Assisi Embroidery is always a subject that has interested me. When I first saw an example of it, I felt impelled to touch the piece of work, as I could hardly trust my eyes.
The reason for this phenomenon is that Assisi embroidery using cross stitch (and other counted stitches) showcases an unusual technique. The motif is not embroidered. Instead, stitchers fill the surrounding background fabric with crosses, leaving the motif untouched, so that the completed design has the effect of a photo negative. This method is sometimes called ‘voiding’. The results can be beautiful as well as unusual.
Assisi embroidery was practised by monks and nuns in Assisi, the Italian town where St Francis founded his famous monastery. Examples of this type of work can be seen in tapestries created as far back as the 14th century.
Originally, Assisi embroidery was rarely made in cross-stitch. Long-armed cross-stitch was usually the stitch of choice. Examples of other stitches are also known, such as Italian cross-stitch and Algerian plait stitch. Thread colours used were traditional ones of green, red, blue, or gold for a background, and black or brown for outlines. Motifs were usualy heraldic, especially heraldic beasts, and typically featured symmetrically arranged pairs of birds and animals surrounded by ornate borders.
Over the past last thirty years, a modern representation of Assisi embroidery has developed. Many different colours and patterns are used for the background, and the motifs are similarly varied. Nevertheless, the traditional version is still stitched in the Assisi itself - where visitors can see local women sitting in front of their houses and creating Assisi embroidery for the local co-operative craft shop.
If you are thinking of taking up the Assisi challenge, you may be interested in working from a kit first, or at least a downloadable pattern. I think the results you achieve will certainly be a target for conversation – and you will certainly have a design that is very different and eye-catching.
The kit (or pattern) below can be bought from Stitch Direct. This is one of my favourite Assisi designs.
Happy Stitching!
Iona
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