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The reinvention of embroidery

Inspired by flowers and the time-honoured techniques of Nisa embroidery, Kitty Olive bags are handmade by craftswomen in 100% wool felt. Now available from A Vida Portuguesa shops with a 25% discount and even more irresistible!

There was a time when certain traits would tell you which part of the country a young woman came from – like wearing a lot of gold. The young women from Nisa, who took up needlework for a living at an early age, could be easily identified by the way they dressed. In the context of Portuguese embroidery, Nisa is in a league of its own, given the myriad techniques of textile transformation and decoration – their uses, execution, fabrics, motifs and even colour palette being equally varied. Its many forms and expressions showed a keen sense of artistry, from basted to unthreaded works, from child-like designs to more elaborate ones, from European embroidery to traditional weaving, including the typical “caramelos” (geometrical patterns) or “sash” embroidery. 

The Kitty Olive project reinvents “sash” embroidery, applying it to modern-day handbags and purses. This floral-styled, traditional craft technique was once used to decorate blankets but it soon extended to the full, circle skirts worn by peasant women, shepherds’ capes and crested portières. Favouring thicker fabrics, such as wool felt, it comes to life with decorative cut-outs contrasting with the base fabric. To this day, it is made by the skilled craftswomen whose hands continue to prove true to the words of writer Raul Proença: “the lace and embroidery that the women of Nisa excel in, cutting out whimsical designs and various needlepoint stitches of absolute perfection”.