Bargello Embroidery

Bargello Embroidery seems to be enjoying a bit of a revival lately on both sides of the Atlantic. I've seen lots of it through the various North American needlework guilds and also on Facebook among Italian stitchers. The designs, patterns, colours and use of imagination are wonderful and a delight to look at.

This technique goes by many names: Flame stitch, Hungarian point, Bargello, Florentine stitch, Gobelin stitch, Irish stitch and many others. There is a fascinating English language article on possible origins, different styles and extant examples that you can download and read here.

For the Italian take on it, a Google search for "punto fiamma" produces some spectacular examples. It is a technique used often for upholstery on things such as chairs and cushions, if you pay attention in the Italian museums, there are sometimes chairs set around the perimeter of the rooms which are cordoned off so you can't sit on them. These are easily passed by and ignored but close inspection can reveal some wonderful Bargello embroideries which have faded and deteriorated over time but which are still great examples of very complex Bargello embroidery patterns.

If you are looking to stitch a little taste of many Bargello designs, have a look at this wonderful sampler by Maria Elide Melani of the association Ago, Aga e Fantasia of Pistoia, Italy.

Each section is a different Bargello pattern separated by drawn thread channels. I like this idea as then you don't have to worry about trying to work out how to have your various patterns butt up neatly against others, and the drawn thread work creates some definition to the sampler itself.

The pattern booklet (text in Italian) is available from Maria Elide herself, send her an email or contact her via her Facebook page. Please note that the drawn thread work and hemming is not explained in the booklet.

There are 21 different Bargello patterns to stitch with lovely close up photos of the finished embroideries to copy from. You could then easily adapt any one of the patterns for a towel border or for placemats or whatever your heart desires!

Deruta Drawn Thread Work - new book!

There is an ever-growing, never-diminishing stack of books on the floor beside my desk that I refuse to put away in my bookshelves because I want to tell you about them. I am woefully behind due to many projects that have more demanding deadlines but today I find myself with a few minutes and I want to tell you about a book which is filled with exquisite Deruta Drawn Thread Work embroidery or Deruta Sfilato as it's called in Italian.

This book actually came out last September and is the second for Maria Elide Melani of Ago, Aga e Fantasia on this beautiful and delicate Italian needlework technique. You can read about the first book here.


I've translated the book introduction for you:

The forgotten history, the tradition of a lost embroidery that I rediscovered retakes shape and transforms, leaving room for imagination in the creation of small, simple masterpieces.
Passing the time to recover the memory, studying old trousseaux and taking inspiration from the designs of many years ago, I felt the need to give a new utility to this embroidery.
The fragile cloth is intertwined with needle and thread, faithful to traditional motifs, but here ideas and new colours are born with unusual designs.
Purses and pillows in the colours of spring take form together with small lampshades, a delicate little dress which makes you think of a big party, not to mention the color red that offers many ideas for Christmas and many other pieces, outside of tradition and unthinkable until only a few years ago.
The simplicity of the execution is accompanied by instructions and photos which illustrate the various stages of the work, making it easy even for less experienced stitchers.
I wanted to introduce this book with only a few words because my intent is to let the embroideries and patterns "speak" and, with a personal touch, they can be perfectly adapted to any embroiderer.
Happy Stitching!

The book is 60 pages long with many large full-colour photos. The text is in Italian but step-by-step photos guide you along the preparation of the fabric, the mounting of the fabric into the frame, the series of stitches used in this technique and how to execute the various motifs. The only thing you'll really have to spend some time translating (use Google!) are the six sentences about care and washing when you're done. There are 22 patterns for the most exquisite projects: a handbag and workbasket, dress hemline and table runners, several stitching project bags, table centres, towel borders, lampshades, pillows, curtains, Christmas tree decorations and tablecloths. You can see a preview by clicking on the larger photo of the book on this page here.

The book is available directly from the publisher Nuova S1 - they accept PayPal, or through Tombolo Disegni - send an email to order; or from Lacis in the US.

Embroidery Museum in Pistoia

I always start out thinking that my next trip to Italy will be all long, relaxing days doing research or studying museum collections. I don't know why I think this as the trips always fly by and are full of frenzied trips to see as many people as possible. I always end up not being able to do all the things I wanted to and offending people that I am unable to visit. When I get back home I try to make sense of all the hurried snatches of things I've seen and done and resolve that the next trip will not be so jam-packed. I do however get things done and this trip I got to go to three museums that I've wanted to visit for a long time. One was the Museo di Tessuto in Prato, another was the Museo della Tappezzeria in Bologna and the one I'm going to tell you about today was the Museo del Ricamo in Pistoia.

An easy train ride from Florence, you can arrive in Pistoia in about 45 minutes, I'm not sure if you can take a bus in less time, I took the regional train which makes a few stops along the way but Pistoia is only 40 km from Florence. I was lucky to have Maria Elide Melani from the embroidery school Ago Aga e Fantasia waiting to pick me up from the station in her car. I'm sure there is a bus that can take you into the centre of town from the rail station. We did not head directly to the museum from the station as it was too early so I can't tell you how long it takes to get there but Pistoia is a relatively small town.

As the Embroidery Museum is run by volunteers, it's wise to double-check that they are open before making the trip. We arrived expecting there to be a lady that Maria Elide knew but instead her husband was taking her shift as she had had to attend to other business. The museum has a large collection of pieces and consequently they are always rotating the items on display. Maria Elide has been there many times but the day we went, she said there were pieces displayed that she had never seen before. This makes repeat visits interesting.

The first thing I noticed was that the placards were in English and Italian and that the English was good! Whoever is doing translations for the museum has done an excellent job.

Image copyright Museo del Ricamo

While the Embroidery Museum is indeed small (there are only two exhibition rooms), there is a valuable collection housed here and you could spend many days studying the excellently displayed and well-lit pieces. In the second room are two large storage cabinets filled with drawers full of embroidered things. Lots of Punto Antico, Casalguidi and even some Lamporecchio embroideries along with many other Italian and classic needlework techniques are to be found here along with gold and silk embroideries too. The elderly custodian showed us an amazing bedspread embroidered by his mother when she was young.

An exciting thing to find out was that the museum offers a research centre, documentation, didactic and historic study. I will definitely be going back!

You can watch a quick YouTube video which is narrated in Italian but which has a few photos of the interior of the museum and a few pieces of it's collection. The narrator says:

Passing through Pistoia, when you are in the Piazza del Duomo, don't miss visiting the museum, you will be amazed. Even in a few minutes you can see the most important finds. The entrance is free, the personnel are available, cordial and competent.

The Rospigliosi Palazzo is the home of the Embroidery Museum, a cave of wonders constructed with knowledge by patient hands. Exhibited here are hand-made articles embroidered in many techniques from the 17th to the 20th century. There are embroidered trousseaux, clothing, tablecloths, doilies and much more. Sacred vestments and antique ecclesiastical clothing of great quality are on display.

Periodically the museum gives embroidery courses. The embroideresses have produced and continue to produce cushions, purses and antique clothing. A 62 segment quilt was made in 2012. Francesco del Cossa's embroideresses.

In the hope that these few hurried images may have stimulated your interest, we await you certain to not disappoint. 

Deruta Drawn Thread Work Sample

I seem to have less and less time for my blog as I do more and more translations but I cannot give it up just yet. Quickly I want to tell you a fun story.

Some years ago I corresponded with Maria Elide Melani of the Associazione Ago Aga e Fantasia while she was researching Deruta Sfilato or Deruta Drawn Thread Work Embroidery. We have since met (at Italia Invita 2011) and correspond once in awhile. She wrote a lovely book on the technique, which I told you about here.

I have been very lucky with my internet friendships and I have been able to meet lots of great people who share my interests. I have been very enthusiastic in my reporting of Maria Elide and her endeavours because I find her to be a delightful person as well as a talented embroiderer.

Some time ago, a reader of my blog from the Netherlands wrote to me that she was going to Tuscany and wanted to learn about Deruta Drawn Thread Work. I put her in touch with Maria Elide and they enjoyed a lovely visit together. Then a couple of readers from other countries did the same and I was excited to assist in the discovery by stitchers outside of Italy of this wonderful Italian needlework.

But the best has got to be when you assist without knowing it. Maria Elide was contacted directly by a whole group of Japanese stitchers who were going to Italy and wanted to learn Deruta Drawn Thread Work while they were there. Maria Elide didn't understand how they had found her or why they would choose her over the many embroidery schools in Italy but when the group arrived they showed her a printout of my blog post about her! When she wrote and told me after they were gone, she assumed that I had known - but I was completely ignorant! 

I can't tell you how happy this kind of thing makes me. It is the whole point of this blog. This past week I received a thank-you gift from Maria Elide which, while unnecessary, is much appreciated. Lovely Deruta Drawn Thread Work done by her own hand. It barely fit into my scanner:

I'm very happy to have helped these people and hope that my readers find things of interest in the posts that I write, however infrequently they seem to be written these days.

Deruta Drawn Thread Work - Deruta Sfilato

About this time last year, I wrote a post about the Castello di Verrazzano in Tuscany and the unusual needlework on the curtains we found there.

This year at the Italia Invita Forum in Parma, there was a small booth filled with this needlework called Deruta Sfilato or Deruta Drawn Thread Work. The booth was displaying the work of Maria Elide Melani and the Association Ago, Aga e Fantasia of Pistoia.

I was delighted to meet Maria as we had exchanged some emails some time ago regarding the curtains at the Castello Verrazzano. She has been very busy researching this technique and producing some wonderful needlework.

This shawl for a bridal gown is exquisite:

And there are matching shoes!

Maria decided to exhibit the work at the Italia Invita Forum this year to see if anyone was interested in it. From what I saw of the continuous crowds around the booth and the talk of the people attending, Deruta Drawn Thread Work has a solid future and we will be seeing more of it in the future.

The Association Ago, Aga e Fantasia is offering an intensive embroidery course on Deruta Sfilato from June 17 - 19, 2011 at the Hotel Leon Bianco in Pistoia - how I would love to go... isn't it beautiful?

Corso Intensivo di Deruta Sfilato

Some days later in Florence, we came across the hand embroidery shop TAF at no. 17-red in Via Por Santa Maria and spotted what looked like the same kind of needlework:

As the shop was closed, we returned the next day to ask about it. We were told that the price was reduced as they only had pink tablecloths left and didn't think they could get any more of this kind of embroidery as it was done by elderly embroiderers in the areas surrounding Florence.

I was also told by another person that this kind of embroidery is done in the Sorrento area of southern Italy. Hmmm... this will mean further investigation into the roots of this needlework!

At the website Tuttoricamo, you can read some history about Deruta Drawn Thread Work, from the homepage, click on the British Flag for the English pages, then on "Techniques", then on "Deruta Drawn Thread Work", there are some pictures of a couple of fantastic cushions there too.