Ago

pothook steel pointed

Aguglia

Punta accuminata, ago, (grosso ago per cucire le vele).

Aida lap

A fabric with a regular weft used especially for the embroidery with cross stitch.

Appliquè work

It is so called an embroidered piece worked using two layers of fabric (usually of different colour) laid on and fixed by buttonhole stitches. 

Appretto

Arabesque

A decoration of stylised geometric and floral elements, a typical decoration of the Islamic art.

Assisi stitch

This embroidery took its antique origin in Umbria. It is usually made on a cloth with a regular weft called Assisi. It is characterized by the combination of different stitches as the double running  stitch, the cross stitch, and other type of embroideries

Batik

A technique to colour fabrics by covering with a wax layer the side of fabric that one want to be rough.

Batiste

A thin framework used for handkerchiefs and shirts. The term comes from Batiste who was the first manufacturer of this type of fabric.

Billantè or Sablè

A clear-finish fabric wide in the warp, weft or both. 

Bleaching

A special treatment to get fabrics whitish by chemicals:  sulphur dioxide, ammonia, chlorine, hydrogen dioxide, or others.   

Bobbin

A little tool, usually made of wood or bone, on which the thread is twisted to work lace on a lace-pillow. 

Bobbin lace

See Bobbin working

Bobbin working

The manufacturing of lace by bobbin was introduced in Italy during XVI century by the Benedictine nuns coming from France. It is made on a pillow called lace-pillow, with some pins and many bobbins which are used to plait the threads that make up this lace.

Botch

A piece of embroidery made by a beginner to practise, usually on a fabric with a wide weft

Brocade

A light brocade similar to the damask fabric. 

Brocade

Fabric with raised shapes or designs on the plain part. The effect is obtained by supplementary elements of  warp and weft which made the final raised effect.

Broderie Anglaise

It is also called Madera stitch  because it took origin in that island. The broderie anglaise is a simple twist made with regular stitches.

Bullion knot

It is mostly used to embroidery baby gowns. You can easily made little raised roses or flowers of immediate effect.

Burano lace

It was already well-known during XVI century as a precious lace completely worked with a needle. It nearly disappeared with the falling  of Serenissima at the end of XVIII but during the XIX it was created a school of lace in the island so there began a lace working of great importance. The difficulty of  stitches often required the participation of more embroiderers to carry out a single piece that because each one is specialised in a particular stitch.

Buttonhole stitch

A stitch used for the cutwork embroidery or the Venetian stitch, or to trim clothes with scallops.

Byssus

Linen fabric, thin and strong for embroidered linen. This thinnest linen, from India and Egypt, was used for quality clothes by  Greeks and Romans. Or a silken yarn obtained from the manufacturing of filaments secreted by a mollusc.   

Cadiz

A wool full fabric of French manufacturing

Calendering

A special working of a fabric by pressing or  ironing which give it a special brightness 

Cannettè

A fabric with wider ribs than the ribbed velvet and more marked than the poplin.

Canvas

A very thick lap of hemp often used to make rags. Or a very thin lap to work some embroideries such as the Gobelin stitch.

Carded

A fabric manufactured just with carded fibres: the final product looks soft and nap. 

Casimir o cachemire

A type of wool obtained from a race of goats with long hair from the area of Kaschimir. A soft and light fabric obtained from the homonymous wool.

Chiacchierino

Lace with a design of rings and half-rounds linked by a little spool. A very ancient working that dated back to the Egyptians, now worldwide known

Cinz-Cinitz-Chintz

A fabric used for the interior decorations, printed by different colours or a one-colour made bright by a special fixing treatment..

Cotton

A fibre obtained from the pods of the homonymous plant.

Cotton cambric

A cloth of compact resistant cotton particularly light.

Cotton cambric or Madapolam

A thin fine cloth of cotton, used to manufacture linen (the term comes from the  Indian suburb of Narasapur near Madras)

Count

The ratio between weight and length.

Crochet work

The crochet or net work is so called because on the back raised the full motifs like the filet. It is made following the squared scheme and counting the stitches. 

Crochet-needle

A sort of big needle with a point like a hook, used to make lace, knitting or net works. 

Cross stitch

It is usually embroidered with bright threads but in a  traditional way using only the red and blue colour. It is made on clothes with a regular weft to obtain regular crosses, using the same number of warp yarns. It is made in a horizontal and vertical way.   

Cutting

An operation by which fibres are cut with the same height for velvets or carded fabrics. Or a complete trimming of carded fabrics, especially wool.

Cutwork motifs

It is made following an existing drawing with buttonhole stitch, complete with joining bars, than the cloth is cut to obtain the pierced drawing

Damask

A one-colour fabric worked by different yarns which create a shiny design on a dull bottom, or the contrary. The term comes from the city in the Minor Asia that was the most important place of trade in the past.   

Darn

To mend a garment by passing long threads through the material and weaving other long threads across and between them to fill in the hole

Darning stitch

It is a simple stitch used for the net embroidery. The thread is passed many times in the holes to fill them. 

Double darning stitch

It is usually made on transparent clothes to enriched the light hatching made with the crossed stitch on the back of the embroidery.

Double running stitch

It is embroidered for cornices or other geometric shapes or  together with other stitches like the cross stitch. It is also known as Holbein stitch; in Tuscany is called Volterra stitch, in Assisi is called Saint Chiara  stitch. 

Felt

A lap of wool with a uniform thickness, obtained without weaving.

Fiandra

A yarn or fabric of damask linen, usually used for table-cloths. It comes from the homonymous region in Belgium.   

Fibres

A product of natural or artificial origin, transformed in yarn or fabric. 

Filet

A type of embroidery worked on a back of a geometric net weaving. See also Filet working. 

Filet working

A manufactured article coming from the antique working of nets made by the fishermen. On a net structure, worked with a needle, called also netting-needle and a vice, it is after added, using different stitches, the designs which will create the final product. 

Fine muslin

A thinner muslin of cotton or silk similar to the skin of an egg for its slightness and colour. 

Flannel

A wool fabric with a thin weft, not carded on the right. 

Flannel

A wool fabric with a thin weft, not carded on the right. 

Flat stitch

It is used to fill wide spaces and it need a skillful of making. It is made with closer vertical stitches, pointing the needle from high to low, following the hatching of the drawing. It can be made in an inclined or horizontal way.

French knot

It is usually used to make the center of a flower, or raised effect like little bunches or pistils.

Fresco

An English wool fabric, particularly light for summer dresses for men and women.

Fusata

The quantity of thread that can be put on a spindle. 

Fustian

Cloth, usually made in cotton, with one velvet side and the other one is smooth or folded. Its name comes from the  homonymous suburb  in Cairo where it took origin.

Gabardine

A cotton fabric made by combed threads with an inclined diagonal on a ground twill.

Gauze

A thin and fine fabric, like voile, made of  cotton , net shaped. These type of fabrics are worked by some warp yarns called “circled” and they moved to right or left of straight threads.   

Half stitch (Gobelin)

It is often used to make pillows or fabrics to cover seats or  bedheads. It is usually made with a wool thread (but also cotton or linen) on a canvas

Hardanger stitch

It is so called because it took origin in the northern countries. It is similar to Sicilian hemstitch, because the edges are first covered with the flat stitch and than made the hemstitches. The motifs are geometric elements.

Hemp

A fabric obtained from the homonymous plant by its retting and beating.

Hem-stitch

The application of single hem-stitch to trim an embroidered linen.

Honeycomb

A cloth filled with holes that make it looking like an hive.

Honeycomb stitch

A stitch to obtain a curling of little rhombs like the hive. It is usually used for baby gowns.

Jersey

A soft fine knitted fabric used for making clothes.

Lace

A trim embroidered with openwork (it can be obtained by different stitches). It usually ends with little tips, used for the linen.

Lace-pillow

A pillow with a round or cylindrical or muff shape to work lace. 

Lambswool

The soft fine wool from lambs, used for making knitted clothes. 

Lap

A fabric with a simple framework and a maximum weaving of warp and weft, usually made out of linen, cotton or hemp.

Linen

A fibre obtained from the stem’s retting or cut of the homonymous plant.

Little stitch

Small stitches worked on a canvas or cloth or on a net framework. It is made from right to left obtaining an incline stitch pointing the needle low, than repeating the same movement from left to right.

Loop

A fabric with the characteristic weaving of threads by knitting needles or  crochet needle in a single way (knit stitch) or in a spaced or reversed way (purl stitch).

Macò

A type of precious Egyptian cotton. 

Macramè lace

An heavy lace of Moorish origin, the working is based on the weaving and knotting of threads to create fringes or trimmings.

Madapolam

A thin fine cloth of cotton, used to manufacture linen (the term comes from the Indian city of Narasapur near Madras)

Madras

A thin squared cotton fabric, used for shirts and curtains (the term comes from the homonymous Indian city) 

Mercerised

A bright and strong cotton thanks to a special treatment with caustic soda

Micron

One million of a metre used to measure the width of fibres 

Mohair

A soft fabric,  obtained from the homonymous goat of Angora.

Muslin

A thin fine transparent cloth of silk, cotton or wool. The term comes from the Asiatic city of Mussul where it was created.

Nylon

The first strong artificial fibre manufactured in the world.

Organdie

It comes from the French word “organdi”. A type of fine, slightly stiff, cotton material, used for embroidered linen or blouses

Organzine

A spun of silk for the warp of some clothes, which is obtained from the most resistant raw material joining 2 or 3 twisted threads from right to left with a torsion from left to right.

Oxford

A cotton cloth which weaving is obtained by paired spuns of medium thickness and dyed  with striped or check effects, used for shirts.

Padded satin stitch

It is made like the flat stitch, with the difference that it is necessary to prepare a basting that follow the drawing and that will be necessary to give a raised effect to the embroidery.

Peluche

A French term to describe a hairy cloth like a plush or a velour.

Percellina

A cotton cloth thinner that the cotton cambric, usually used for lining.

Piqué

A cloth  of different fibres  with holes on one of its side. The hole is caused by a stretched chain that made the wefts lowered creating a hollow.

Plush

A soft fabric of a nap wool or cotton on one side.

Popelin

A generic term to describe cotton fabrics (but also wool or rayon)  characterised with a typical lining (because the  warp is thicker than the  weft)

Poplin

A fine light fabric with a warp thicker than the weft, usually the warp is in silk and the weft in cotton or wool.

Preshrunk

A cotton cloth with a special treatment to avoid shrinkage.

Printed

A cloth with printed patterns by a printing process and not made during the weaving

Rafia

Vegetal fibre obtained from the upper part of leaves of some palms, used for weaving works.

Renaissance lace

It is so called because it took origin during the same historical period, it is a derivation of the Venetian lace, but its working is simpler because just the joint stitches are made with the needle. The lace is worked on a special waxed canvas which is the base for the drawing.

Renew

A spun or cloth made out of a regenerated wool that is to say derived from used clothes or remnants.

Ribbed Velvet

A fabric with spaced ribs.

Richelieu stitch

It is an alternative of the cutwork motifs with buttonholes on the joining bars.

Rodi stitch

It is usually made for the embroidery white on white, to obtain a net geometric filling of great effect.

Rough

Textile materials not worked or finished.

Running Stitch

Sewing with spaced stitches, that pierced one or more layers of fabric to make the stuffing well joined. A stitch of embroidery to make stitches with delicate shades.

Running stitch

It is the simplest stitch of embroidery, offering a vast range of applications: exchanged lines, in a damask or diagonal way.

Satin

Silk material that is shiny and smooth on one side with a minimum weaving of threads both weft and warp. 

Satino

A smooth fabric in cotton or silk obtained from a poor weaving with a ratio of one to five. 

Scottish

A typical fabric of wool with lively squares, originally of Scottish manufacture.

Selvage

An edge of material woven so that threads cannot came close. 

Selvage

Each of the lateral sides of piece-goods. 

Shot Effect

Fabric that changes colour depending on the angle and light you will observe it.

Sicilian hemstitch

An antique embroidery of Sicilian origin, worked on a back called “net”, covered with twist stitch usually embroidered on linen.

Silk

A fine soft fibre produced by silkworms.

Simple stem stitch

It is the simplest stitch of embroidery, it is  worked in closer lines to fill a no wide spaces.

Single hemstitch

All the stitches, worked on a canvas before pulling the threads out, are called single hemstitch, by which combining the threads in different ways is possible to obtain artistic and ornamental garments. Usually worked from left to right. 

Smoking stitch

This stitch through which you can made a decorative curling, it is mostly used to make the baby gowns. The term comes from the curling made on farmers’ working shirts in some English country areas.

Spindle

A round and extended shaped tool made in wool, thinner on the ends, on which thread is twisted or wound during spinning. 

Sponge-cloth

A cloth usually made out of cotton with one or two sides curled that made it spongy. 

Stitching

A sewing by spaced stitches that pierced one or more layers of fabric to make both sides or the stuffing well joined. A series of back stitches with no space between is called stitching.

Stretch

The quantity of thread introduced in the needle to sew

Synthetic fibres

Fabrics obtained by a chemical process.

Tesseria o Tessoria

A shop or a building where works of weaving are carried out.

Tulle

A soft fine silk or nylon material like net, used especially for veils and dresses, the term comes from the French city where for the first time it was manufactured by factories.

Twill

In Italy it is a cloth made out of silk, in England it is a framework. 

Twill

A basic framework for diagonal clothes with a straight and a reverse. 

Twisted

Spuns with two or more ends

Velour

A French term to describe a woven fabric like velvet or felt manufactured by raising.

Velvet

A woven fabric, especially of silk or nylon, that is thick and soft on one side.

Venetian lace

It can be considered a derivation of the Oriental lace, and its working developed in Venice during the end of XV century. It is usually made without a scheme which need a great skilful.   

Warp

The threads on a loom over and under which other threads are passed to make clothes, they create the length of the cloth.

Weave

The weave of welf and warp

Weft

The perpendicular  threads to those of warp which create the height of the fabric. They are usually less twisted and less strong than those of the warp.

Whip-stitch

A stitch used to join two edges of a cloth, worked from left to right with little stitches not too spaced and not too stretched.

Wool

The fine soft hair that forms the coats of sheep, goats and certain other animals. 

Yarn

A whole of twisted fabrics which usually create a cylindrical and flexible body obtained by spinning.