Rosita Levi Pisetzky

It's funny how the mind works. For months I've been searching for biographical information on Rosita Levi Pisetzky always turning up empty. I finally decided to post what I had, believing that I couldn't find out any more without visiting some Italian archives, perhaps in Milan.

I received a comment from a reader this morning that said she had spoken with a descendant of Rosita Levi Pisetzky about 10 years ago on the phone in Milan. Sitting down at my computer after work today, I suddenly decided on a different set of search words and bam! I finally discovered something. Not searching in the field of textiles at all, but searching in the history of Milan.

On the website Storia di Milano, the death (in Milan) of Rosita Levi Pisetzky is listed as an event on the 18th of January, 1985. Inputting the event sentence as written on the Storia di Milano website into Google produced a link to the bookseller Maremagnum which had a rather informed bit of information on the author of the encyclopedia set that I told you about yesterday including her birthdate of 1898. This means she published the history of costume in Italy encyclopedia set when she was about 66 years old... and the book that I have, Il costume e la moda nella società italiana when she was 80!

Further searches brought me to the source of this information on Google Books which comes from an entry in the Dizionario della Moda [Dictionary of Fashion] by Guido Vergani, 2010. Here is a translation:

Levi Pisetzky, Rosita (1898-1985) Clothing historian. An intellectual from the Milanese upper-middle class, she was defined as "The Lady of Italian Costume" by Guido Lopez in an article written after her death in 1985. A self-taught historian with a life passed in studying archives, literary texts and iconographic sources, she published the most important treatises on the history of costume in Italy. Her first studies came out between 1937 and '38 in various women's magazines and journals. The articles on the history of the lace of that period remain notable for their careful research.

Between 1954 and '62 she wrote about the history of costume in the various epochs for the "History of Milan" published by Treccani in 16 volumes. These studies were expanded and then printed in a work of five volumes edited by the Italian Editorial Institute under the title "Storia del costume in Italia" between 1964 and '68. In 1978 Einaudi published "Il costume e la moda nella società italiana", further development and updating of her historical research. She was the first to treat the subject in a serious way, studying dress as a means of communication and social document. 

In her later years, she donated her own specialized library to the Collection of Bertarelli Prints of Milan, and her collection of vintage clothes to the Civic Collections of Applied Art of Milan, both located in the Castello Sforzesco, where they are still accessible today.

After her death, her wardrobe was donated by her family to the Bertarelli. It is an interesting collection of tailored garments of Milanese manufacture from the 1950s and '60s.

-- Virginia Hill 

Now isn't that a treasure trove of leads to follow up? I've been to the Castello Sforzesco in Milan too, and obviously didn't understand what I was looking at or missed it completely! I'll have to go back!

Castello Sforzesco in Milan. Image from Wikipedia.

I hope this gives those who are interested some more to go on. I'll post again when I've got more info.

Franco Jacassi and his buttons

If you visit the Needleprint blog to read today's post, you will find it is about Franco Jacassi, who has over 10 million buttons in his vintage clothing showroom in Milan and about 70,000 buttons in his own private collection. Make sure to watch the video at the end of the post!

If you do a Google search of his name, Franco Jacassi turns up in many articles and on many blogs in several different languages. Over 30 years of collecting and exhibiting have made him indispensible to all the high fashion houses around the world, to vintage collectors and especially to those who love buttons!

The showroom houses many other vintage items besides buttons. Clothing, laces, ribbons, zippers, hats, handbags, old fashion magazines - something for everyone!

The latest craze for all things vintage has inspired Franco Jacassi to develop a line of accessories.

There is an excellent interview (in English) with Franco Jacassi here.

Image copyright: Tommaso Fiscaletti.

The Franco Jacassi three floor showroom can be visited at:
No. 3 Via Giuseppe Sacchi in Milan.
It is open from 10 am to 1 pm and then from 2 pm to 7pm, Monday to Friday. Closed the month of August.

Upcoming Needlework shows

I have been asked by several readers if I know of upcoming events in Italy relating to needlework. Some are busy planning their holidays and wish to incorporate a needlework event or two into their stay in Italy. It's a lovely idea and makes for a memorable time.

Abilmente presents their Creativity Fair in Vicenza, March 1 - 4, 2012. This is a big craft fair not just dedicated to needlework.
http://www.abilmente.org/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=1764&lang=en

Trecce, Intrecci, Merletti - an exhibition of Braid Embroidery, Cantù Lace and Aemilia Ars Needle Lace at the Villa Smeraldi, 15km outside of Bologna. March 11 - 25, 2012. 

HobbyShow is big craft fair in Milan, March 16 - 18, 2012. Needlework is included but not the dominant theme of this fair.
http://www.hobbyshow.it/milano/

Festa Del Ricamo - sponsored by Casa Cenina, this year's theme is the Sampler. June 2 - 3, 2012. Contest details and other related information can be read here:
http://www.casacenina.com/blog/the-details-about-our-contest-the-sampler-of-my-life.html

The Hand Embroidery and Artisan Weaving Exhibition will be held in Valtopina, on August 31 - September 2, 2012. The theme for this show is: Green Monuments of Umbria - the trees. If you would like to participate in their competition for this show, you must make a tablecloth for six settings, executed in a technique of hand-embroidery or lace of your own design. For more details, see their website:
http://www.mostravaltopina.it/concorso/

The International Biennial Lace Exhibition of Sansepolcro will be held September 8 - October 28, 2012. This year's show is dedicated to the Emancipation of Women. Download the program in English and Italian here (click on the words: "Regolamento e bando di concorso").

The Ago Magico show and market will be November 9 - 11, 2012 at the Parco Esposizioni Novegro about 10kms outside of Milan. This show is dedicated to artistic embroidery and sewing.
http://www.parcoesposizioninovegro.it/lagomagico/

Italia Invita has just announced the dates for the 6th edition of their Textile Creativity Forum which will be located in Parma, May 10, 11, 12, 2013. They haven't announced the theme or events and attractions yet as we're still a little more than a year away from this one, but stay tuned, these things will be forthcoming soon.
http://www.italiainvita.it/

That's all that I've got for now. I will post again with any additions that I discover. Please post a comment if you know of an event that I've missed or if you visit any of these events, we'd love to hear about them!

Unusual Puncetto

While admiring the geometric designs of Puncetto on this blog, I remembered seeing some unusual Puncetto work at the Poldi Pezzoli museum in Milan.

Check out these unusual designs:

I marvel at the skill and imagination and would love to know how to create these motifs!

If you can get your hands on the early 20th century booklet called Il Puncetto by Amelia Brizzi Ramazzotti, there are all kinds of pictures of unusual designs, like this one below:

I was lucky enough to download a copy when TuttoRicamo was still an active website, sadly their collection of downloadable books is no longer available. **Update, Tuttoricamo has been reborn in blog format, so I have updated this link!

There is a lady in Israel who is making nice progress figuring out how to do Puncetto and she's even done some animated YouTube videos. Check out her blog for the whole series of instructions!

Special thanks to Stefania for the photos from the Poldi Pezzoli museum!

Macrame Fringes

I have been asked to tell you a bit about Italian Macramé Fringes for things like towels, placemats, tablecloths and other household furnishings. North Americans tend to think nostalgically to the 1970s and hemp macraméd plant holders and the like but in Italy, Macramé is still very much alive in the textile arts and in use frequently.

I showed you some summer Macramé purses that I saw in a shop window in Cesena and we talked about tassels and Macramé here and here.

What I saw most often in Italy however were Macramé Fringes of both the simpliest and the most elaborate combinations, all making the finishing touch on very attractive pieces.

In the Collezioni Comunali d’Arte Museum in Bologna there are several exquisite Macramé Fringe samples.

Here are a couple of my photos which turned out, there were many others but alas, my photographs are terrible! These Macramé Fringes are very small and delicate.

Here is an example of Macramé Fringe from the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan:

An excellent book on Macramé Fringes with text in Italian and English is Macramé in Toscana by Cristina Notore:

It has many clear colour diagrams and lots of full colour photos of magnificent Macramé Fringes.

Macramé Fringes are worked on pillows, held either in the lap or on a tabletop, covered in striped or gingham fabric to be used to keep the knots lined up all the way across and evenly spaced. Large-headed pins keep the work securely fastened to the pillow. Materials used can be the warp threads of the actual furnishing you are making the Macramé Fringe for, Pearl Cotton, Cotone Povero or just about anything you like. A crochet hook helps with the pulling through of threads.

Here Liliana Babbi Cappelletti demonstrates on a Macramé pillow made of upholstery foam of her own design:

Special thanks to Stefania for the photo from the Poldi Pezzoli Museum!

Botticelli in the Lombard Collections - Poldi Pezzoli Museum

If you are anywhere near Milan before the end of this month and want to see some fantastic goldwork embroidery from 15th century Florence when it was at its height of splendor, you should head off to the Poldi Pezzoli Museum.

There you will find the hood of a cope executed from a cartoon by Botticelli (c.1480s) as part of a collection of liturgical vestments commissioned most probably by King John II of Portugal. The Portugese ambassador to Florence at the time, Cardinal James of Lusitania died in Florence in 1459 and was buried at the San Miniato al Monte Basilica of Florence. Great expense went into building and decorating the Chapel for the Cardinal and some of Florence's leading artists at the time contributed to the artwork and its construction.

The hood of this cope is done in silk shaded goldwork embroidery. Florence was well known for excellency in this technique as I told you about previously. The design is the Coronation of the Virgin. Information on it from the museum says "...is absolutely the most beautiful embroidery that has been handed down to us executed on the design of the artist."

Check out the details on the folds of this angel's robe (click on the photos for a closer look):

And the pattern designs on this architectural representation:

More exquisite details:

The exhibit: Botticelli in the Lombard Collections is to mark the 500th anniversary of the artist's death in 1510 and has been on display since this past November.

Photos courtesy of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum and are subject to copyright. They can be downloaded from the Museum's website and used only to promote the exhibit.

Thanks to Linda for making me look! 

This exhibit has been extended until the 25th of March, 2011!

Passementarie - The Milan Stitch

The history of Passementarie is hard to follow. The term itself can mean so many different things: braids, cording, ribbons, tassels, gimp, fringe and more. There is evidence of Passementarie in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings and in ancient Chinese, Japanese and Roman legends as well.

Some historians think that elaborate braided Passementarie were the beginnings of Bobbin Lace. Most European countries have history of a different era where both clothing and interior decorating were embellished with Passementarie according to the fashion of the time and place.

In old texts, you'll find it under different names: Passaments (English), Passamani (Italian) stemming from the French term Passementarie which is widely used today.

During the Middle Ages and beyond in Europe, there were guilds for Passementarie shops and it was considered an art form (as is the handmade Passementarie of today) requiring years of apprenticeship. Long trims were executed on pillows (like lacemaking) or with complex hand-operated machinery. To see many technical illustrations from Diderot & d'Alembert's Encyclopedia (18th century) regarding Passementarie, click here.

In a previous post I told you about a Passementarie shop that I went into in Florence, where they make a lot of what they sell by hand. Here are only a couple of tassels that I got there.

I use this one as a scissor fob:


And this one for my clothes dresser handle:


Not the best photos, I seem to be very shaky today, but you get the idea of the intricacy of the work.

There are still many Passementarie shops in Italy and it's fun to check them out as they are full of all manner of trimmings which, if you are fortunate, are handmade and therefore so much more interesting than the coldness of the machine-made stuff. It takes a certain talent with colour and design to make beautiful Passementarie.

While searching for something else, I happened upon a Facebook page which is open for non-Facebook members (I know because I don't belong to Facebook) called Il punto Milano: sapresti farlo? [The Milan Stitch: would you know how to do it?]

For those who don't speak Italian, it says:
"The Milan stitch is a type of needle made braid generally used in passementarie to cover (in silk or cotton) the head of tassels (see photo) but also buttons, accessories and weapons, the name probably comes from here (as the production of competition weapons was one of the principle industries of Milan).
Widely used in the 18th century, counting the numerous [extant] examples from the first half of the following century, it then slowly fell into disuse and we completely lose the technique.
This group is formed with the precise intent of recovering that technique. Anyone who has news or knows enthusiasts and experts in the field of passementarie is asked to put them in contact with this group or me via email.
In the photos are also a few pages of a French book on passementarie in which a similar stitch is shown and explained.
Anyone - an enthusiast of braiding - who would like to try to figure out the technique of the 'Milan Stitch' from those instructions and is successful will have eternal gratitude and a substantial reward.

p.s.
Unidentified sources claim that certain Berber tribes from Morocco cover buttons with a braiding that is similar to the 'Milan Stitch'. Research of this lead is made all the more difficult as these are nomadic tribes. Therefore, on one hand it is difficult to trace them and on the other hand, if you did have such luck [as to find them] you would have to follow them across the desert in order to have them teach you the technique, with all the linguistic and logistic difficulties involved."

Since this post was left on April 16, 2009, no one seems to have helped this group achieve their goal. What do you think? Can anyone help?

Woven Souvenirs from the Milan World's Fair 1906

Today we stretch the relevancy of this post to Italian Needlework. Really I can say there is no needlework involved but we can squeeze under the umbrella of Italian textiles. It's my blog so I guess I can justify anything! The souvenir above features the portraits of the King and Queen of Italy. Click on the photos of a closer look.

I have been very kindly given photos and the permission to post them of souvenir cards from the 1906 Milan World's Fair which are woven silk pictures.




Here is what the back of the souvenir above looks like:


These souvenirs were woven on Jacquard looms, at the time a relatively recent invention which permitted intricately woven patterns. We took a look at some hand-operated Jacquard looms in Perugia in this post, however the looms which wove these souvenirs were almost certainly mechanized. I imagine that as the 1906 Milan World's Fair saw some 7,500,000 visitors the required number of souvenirs would have taxed even the most proficient hand-weavers!

These silk woven souvenirs are all made by L. Paroli & C. di Milano. I have been unsuccessful in finding out anything on this company.

I am told that even though there may have been a huge quantity of these souvenirs made, they are quite rare to find today, a mere century later. Silk woven souvenirs in good shape are even more difficult to find.

Enormous thanks to Ampelio of the NING group MI1906 for the photos and historical information!

Fine Italian Whitework III

I recently purchased an external hard drive for my Macintosh computer and have spent the last few days copying all my backup CDs onto it so that I can now have easier access to all my photos and files.

I like to look over the photos especially when I'm feeling dull due to the weather (constant rain these days). I wanted to share with you a beautiful Whitework handkerchief that I saw at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum last year in Milan.

I've made the photos black and white in order to show you more detail at a higher resolution, click on the photos for a closer look.

This fine handkerchief (possibly lawn?) was so thin and fragile but the work on it was jaw-dropping. A ship in one corner surrounded by ribbons, foliage and flowers. Open areas are filled in with needle lace stitches:


Here is the best detail shot that I have, the rest are quite blurry. Catch the detail on the ship:

Sorry I was too awestruck to get any historical data on this handkerchief – just means I'll have to go back for another look!

Thank you to Stefania for the photos!

Società Umanitaria - Humanitarian Society

In 1891 in Milan, entrepreneur Prospero Moisè Loria (1814-1892, originally from Mantua) proposed the idea of a Humanitarian Society as he was disturbed by the differences of extreme poverty and extreme wealth of the population in Milan at the time. He offered the city an annuity to set up the society but the idea was rejected. He then left instructions in his will (and 10 million lire!) for it to be realized after his death, hoping for recognition that there was a real need for change in Milan. His descendants contested the will but eventually his dream was realized.

The Humanitarian Society was based in Loria's home and would become one of the most important institutions in Milan. Programs for education and training for employment were carried out and in 1906 and 1909 separate locations were set up for encouraging the skills relating to the Arts and Crafts resulting in 1905 in an embroidery program taught by Adele Sottili (under the name Adele Sottili Calori, she would later publish at least one book: L'arte nei lavori femminili. Cifre monogrammi per ricamo. [Art in feminine works. Monogram Ciphers for Embroidery] - I can find one copy at the Libreria Naturalistica in Bologna if you have a spare 180 euros!) Eugenia Volpi is listed in the Society's archives as an assistant in the festival section of embroidery, 1906-07; Elisa Cantoni is listed as an assistant for courses of design and embroidery in 1915 but I can't find any other information on them.

In 1919 the Humanitarian Society participated in the Esposizione Regionale Lombardia d'Arte Decorativa [Lombardy Regional Exposition for the Decorative Arts] and in the catalogue for the expo there is this needlework:


In a 1916 issue of Emporium (Vol. XLIII, n. 254) I found an article by Alfredo Melani with lots of photos of the needlework produced by the Humanitarian Society.

The designs reflect the period and there are many techniques employed, sometimes all on one piece!





The Emporium article talks of courses in the women's section on embroidering household and personal linens (white on white) and on "luxury" embroideries (using coloured threads), on tailoring and even one on ironing!

The Humanitarian Society was bombarded in 1943-44 and many of the sections including the women's sections were completely destroyed. The courses on sewing and embroidery were not back up and running until 1947. However, the times were changing and by 1965, traditional domestic activities for women were passé and courses in needlework were no longer viable. The Humanitarian Society still runs today with programs in Decorative Arts though I could find no evidence that needlework was among them. Check out their website for lots of information (in Italian).

Special thanks to Claudio from the Ning group MI1906 who brought this bit of Milan's history to my attention and kindly donated the scan from the catalogue!

Places to buy needlework supplies

I'm back from the EGA National Seminar and I want to first post the links of websites that I like to buy Italian needlework supplies from as I promised my fellow classmates in Vima deMarchi Micheli's Notebook of Italian Embroidery class.

The following are two websites that I have ordered from many times and which also take PayPal as a method of payment which is so much easier for overseas customers than a money order.

Italian Needlecrafts - Elena speaks English well and goes the extra mile to make sure everything goes smoothly. Her website is in English, you can order through a secure socket and she will confirm shipping costs by email. She is based right in the city of Milan and so her deliveries do not take long to arrive. Elena is open to requests, if you are looking for something in particular, ask if she can get it for you. Her website is constantly growing and it is advisable to check back often as she is always adding new things. She carries books, patterns, fabric, threads and some kits and she is scanning lots of early 20th century Italian needlework books from her collection and making them available as free downloads. She also weaves in her spare time and you can buy her creations from her website or her Etsy page and follow what she's doing on her blog.

Tombolo Disegni - Gianfranca has a bricks and mortar shop in Grado which is a small island in the north-eastern part of Italy between Venice and Trieste. She is an accomplished bobbin lacemaker. Her shop is loaded with lots of things for all types of needlework. Her website is in Italian and you will have to send her an email with a list of the things you would like to purchase so she can then send you a PayPal request. She travels to many fairs and shows so sometimes she may not be able to answer your request right away and shipping takes a little longer as she is not on the mainland.

A note about ordering from Italy:
Italy has it's own culture and it is important to remember that you are not ordering from a country which is similar to your own. Most often, needlework is a hobby not a job and therefore it takes second place to family and work. What I'm saying is try to be patient as responses are not always immediate. The Italian postal service is notorious for doing the most inconvenient things. These two websites in particular do their best to serve their customers but if there is a glitch, most often it is not something they have any control over like the mail service or ordering from suppliers.

If you are searching for something that you don't find on either of these two websites, post a comment and I'll let you know if I know of any other websites where you might be able to purchase what you're looking for.

I have a lot of catching up to do with emails and translations, it may be a few days before I can start posting again but don't give up hope, I have lots to share with you!

Broccatello Embroidery

Broccatello fabric is very much like Brocade fabric but a little lighter. Large patterns are woven in such a way as to be raised from the background. It can be used in religious vestments or overclothing like jackets and is more commonly today used in furnishings and upholstery.

The centre strip of a 15th-16th century Tuscan chasuable here gives you little bit of an idea of what I mean (click on the picture for a little larger photo). There are also some photos here of Broccatello fabric which is still made today at Ars Regia in Ferrara. Two beautiful Broccatellos woven in Venice at Luigi Bevilacqua can be found by clicking on the word "Catalogue", then "Broccatelles". The best close up I could find is here at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino in Florence.

Punto Broccatello or Bokara Couching is a form of Italian needlework which imitates the effect of Broccatello fabric. In the central rose window design here, you can get an idea of the effect Punto Broccatello imitates, though that photo is of a woven piece. While Bokhara Couching has origins in the Orient, it is probable that it came to Italy through Sicily with traders from the East or Morocco.

Nuova Enciclopedia dei Lavori Femminili by Mani di Fata describes Punto Broccatello as being suited for fabrics such as Organdis and Linen but also for heavy fabrics. The stitch can be executed either in horizontal or vertical lines and is a self-couching stitch with the couching stitches slightly diagonal. The Manuale del Cucito e del Ricamo by Cucirini Cantoni Coats says not to follow the outlines of the design but to fill spaces with rows on the straight of the grain with a distance of two or three ground threads between rows, depending on the density of the weave.


I have two Mani di Fata pattern books for Punto Broccatello. One is just iron-on transfers which indicate where you should place your lines of stitches and the other one is from the 1950s with some photos of stitched pieces as well as traceable designs. I really like it executed on coloured fabric with white thread as shown here. While in Italy last year I saw a lovely pastel green tea service tablecloth from the 1950s which this reminds me of.

I love this purse but unfortunately it is the only pattern that is cut out of the 1950s book that I have:


This is how the patterns are drawn, this one is for a towel border:


You should be able to get Mani di Fata Broccatello iron-on transfers from Italian Needlecrafts, though you may have to ask Elena if she can still get them, I didn't see any on the Mani di Fata website – I only got my iron-on pattern book (Disegni Decalcabili - Motivi a P. Broccatello no. 159) a couple of years ago but it could have gone out of print. I believe my copy came from one of the Canetta stores in Milan.

Milan 1906 World's Fair - Embroiderers

World's Fairs were once an important way to show the world embroideries, laces and other textile arts. Many times prizes won at various fairs are cited in history books as a testament to excellence.

In the 1929 publication on Aemilia Ars needle lace, Merletti e Ricami della Aemilia Ars, there is an entire page dedicated to a list of the prizes won by this outstanding technique. Exhibitions in Italian cities like Milan, Rome, Turin, Genoa and others; France, Belgium, the U.S., Denmark... the list goes on.


At the 1906 World's Fair in Milan there were actually embroiderers stationed in the Galleria del Lavoro [Work Gallery] hand-stitching souvenirs for fair-goers to purchase.

Here is a worker's pass for an embroideress named Giuseppina Alemanni who worked at the Fair:


In the Pavilion which housed the Work Gallery there were all kinds of things for which production could be witnessed besides the embroidering of handkerchiefs, like the printing of magazines, the minting of souvenir tokens – to name only a couple.


On the embroidered handkerchiefs, besides the Fair's logo or flowers, one could also have one's name hand-embroidered thereby personalizing one's souvenir.


The 1906 World's Fair in Milan saw more than 5 million visitors. How many embroidered souvenirs were made, I cannot guess.

Thanks to Ampelio at the NING group MI1906 for the photos and data, without whom this post would not have been possible!

Fine Italian Whitework II

The following handkerchief is in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan. I made the photo in black and white so you could see more details. The handkerchief is in fact, white with white thread work.

This is one half:


This is a corner motif detail:


This is a Whitework detail:


The ground fabric is a very fine linen and the threads used in the needle lace and Whitework are also very fine. There are a lot of Curl Stitches and Bullion Knots. It's hard to see, but the leaves are filled with French Knots. There are so many picots! Even the border is needle lace. Can you imagine how much time this must have taken to make? This would really be a handkerchief you'd want to carry around and show people!

The style of this handkerchief reminds me of the one we looked at in Florence at the Palazzo Davanzati Museum. I wonder if they were made around the same time?

Thanks to Stefania for the photos!

World's Fair – Milan, 1906

"Our exposition, inaugurated the 3rd of May, 1906 by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Italy, was utterly destroyed by the overnight fire of August 2nd and 3rd. The pages of this book, collected while our halls offered themselves to the public like inspired revelations of Italian art and work, today take on a particular documentary merit and are left as a reminder of the artistic work done, the thought and the love of those who promoted and prepared it."
-- Le Industrie Femminili Italiane, 1906


... although rescue was quick, and despite the dedicated efforts of firefighters, both the Italian and Hungarian exhibitions of the Decorative Arts were engulfed in flames. When day came, all that remained of the site was a pile of smoldering rubble and charred beams...
-- L'Illustration, 1906

In what was probably the single worst loss of needlework excellence in history, the Decorative Arts Pavilion burnt to the ground halfway through the World's Fair in Milan in 1906.



An unpardonable act of arson. The list of pieces submitted to the Fair for display and for sale is a dozen pages long: furnishings – entire bedroom suites, dining room linens, door hangings and curtains, window treatments and coverings; clothing – traditional costumes, baby, children, women's and men's outfits, lingerie, personal, table and household linens; dolls wearing representative territorial costumes.


Needle lace, bobbin lace, knitting, crochet, traditional embroidery, territorial specialty embroideries and laces, tapestries, weaving – works of all materials: silk, linen, gold, straw, cotton.

Gone.

Can you imagine the horrific news reaching the women who laboured to make their very best pieces? The loss... the loss!

Much more than embroidery and lace was burned to ashes: priceless manuscripts, documents, metal statues "reduced to ingots".


Then: within 40 days – the Pavillion was reborn. They literally worked around the clock: the architects, the builders, the artists and artisans, the embroiderers, the weavers and the lacemakers to produce exhibitions every bit as wondrous as those that had been lost. Grand prize and gold medal winners.

"... Also worthy of particular praise, is the National Cooperative of Women's Industries... which managed, with really wonderful results, to awaken and discipline in the remotest provinces of Italy... traditional female industries - embroidery, lace or woven fabrics - characteristic of each region. Of these works there were some wonderful ones from Sardinia or from Friuli, the Abruzzi or Bergamo, from Valsesia or Calabria, [which were] burned in the first exhibition, and although much less numerous, there are beautiful ones in the renewed exhibition. ... Among all the other works, of special, very distinguished importance appeared and appear, however, the exquisitely delicate lace of Aemilia Ars..."
-- Vittorio Pica, L'Emporium, 1906.

Many, many thanks to the people of the Ning Group MI 1906 who have made this post possible.

I will continue my research for traces of these pieces and will post here when I find them!

Things we would never dream of doing today...

The following two pieces are samples of borders that one could buy by the metre in Bologna, Italy around the middle of the twentieth century. I'm guessing that one picked out one's preferred motifs when commissioning a tablecloth or other stitched item. If anyone can offer other information, please – please leave a comment below!

After the end of the Aemilia Ars Society in the late 1930s and the bombing of their shop during the Second World War, a woman by the name of Maria Garagnani (1904–1989) purchased the store and had it restored. By employing former teachers and students of the defunct Society, the store produced and sold many different kinds of needlework. The store logo is stamped on the labels.

The label here says that this border cost 18 Lire per metre.


And this border cost 10 Lire per metre.


In 1950 there were 625 Lire to one US dollar.

By today's terminology these are samples of Punto Antico Embroidery and Reticello needle lace. A row of Four-Sided Stitch is used to separate the rows of Punto Antico motifs stitched in Curl Stitch, Buttonhole Stitch, Eyelets, Satin Stitch and Bullion Knots. The Reticello needle lace area is bordered with Overcast Stitch, the needle lace motifs are done in Detached Buttonhole Stitch, Needleweaving, Buttonhole Stitch, Overcast bars and Picots.

Could you ever contemplate stitching metres and metres of this?!

These two pieces and a few other samples are among the collection of needlework at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan, Italy.

You can learn more about Maria Garagnani at Tuttoricamo. Look under the "Prominent Characters" heading, then under the column heading "...yesterday".

There is an article about the history of the Aemilia Ars Society in the May/June 2009 issue of Piecework magazine.

Thanks to Stefania for the photos!