. Note that this number of stitches applies to small holes and that the number differs for different sized holes.

• For even tension, when completing the stitch pull the thread up and then down in one fluid motion, this moves the knot to the lower part of the stitch and helps make all the stitches the same size and tension.
• If you are finding that you can't seem to ever get your selvedges (top and bottom) to be the same width as the rest of your work, use a needle one size smaller when you are stitching the selvedges and switch to the bigger needle when completing the work between the selvedges. This last tip comes from Stefania of L'angolo di Stefania who patiently let me sit at her house and mangle many attempts at Puncetto.

I find that I easily let my mind wander when doing Puncetto which leads to mistakes, you must stay engaged and be thinking about what you're doing! One day I hope to have a sample which does not have any mistakes or broken threads, for now, this is my goal!

New Needlework Website - FiliForme

Some exciting news today about a new needlework website based in Italy. After much preparation and lots of patience while technical glitches were worked out, comes the labour of love of three Italian women: Filiforme. [in Italian: fili = threads and forme = shapes.]

I have taken some screen shots of the homepage to point out some things to you. The first thing that I noticed upon arrival at this website was how modern and "young person-savvy" it was. Almost too much for me! At the top are links to various social networks - some I know of through my daughter like Stumble Upon, Twitter and Facebook and others I had never heard of like Technorati, Delicious and Digg. This makes Filiforme something totally new - needlework aimed at young people. An exciting concept for those of us who have been wracking our brains trying to figure out how to interest this elusive age group in the art of needlework.

For now the Filiforme website is only in Italian, but with the aid of Google translate you should be able to navigate around fairly well - I tried it and some of the translations made me laugh out loud but I was able to find everything.

The first section announces upcoming classes and exhibitions with some in-depth information and a couple of photos of examples just below.


Then two embroidery (ricamo in Italian) projects: placemats and linen guest towels. Right away we get the "Italian" approach to needlework, I'm pretty sure that most people in North America don't have linen guest towels though they are still widely used in Italy. Clicking on either project takes you to a page with a list of materials and the basic instructions for completing the project. From here there are links to other pages with clear stitch diagrams and for downloading the patterns. (on the stitch diagram pages there are more links for social networks like Reddit and MySpace!)

Below the embroidery projects, the same format then for three crochet (uncinetto in Italian) projects: a scarf, a purse and a flower brooch. Here there are also links for downloading the clearest diagrams.


After that a recommendation for a delicious book on unusual macramé and how to purchase it.

Then a sewing (cucito in Italian) embroidery project for a silk bag. This is by Patrizia Recchia of Mano di donne - make time to check out her funky website with a decidedly "young" flavour.

More crochet flowers with a different application finish up the homepage at this time.


If you explore the pull-down menus at the top of the homepage you will discover under the tab: "Fili insegna" the page "Punti di Ricamo" which has 10 diagrams and instructions for embroidery stitches and if you click on the "Older" button, you find five more!

The tab: "Fili informa" has listings for more courses, exhibits and other news (look for Paola Cellini's prize-winning entry at the Valtopina show stitched on doubled organza!) as well as more book recommendations.

The tab: "Progetti" takes you to a listing of the needlework projects found on the Filiforme website (moving forward, I expect there will only be the latest projects on the homepage and you'll have to come here to explore past projects).

At the bottom of the homepage are two small links "chi siamo" and "contatti". "Chi siamo" means "who we are" and "contatti" is the contact page. You may be surprised to find that there are only three Italian women behind all this work. The only one I know of personally is Stefania Bressan who was my first contact in the world of Italian needlework nearly a decade ago. A needlework teacher in northern Italy, Stefania is also the author of a book on Schwalm Embroidery and collaborated on the recent release of the Drawn-Thread book I told you about here.

As I understand it, Laura is the photographer and her photography is exquisite and attractive lending a professional look to both the website and the projects.

I don't know anything about Francesca - I hope that biographies will eventually appear on the Filiforme website as I'm always fascinated in the people behind the work.

One important thing to mention: the women are looking for feedback and input, so send them your comments, suggestions, news and events.

I don't know how often this website will be updated but I signed up for the newsletter and I'll keep you posted!

New Drawn Threadwork Book

There is nothing like coming home from a difficult day at work to find a manilla envelope from Italy sitting in the mailbox. It doesn't matter what's inside, as soon as I see that golden paper sticking out of the top of the mailbox, I know my day is about to get infinitely better.

This is what arrived today:


It is the latest book by Antoinetta Monzo Menossi, collaborating with Laura Marzorati and Stefania Bressan. Three enormously talented needlewomen who have worked together to bring us lace-like drawn thread work.

While the text is in Italian only, the diagrams and step-by-step photos are so good, you can figure out the compositions easily.

The book is 64 pages and goes for 18 euros. There are over 30 stitches explained and many corner treatments as well as tips and tricks.

All stitches are accompanied with actual photos of what they look like stitched up.

You can purchase Guida al Ricamo Sfilato from Tombolo Disegni, click on "Libri/Books", then "Libri/Ricamo", then "Ricamo Italiani" – send an email request to order. I notice today that there is also a new book on that page on Punto Perugino which we talked about yesterday!

Ricamo d'Assia

When I first started researching Italian needlework I had a long list of names that I had taken off of an Italian stitching website which was in Italian (of course). I had no idea if these names were "Italian" techniques or just the Italian names for techniques from other countries.

Ricamo d'Assia was one that I liked very much, lots of Openwork and Whitework. When I was looking for instructions in English for the Gigliuccio hemstitch, I found Renate Fernau's book on Schwalm Whitework Embroidery. Long after I was done learning how to do the hemstitch that I had been so single-mindedly looking for, I noticed the rest of the book. The embroidery looked a lot like... Ricamo d'Assia. (Ricamo is 'embroidery' in Italian)

This was one of those times when the technique I was researching was not in fact an "Italian" technique per se... Ricamo d'Assia is the Italian term for Schwalm Whitework. What I did discover however, was that it is immensely popular in Italy and there are lots of embroiderers there who do it. I got a little sidetracked by seeing so many lovely examples of this embroidery done by Italian ladies that of course I even had to try a bit myself.

Last year when I was in Italy I couldn't help myself and just had to get a book on Ricamo d'Assia as it was written by an Italian embroidery teacher. Guida al ricamo d'Assia is packed full of colour instructional photos explaining over 30 stitches. There are projects with varying levels of difficulty and even a bit about the stitches that surround the traditional motifs. The text is in Italian but the photos and diagrams are so good that you'll be able to figure out what to do without the written instructions. You can get it direct from the author Stefania Bressan. There is a book review at Tuttoricamo under "Books" and then "Pulled Thread and Schwalm Embroidery".

I mention this technique here because it did have me researching it for awhile before I figured out what it was, so if anyone else out there happened to wonder, now you know. If you're anything like me though, you are easily distracted by beautiful embroidery and this is well worth a look from the Italian point of view.

This delightful little pincushion is a gift that I received from Italy: