Exploring the needlework internet this week

I missed this post last week, seeing “normal programming” was slightly interrupted! Because of that, there’s lots today. Just keep in mind that I don’t actually go looking for these links – they’re just things I stumble across as I go about my daily business on the internet.

One of the Facebook pages I am a fan of is Tirelli Costumi. They do a lot of costuming for historical fiction films. This year at Cannes, there’s a new film called “Tale of Tales”. I haven’t any idea at all of what the film is about, but the costumes certainly caught my eye! There’s an article with lots of photos at History of Fashion and Textiles blog. The costumes that really caught my eye were the men’s ones with lace collars and cuffs. Wow! The blog is in Spanish, so you’ll need to translate the page.

My friend, Tamsin Harvey of Berrima Patchwork has released her new book called, “Constantinople Quilts” featuring beautiful appliquéd quilts. She was over at Quilt Market in Houston promoting the book, with some of her lovely quilts on display. https://www.facebook.com/MaywoodStudio/photos

I’ve updated The Big List of Online Textile Collections. There are now 60 links to museums which have searchable online collections. There are other museums which have *browseable* online collections, but my criteria for this list is that the collection must be searchable.

One of my very popular posts on Facebook in the last week or so has been about a piece of exquisite lace in the collection of the V&A museum. The motifs on this very pretty piece of lace remind me of the motifs used by William Morris and co in their wallpaper designs. The museum has 2.27m of it. I’m sure I could find a use for it, if they needed me to… 😉

I think I’ve mentioned before the amazing embroidery that I saw in a Portuguese language book in a library in Portugal which was done with straw on netting. I went looking for more information on this the other day, and found that it is called Bordados de Palha de Trigo. The straw sits like a flat ribbon, and looks like gleaming gold. You’d never expect that you could get such an effect with something as simple as straw! The following links were some that I found about the embroidery. (Portuguese language alert – you’ll need a translator!)
http://cienciapatodos.webnode.pt/news/os-bordados-de-palha-de-trigo-sobre-tule-da-dona-isaura-rodrigues-parte-i-/
http://cienciapatodos.webnode.pt/news/os-bordados-de-palha-de-trigo-sobre-tule-da-dona-isaura-rodrigues-parte-ii/
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W3Bf0Lv-Y-Q/UiXcSDMho1I/AAAAAAAACAA/hV6RD_liQnY/s1600/971975_544056185641169_404218601_n.jpg
Following my posting of these on the Vetty Creations Facebook page, Melissa posted a link to another fascinating article on a similar theme, all about straw embroidery. Thanks Melissa!

I’ve updated the Hardanger embroidery page on the Vetty Creations website, with some news words and new pictures.

I’m still going on about Rahul Mishra. Here’s a video about some of his latest work. I really think we should all wear our embroidery more. We need to wear elegant embroidery. I’ve had a design for a winter coat with embroidered collar and pocket bindings mulling around in my head since about last July. Hopefully one day it will become reality! For those who are reading this via email, you can view the video here.

The Royal School of Needlework has an exhibition of whitework on until December this year. The exhibition is only open on specific dates, and bookings are required. Featured styles of embroidery include Ayrshire, Carrickmacross, Hollie Point and Hardanger.

Well, that’s it for now, but I think that should give you quite a few hours of diversion!