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Betty Manfre

Betty is an Italian American who has lived in Milan, Italy for over 20 years. She is a registered nurse with a degree in Nursing Education. In 1989, she found herself living in Brussels, Belgium, with her husband and daughters. Unable to work as a registered nurse, she turned her interests to lace making, learned Torchon and Duchesse and began teaching Torchon at the American Women’s Club. This quickly became a passion.

In 1997, on returning to Milan, near the Town of Cantu’, she learned to make and design Cantu’ lace. She continues to attend Il Giardino dei Punti, a lace school in Milan, where she has become proficient in Cantu’ lace making. She has won awards at the Gorizia and Sansepolcro International Lace Exhibitions. Betty has also taught Cantu’ lace at IOLI lace conventions as well as to local lace groups in the United States and Canada. She also has represented her Milan lace school as a Cantu’ teacher in Naples, Italy. Her work has been published several times in the International magazines RAKAM and RICAMO ITALIANO.

Betty has also been a quilter for over 30 years and has taught quilting courses in Mexico and Italy.

Reviews

Vicky Kruse

Betty is a wonderful teacher of cantu lace. She is very patient and supportive with her students, and shares her experience and little tips to assure your work turns out beautifully.

Donna von Wagenen

Betty is a very talented lace maker and teacher. Her dedication and patience towards her students helps them to become successful in their attempt to learn a new style of lace. She is a special person I would like to take future Cantu lace classes with.

Christine Bauer

Lacemaking at such a setting is a joy. Anyone wanting to learn Cantu Lacemaking cannot do better than having Betty Manfre as a teacher. She knows everything
that is to know about Cantu Lace. I enjoyed to have had Betty as a teacher, she is very patient and makes sure one understands the process of Cantu Lacemaking.
I am looking forward of making lace at you beautiful Chalet again.

Jeanette Viljoen

I was fortunate enough to attend Betty Manfre's Cantu lacemaking class in September 2017. Having not done Cantu lace before, although with some experience with torchon lace I was worried that I would struggle with this class. I couldn't have been more wrong. Betty is so patient and explains and demonstrates everything in such a way it is easy to understand and grasp what you have to do. Betty is truly a master of Cantu lace and had wonderful samples of her own work on display and beautiful patterns for sale. Even with a large class, we all had our personal hands on experience with Betty. I learned such a lot during the 10 days and left not only with a sense of accomplishment with 2 and a half finished projects, but also with enough learned knowledge to be able to try and tackle the next one on my own. Besides Betty's undisputed thorough knowledge and enthusiasm of all things Cantu lace, she is a wonderful warm, friendly and very entertaining personality with an endless supply of stories over mealtimes and free time. When you combine all of this with the wonderful food, accommodation and breathtaking views it is an absolute must.

Kaete Hester

Betty Manfre is an expert in her speciality of Cantu lace.. I have taken several of her classes since first meeting her four years ago and enjoyed and learned in every one. Her patient and thorough way of explaining techniques has been so helpful and encouraging. She is able to manage students at various levels in the same class and the beginners in our class this year made impressive progress. I will continue to learn and improve with her tutelage. The beautiful samples of her work speak for themselves. I can’t wait to come back next year! 

JB

I appreciate the time to enjoy extending my lace-making skills in Betty's workshop, she's an excellent tutor, very patient and never seems to mind if she has to explain things several times. Betty has done some lovely work herself and knows exactly how to develop my skills in Cantu in relation to my rather basic ability. It's really rewarding when everything she teaches suddenly falls into place and becomes part of my 'brain's lace library'! Long may it continue.

GM

She is a very good patient teacher. Especially as she had three beginners and she managed us all. I enjoyed her company and sense of humour and managed to learn a lot about Cantu lace. I was exhausted using my brain by the end of the day, but she never did.