ITALIAN EMBROIDERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18762, 16 July 1924, Page 13

ITALIAN EMBROIDERY.

A great deal of the beautiful and effective stitchery which Italian women of fashion admire so much is being sent to England, and quite a vogue has been created for it over there. Each different district specialises in a particular style of work. For instance, the hand-woven, rather coarse linen in pale coffee or cream, with heavy embroidery on it, is of Florentine origin. A very lovely teacloth in cream linen in this work is surrounded! by a deep border of embroidery with" pierced holes here and there filled in with needlepoint ttiiches. This is set between wide bands of drawn thread, and the actual edge of the (ilofcb is decorated with needlepoint rtrtefces at intervals. Another cloth is divided into squares by lines of drawn raread, with an einbroidsred ornament in the middle of each square. These are so elaborately and 'finely worked that they *re rather costly. ' <0 ' a The Sicilian drawn thread work, usually " d3ne on fine white linen, is familiar to women, although they may not ™w where it comes from or realise how ** 13 done.. The groundwork of it, is in drawn thread in small squares like filet *$>, the design being left in tha plain jjjfeh, and this design is very often in the form of figures or anir.ials. For inSkace, a (Sicilian teaset had triangular corners of the drawn thread with a duck to the middle of each on both tablecloth and napkins, while a nightdress case showed a group of three figures, one a T?h 0a e square-meshed background. j -rem Assisi come the lovely dinner worked in fine blue cross-stitch. : lnese niats often have initials on them indicating the school where they were made. In this work the background is usually «*one m the fine nine cross-stitch and the pattern is left plain. But sometimes the ia in the cross-stitch, as in a child's bib, with a red bird on it outlined Jrcth black. This work washes beauti*u"7« as the colours used in it are absototely fast, Most of the filet lace comes from ground Venice and is found in a very foarsc variety, like string of the finest kind used for dress trimmings. Sardinian lace is also made on square-meshed net, hut in quifc; a different stitch. This is effective for covers on Chesterfields or B»nge chairs.