Petit Pointe Embroidery

Lately I went to a delightful antique shop. There were these little purses in a corner with elaborate embroidery. I really wanted one but they were to expensive($70). I researched, and found out that the style is called petit point.

Austria made the style well known, and many of the vintage evening bags are from there. Though the actual style of embroidery originated in Rocco France.

My favorite one that I found was this:

Petit Point Evening Bag

Details of Embroidery

Petit point can have 11 to 22 stitches per centimeter, or up to 484 stitches per square centimeter! And for it to be true petit point it must be hand stitched. It must take forever.

The bags really vary in price, some are super expensive, some around 11$. I've found there a bit cheaper online(ebay) than when in stores. But the nicest bags will have silk thread as opposed to cotton.

Petit point isn't just used on bags, it can also be used to detail other things. I love this vintage Austrian perfume bottle it really is a work of art. Another place petit point is found is on adorable little brush and mirror sets.

Petit Point Perfume Bottle

I thought this was really cool as well, petit point items in a doll house! If I was an elderly woman with money miniatures would so be my hobby! I would move in the house in a minute if it really existed. Just my style.

not as nice as other ones but still cool

I'm thinking that it may come into trend again, if it already hasn't yet.

Another signature of the bags is their beautiful handles.

a little different from the others

Kalosca Embroidery

Today I wanted to take the time to talk about the beautiful embroidery from the kalosca region of Hungary.
Its quite utterly beautiful, and fascinating. Much of my embroidery fascination lately has come from finding it.
I love all the bright colors!

 

These kaloscai garments are not as old as people think. It started as blue and black embroidery. But by the 1930's colors were added. The designs became more complex and basically revolved around ornate flower motifs. Then they implemented the aprons which allowed for more embroidery goodness!

This is one of my favorite pictures! I love the over skirts. It is traditional for them to be very pleated, and be over a fluffy petticoat. I wish I would've been dancing there when I was little. My mom just kind of threw overalls at me.

Little girls would wear those lacy ribbon head dresses. They are a bit funny, but still adorable. Notice the similar designs on the wall.

Married women where embroidered bonnets instead of the headband. I'm totally digging the long bows.

Think of all the hours, upon hours it took to do all that!

Here is my most favorite dress, the one with the burgandy underskirt. I think it is a little more balanced than some of the others. Also notice the neat knubby socks, I reallly want some of those. Hopefully some eccentric designer will like them to and make them available to the masses haha.

I'm not sure if these are technical kaloscai gaments, but they are so beautiful I felt they were worth mentioning.
Also check it out! More of those awesome textured socks. I love texture, maybe thats why I love embroidery so much.

Close up of the awesome socks. I may be getting a little obsessed aren't I?

My First Embroidery/Scandinavian Needlecraft Book Review

I just got a new book called Scandinavian Needlecraft by Clare Youngs, because recently it is a new hobby that I would like to pursue. The book has tons of projects I especially like it because I am new to embroidery and it has step by step instructions on how to do the stitches in the back. Embroidery from Scandinavian regions of Europe really intrigues me, so this book was perfect. The projects range from baby hats to egg cozies. There are also a lot of seasonal projects like these.

You will need a sewing machine for many of the projects, its not just embroidery patterns. For a couple of the projects you don't even have to know how to embroider by hand because they use a machine zigzag stitch.]
Like this one

There are so many cute gift ideas in here too! There are a pair of slippers in here that I really want to make, but I decided to do a little test on a scrap pieces of linen first because I have never done embroidery before. I wouldn't want the slippers to be messed up you know?

If you click on it it will come up big and you can gloat on all my mistakes! The bouillon knots were the most difficult, and some of mine are awful.
This is a picture from the book that shows what they look like finished:

When I look it the finished pair, I don't think I did to bad. In fact I think I did pretty good for my first try! The step by step diagrams are easy to follow. I wonder if there stitch lines are purposefully a little wobbly, to encourage beginners....

 The only thing I don't like about this book is that it doesn't have enough bright projects like these.

The book itself is not huge, and is a paper back of good quality. I would say that this book is a must have for those that love the beauty simplicity. On top of that it seems that the whole "alpine, Scandinavian look" is going to be quite popular this season.I bought it off Amazon , it is much cheaper there than at the bookstore. (but of course you don't get the instant gratification, or previewing that you would get at a bookstore). I will be sure to post the slippers when I finish them!