Assisi Embroidery

Modern piece of Assisi embroidery. Modern piece of Assisi embroidery. TRC collection.

Assisi embroidery is a form of counted thread work. It is characterised by a background filled with embroidery stitches and the main motifs left as voids (see negative design), without stitching. The background stitches include cross stitch, herringbone stitch and long and short cross stitch. The main motifs are often outlined with stem stitch.

Assisi embroidery is often worked in a red thread, with some black details. Older pieces tended to be in silk, while more recent examples are in stranded or perlé cotton. This type of work is associated with the Italian city of Assisi, but it can be found in other areas under different names, such as reversa (Iberian Peninsula), Toledo work (Spain), as well as Fes work from Morocco. 

An important source of information on Assisi work is by Thérèse de Dillmont, and can be downloaded in two parts (part 1 and part 2).

GVE

Last modified on Monday, 21 November 2016 19:45
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