Anna Castagnetti of Verona, Italy learned to embroider from an enthusiastic group of women who were passionate about their art. Being of a curious nature, she soon discovered the beautiful stitches of needle lace like Hedebo, Teneriffe, Aemilia Ars, Reticello, Renaissance and Venice Point. She takes traditional surface embroidery patterns and fills them with an assortment of the stitches from these styles.

Anna’s embroideries are often featured in one of Italy’s leading embroidery magazines called RAKAM.

This is an example of her work where she took a traditional Schwalm pattern and filled it in a completely unique way.

She calls her style an “interpretation” rather than an “invention”. Anna would very much like to inspire young people to discover embroidery. At the Cultural Association “Ricami a Fili Tesi” (which she founded) she encourages her pupils to use their imagination and take chances. She feels that while the results always have different outcomes, they represent each embroiderer’s creativity above all else.

She strongly believes in freedom of creativity and imagination, often simplifying techniques so that they do not require long and laborious preparation.

This cushion was featured in RAKAM in August 2008 and was made with Sotema 20L 38ct 100% linen and Shantung silk. The openings are reinforced with Hedebo stitch and the fillings are various combinations of detached and non-detached Buttonhole stitches.

In September of 2010 she will release her first book which will be in Italian and English and will be filled with instructions and step-by-step photos of the stitches she uses to fill the empty spaces of her designs. The book will also feature four delightful designs to embroider.

Anna can be reached at: anna9 (dot) castagnetti (at) email (dot) it

Thanks to Jeanine of Italian Needlework for the translation of the above!