Adventures In Assisi Work

Assisi snowflake chart

Assisi work is a very old form of counted-thread embroidery. Its first known use was in the late 13th or early 14th Century in Italy. The name comes from Assisi,  the little town in Umbria made famous for its association with St. Francis of Assisi.  Many of the best examples, made by nuns in the convent there for use as altar cloths in the cathedral, have managed to survive in museums. They were worked on white linen with single colors of silk thread, limited to red, blue, yellow, green and brown.  Only a few lines of stitches outlined features on the subjects of the design and those were sometimes omitted.  But the backgrounds were worked solidly in closely placed stitches.  As you might imagine, many of the subjects were Biblical scenes and depictions of familiar plants and animals. But a surprising number were of mythical creatures portrayed as monsters! There were also geometric designs following the Arabic motifs brought to Spain by the Moors and responsible also for the use and popularity of blackwork.

Heirloom Lithuanian embroidery (Annake's private collection)

The technique spread to other cloisters.  Nuns controlled the making of Assisi work until the beginning of the 16th Century, when it was largely taken over by the women of the town as a kind of cottage industry. The designs became more secular.  (Nonetheless, this embroidery remained popular in churches until the end of the 17th century.)  Because the outlines were frequently drawn on the fabric with ink, black stitches were often used to cover the outlines.  Red and green remained popular for backgrounds. However, some women began to use colors which were not the traditional ones.  Rose and blue were popular combinations, as were a slate blue combined with gold.  Gradually the technique began to influence the folk embroidery of Northern and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia and became integrated with their favorite stitch techniques. Look carefully at the enlargement of this 20th Century Lithuanian embroidery, You will see tiny flowers that are not embroidered, but simply suggested by stitches around them.

Assisi butterfly, by Annake

Today you need not be limited by any of the traditional restrictions. Simple subjects don't even have to be outlined; you can indicate their inner structure by extended the background stitches into the silhouettes to show important features. Take this butterfly for example. The traditional red is used here on white evenweave fabric, but you could use any color you like — including black — or even more than one color.  Try interesting color combinations like turquoise and lavender.  Use a metallic thread instead of floss or yarn for outlining, as I have done on this rose. Use stripes or blocks of several colors to emphasize a word or a person's name. Express your own style and personality.

Framed Assisi rose by Annake

Because of our modern penchant for words, logos, and slogans, Assisi work seems to me to be an ideal type of embroidery.  If you have children in pre-school or elementary school, you might ask their teacher if they would like some colorful reminders like "Indoor Voices" or "Reading Corner" for their classrooms. These are easy to make on plastic canvas, easy to handle and hang, won't cause injuries and can even be laundered in a sink if needed. I imagine your children might like signs on their doors at home that say something like "Joey's Room".  Waiting rooms, clubhouses, shelters, etc., may possibly be grateful for signage. Just ask.

Another place that I foresee for this type of embroidery is tote bags.  As we sharply reduce our dependence on plastic and paper bags, tote bags will become ever more popular. You can embroider your design directly on the side of the bag or make it separately and stitch it on the bag later.  The bag you take to the library or to book club might simply say "READ";  grocery store bags might say "RECYCLE".   Or you might feature a cause that is important to you, like "VOTE" or "VOLUNTEER". You get the idea.

Assisi "JOY" layout

I like single words displayed in ways that make me stop and think about the meaning of the word. I decided to do an Assisi embroidery featuring the word JOY against a background of “joyous” rainbow colors. I had a frame I wanted to use for it, so that dictated the size of the project. After working out my design on graph paper, I prepared my fabric and backing with easy-to-remove basting and centering stitches.  I decided to use the conventional black outline. I back-stitched around the three letters. Here is a picture of the project at that stage.

Completed projecct

The yellow and green center stripes were measured so that each would fill exactly half of the space allotted for the letter “O”. The other stripes are slightly wider. I wanted the blue and orange stripes to encompass the majority of their letter spaces and the red and purple ones to cover the small parts left over. I decided to leave a margin of unstitched background fabric at either end of the embroidery to set it off. This picture shows the project completed and framed.

Two styles of cross-stitch

By the 20th Century, Holbein embroidery had become popular for items that may be viewed from both sides.  Here is a link to our recent post on Holbein embroidery. The most common background stitches are conventional cross-stitches.  The British way to do cross-stitches is to make the bottom half of the stitch from lower left to top right and the top half from lower right to top left.  Connected, all the stitches seem to lean to the left. The American and European way to make them is to make the bottom half of the stitch from lower right to top left and the bottom half from lower left to top right.  Connected, the stitches appear to lean to the right.  I work in both styles, depending on where I start in the design. Left-handed stitchers may have a stronger preference for one way than right-handed stitchers do. Try both ways and use the one which is more comfortable for you. I don't think it makes any difference  —  as long as you do the same thing consistently throughout the whole piece.

Assisi stitch sampler

This stitch chart shows popular background stitches for Assisi embroidery.  The first two rows are of long-armed cross-stitch (all stitches shown first in a single color and again in two colors to make the structure of the stitch clearer).  There are several versions of long-armed cross-stitch. I have chosen a simple one.  The next two rows are of zigzag stitch. The upright stitches may be done first and the cross-stitches put in later.  The last two rows show the four-sided stitch. The upright stitches are put in first. Then the top and bottom edges are back-stitched.  Outlining is usually done in back-stitch or Holbein stitch.  You can also use outline stitch, stem stitch, chain stitch or couching.  Detached stitches like French knots or wheat ear can be used for filling.  The four-sided stitch can also be used as a detached filling stitch.

Assisi work on needlepoint canvas

I had never seen Assisi work done on needlepoint canvas, but I could see no reason not to try it. I drew a simple outline of an iris bloom and a bit of stem and traced it with pencil onto #10 mono canvas. I worked the outlines of the design in continental stitch and the background in basketweave stitch. I decided it needed a bit of a second color, so I did the “stamens” in doubled six-strand floss. I like the result and am planning a long horizontal panel with several flowers (done so the white canvas becomes the flower), each with a different color background. There may be a place for the little butterfly above somewhere in the panel, too.

Since Valentine's Day is approaching, I'll leave you with this simple chart based on a design I did in a different style of needlework some time ago.

Click here to download

The heart and lettering are outlined in lavender backstitch; the heart is filled in with red cross-stitch, and the background is a light pink cross-stitch. But, as always, I hope you will feel free to use the chart as a starting point for something that is uniquely yours. You don't need a linen background and silk thread. Cotton fabrics and cotton or rayon floss, craft threads, and crochet cotton are inexpensive, readily available, easy to use and come in a multitude of colors. Hardanger, monks' cloth, and Aida are strong contenders for this type of work. I have a special fondness for linen thread and tapestry wool on coarser fabrics like hop-sacking and decorator burlap. (Whatever you use, use something that will not cause discomfort to your eyes or hands.)

I believe my interest in Assisi work stems from my fascination with positive and negative shapes in design. If you want to see the work of a master of positive/negative design (and one of my favorite artists of all time), look for pictures by Dutch artist M. C. Escher (Maurits Cornelis Escher, 1898–1972). They will exercise your mind and your imagination.

 This post by Annake's Garden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.