Italian cutwork combines cutwork with whitework and needle lace techniques. The small designs are mostly geometric, but little figures or birds also occur. The ground material is linen. The cut-out designs are filled with stitches, generally buttonhole stitch. The stitches are attached to the surrounding ground material, which is further embellised with whitework worked in raised stitches, such as bullion stitch or detached overcast stitch.
Italian cutwork was particularly popular in the sixteenth century.
Sources:
- THOMAS, Mary (1936). Mary Thomas's Embroidery Book. Hodder and Stroughton.
- WILSON, Lilian Barton (c. 1910). The Priscilla Italian Cutwork Book. Containing Directions for Italian Hemstitching, Picota, Tassels, Fringes, Simple Cut Work and Gros Venise Needle Lace. Priscilla Publishing Company.
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