The Embroidery of Crete New!

The embroidery work produced on the island of Crete has many influences as designated by its strategic trading and cultural position in the eastern Mediterranean, situated as it is between the Asian, African and European mainlands. Particularly significant and important influences within Cretan decorative and craft arts are those of Byzantium, Italy and ...

The Exuberance of Early Victorian Carpet Design

The beauty and complexity of carpet design has been with us possibly since the invention of weaving and certainly for the last two millennia or more. Although much of the obvious design work for this discipline can be found in Asia, Europe does have a history of uniquely individual design work that is linked to both traditional regional craft styles, as well as more recently studio based work that was originally hand produced and then ...

Double Decker Shedding & Picking: A New Technique in Handloom to Weave Reversible Furnishings

At present there is good demand for reversible - weft backed furnishing varieties like yoga mats, floor carpets, pooja mats etc. having two colours, one colour / material on the face side another at the back. These reversible structures are normally woven in weft backed, weft tapestry, twill and satin weaves by employing at least 4 healds and 4 treadles with two shuttles carrying two different colours / materials in pick by pick ...

Sicilian Embroidery of the 12th Century

The Mediterranean island of Sicily, the sea's largest island, has a complex and multi-layered medieval history that connects the distinctive Greek, Tunisian, Egyptian, Norman and Southern Italian decorative cultures, as well as the religions of Greek Orthodox, Catholicism and Islam. That all these elements came together to form a ...

Finnish Embroidery

The history of embroidery in Finland is made more complicated by the history of the country itself. For over five hundred years, Finland was considered an integral part of the Swedish Empire, only to end that era by becoming part of the Russian Empire for just over a century. When Finland did eventually manage to gain full independence in 1917 during the Russian ...

The Art of Tatting

The English name of tatting is said to have derived from tatters, which would give the impression that the process would lead to a product that was both fragile and of limited use. However, this plucky lace alternative is in fact both strong and flexible and is therefore much more robust than standard lace ...