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.

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Unfinished Business

I hope all of you who live in cold regions are staying safe, warm, and dry this winter. We have fog this morning, but have missed most of the snow so far. It is very dry here and fire danger is still high. It is quite cold, so I'm happy to stay indoors and try to answer some of your questions.

Sunflower needlepoint, September 16, 2016 post

“This isn't a question about needlework. It's a question about flowers. When you did the article about making the needlepoint sunflower, you said something about it being a composite made up of two different kinds of flowers. I don't get that. Can you explain it to me?”

I can show you what I was talking about. Not all of the family of flowers called Composites have two kinds of flowers in each flower head. Many of the familiar ones, like sunflowers, daisies, asters and marigolds, however, do have this condition. Look at these three photographs, taken from the 2006 Easter Seals calendar (many thanks to that wonderful organization). See the ring of small flowers in each one? Those are the “ray” flowers. Each one is attached at its bottom to one of the showy strap-shaped or tongue-shaped parts that we call “petals”. The little flowers may be male and produce pollen, they may be female and receive pollen, or they may be sterile. Their major function in the flower is for the bright petal-parts to attract pollinators like bees and butterflies.

Composite flowers, © 2006 Easterseals

Now look at the center of each flower. There are masses of tiny tubular flowers. Those are the “disk” flowers. They produce pollen and nectar and receive pollen from other disk flowers. If you touch them with a fingertip, you will often find that they feel sticky. That stickiness catches and holds pollen carried by bees and butterflies that have visited other flowers of their kind. The disk flowers are the ones that produce the flower seeds, including the sunflower seeds I like salted and toasted.

If you look closely at a dandelion, on the other hand, it has only ray flowers. They are both male and female. The male ray flowers produce pollen. The female ray flowers receive pollen and make the seeds and the little “parachutes” that carry them far and wide. I hope this answers your question. To me, it is one of Nature's little miracles.

“Is the red sweatshirt with the flowers and butterflies a jacket? I can't tell from the picture, but it looks like it. If so, how did you make it?

Jacket made from a red sweatshirt

Yes, it is a jacket. I can't take credit for it, however. It was a gift from teachers at the school where I worked before I retired. I never met the maker. I can tell you how I would make one like it.

1. Turn the sweatshirt inside-out and mark the center front from top to bottom. Pull the shirt over an ironing board. Iron on a lightweight backing material to cover several inches on both sides of the center line to reinforce it.

2. Turn the shirt right-side-out and replace it on the ironing board to give yourself a firm, flat surface to work on. Lay out your pre-cut appliques along the center line from the top of the collar to the bottom of the hem or cuff until you have an arrangement that pleases you. Leave a 1/8-inch space between appliques where they interlock so that you can later cut them apart without damaging them. You can then trim this more closely if you like.

3. Glue the appliques in place, one at a time, with a good fabric glue (or stitch them down by hand or machine). Let the glue dry thoroughly, preferably overnight.

Detail of a daisy applique on the red jacket

4. Go over the edges of each applique with a good dimensional tube paint. You can use the paint to emphasize such features as flower centers and butterfly eyes and antennas. The close-up photo will show you how this looks when it is done. Let the paint dry thoroughly.

5. Cut very carefully between the appliques to separate the front sides of the jacket. Turn back the two sides and lay a bead of the dimensional paint along all the cut edges on the inside of the shirt. If you use a paint the color of the sweatshirt, it will hardly be noticeable.

6. Let everything dry and enjoy your new jacket.

FOR AN EASIER-TO-DO VERSION:  Make a straight cut down the center of the front and separate the sides. Hem or bind the raw edges. Place the cut-outs wherever you like and glue or sew them to the shirt. Trim them with paint, rick-rack, braid or embroidery.

What can we look for after New Years?

Revisiting old favorites like blackwork, Holbein embroidery, and Assisi embroidery. Designing with words. More eye-catching bargello designs. A companion piece for the reverse applique Siamese fighting fish. Beginning trapunto. More optical illusions. I also plan to begin a new series connecting styles of painting to art needlework, beginning with still life, where we will group simple objects in pleasing patterns to be done in counted cross-stitch, folk embroidery, applique, bargello and more. I'm eager to get back to work.

I hope you are, too.

A sample of past projects showing techniques Annake will return to in 2017

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An Iris Bouquet

Last year we offered you A Big Bouquet of Roses (July 2, 2014). This year's “bouquet” is of irises, my favorite flowers. My mother used to call them “the poor man's orchids”. I have loved them since childhood and often make them the subject of my art and craft work. An example is this pink iris rug, shown below in a picture from our Gallery, from a few seasons ago. The design for the rug was based on a paper collage I did as a sample for fifth-grade students who were studying the work of the artist Georgia O'Keeffe. Following it are some more contemporary examples. We hope you enjoy them all.

Iris latch hooked rug, after Georgia O'Keefe

Our second iris was done as an example of Assisi embroidery (May 21, 2014). The sample languished in our workshop for a while. Eventually the center area was filled in to make a conventional needlepoint picture, mounted and framed. Here are the two examples for comparison.

 Downloadable Iris Needle Arts Chart

 I liked the stencil effect in the first example; it became the inspiration for three irises on a latch-hook wall hanging. The pattern is a simple one, which could be used to represent any bi-color iris color combination. I used the number “2” to indicate the darker “falls” or lower petals of the iris flower and the number “1” to indicate the lighter “standards” or upright petals. There are irises, however, in which the standards are darker than the falls. This is just as easy to arrange without changing the pattern. You can even “invent” color combinations that don't exist in nature –- at least not yet. The number “3” represents the “beards” on the petals; these are usually yellow or orange. The number “4” represents a short segment of the iris stem and may be done in any shade of green. The open squares on the graph represent the background color. The pattern can be used for counted cross-stitch or needlepoint as well as for latch-hook. You can probably think of other uses as well. To download the pattern, just click on the picture's caption.

"Spring"

I used a medium green background. When the piece was finished, I didn't think the flowers showed well enough. I carefully removed a row of background knots from around all the petals. I outlined the lower petals of each flower with the color of the upper petals and the upper ones with the color of the lower ones. This made the flowers larger and they were more noticeable. If you plan to do this, it is a good idea to mark your pattern to show the changes before you begin the work. You may remember that, when I showed the snowflake design of the Winter wall hanging (January 28, 2015), I promised that a Spring wall hanging was in the process of development. Here it is, featuring three bright bi-color irises. Incidentally, the Summer piece in this Four Seasons collection is in the design phase now.

Our feature on “stained glass” stitchery (March 8, 2015) produced two new projects. The first was a picture, shown in step-by-step photos as it was completed, of a blue iris done in the style of a stained-glass window panel. Here is the finished picture, mounted and framed.

The second project developed from a demonstration for transferring a design to dark fabric by stitching with white yarn or floss through a paper pattern (March 26, 2015). In this way, an iris design was transferred onto the front of a dark plum-colored sweatshirt. The original purpose was to show a simple method of transference with materials already present, rather than with commercial products. Once started, however, the outline just “begged” to be filled with stitches. J.D. calls this my “Cubist” iris. It isn't Cubist, of course, but I admit that it is rather abstract. Here is the decorated sweatshirt.

Iris embroidered sweatshirt, with detail closeup

Last of all, here are two conventional needlepoint pictures featuring bi-color irises. By now you have probably decided that bi-colors are my favorites. You're correct! The round picture is from our first season of this blog (February 12, 2013 and May 16, 2013). The other one is currently a work in progress. I painted the picture onto needlepoint canvas before stitching it. A future blog post will be devoted to the subject of painting your own pictures onto canvases. I'm experimenting with a novelty yarn in the background of the picture which adds a “pebbled” texture to it.
 

Now I will turn this post over to J.D. so that he can show you some of his favorite iris blossoms. I hope they will inspire you to use flowers in art or needlecraft projects of your own.

Remember to stop and smell the flowers,

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Stitches, Snowflakes, and More - Winter Q & A

"Midwinter's Eve" Photo courtesy of jljardine

I'm going to use this post to answer some questions about past articles that have come up over the winter, before we start an exciting new series of techniques and projects I have planned for the coming year. For a preview of some of those projects, don't miss our upcoming 2nd Anniversary post; until then, enjoy these odds and ends and take advantage of the free pattern downloads that accompany them...

I liked the way you took a simple stitch like the running stitch and showed us how to do different things to it to make it fancier (January 16, 1015). Are you going to do more of that kind of thing?

Absolutely! The way I look at it, stitches come in families: running stitches, back-stitches, couching, cross-stitches, overcasting, chain stitches, stem stitches, satin stitches, etc. Once you are familiar with a few basic stitches, it is easy to experiment with combining two or more of them, working in either a single color or a combination of colors. Let me show you more simple examples. Most of you are familiar with cross-stitch. Look at just a few of the things you can do with it:

1. 
   Standard, evenly-spaced cross-stitch.
2. Bi-color cross-stitch (left-to-right stitches in one color, right-to-left stitches in a second).
3. Cross-stitch with a vertical Holbein stitch across the center.
4. Cross-stitch with a horizontal running stitch across the center.
5. Whipped (overcast) cross-stitch; don't pull the whipping stitch so tightly that you spoil the X-shape of the cross-stitch. The whipping thread is on the surface except at the ends of the row.
6. Cross-stitch with both horizontal and vertical stitches (sometimes called double cross or George and Saint Andrew), which can be done in 1, 2, 3, or 4 colors.
7. Bi-color cross-stitch laced with a third color. If you like, you can couch the centers of the arches down with a tiny stitch of sewing thread in the color of the background fabric.
8. Standard continuous cross-stitch. The ends of the right-to-left stitches will share the same spaces as those of the left-to-right ones.

Once you have practiced this set of stitches, do rows b) through g) again, in the continuous cross-stitch. Try to do them on your own, without peeking. If you need help, however, you will find the stitches at the bottom of this post. [On d) and e), do the horizontal stitches in back-stitch, not running stitch.]

I like the latch-hook snowflake design (January 28, 2015), but I don't do latch-hook. I do like cross-stitch and have done some of your designs, but I'm having trouble visualizing this chart as a cross-stitch pattern. Is there a way to chart it as a cross-stitch pattern for the corners of a tablecloth?

Cross-stitch snowflake chart (click to download)

Of course there is and I'm happy to do one for you. Just click on the picture to download the chart. (The empty squares represent the background fabric.) You have a choice: include the border in your design or stitch only the central motif. I'm glad to hear that the cross-stitch patterns are being used. If you will e-mail us a picture of your finished tablecloth, we would like to show it on a future blog post.

Assisi work snowflake pattern (click to download)

And here is the pattern for the reverse of the snowflake design. Done in cross-stitch, this is Assisi work. (See the discussion of Assisi work here.) You can add as many extra rows of cross-stitch around the design as you like. Once the cross-stitch background is complete, you might want to back-stitch around the white snowflake shape with a glossy white floss to give it a more dimensional appearance. I like to do even more contrast with the design. For example, I like the background stitching done in a dark blue with the back-stitching around the snowflake done in a pale blue. For an even more dramatic effect, back-stitch the snowflake in bright red against a dark blue cross-stitch background or do it in dark blue against a red cross-stitch background.

Blackwork snowflake pattern (click to download)

 Finally, for all you stitchers out there who love blackwork, here is a charted snowflake that I've used on place-mats. If you need directions for making a hot-iron transfer pattern for any of these three charts, check the post for October 6, 2013. May stitching snowflakes make winter pass faster.

From a conversation with a lady who saw “Love Is Like a Red, Red, Rose” at one of our Christmas show booths:  “I love the rose picture! It just seems to glow. How did you get that effect?”

"Love is Like a Red, Red Rose," framed Gobelin needlepoint

Thank you, I'm glad you like it. The black background helps, of course. Against black, all but the darkest colors seem more vivid than they would against any other color. (I actually did a first version on a white background, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted.) The warm glow from the gold frame added to the effect. The rest is achieved by exaggerating the contrasts between the colors. When I make a sketch for a project, I indicate the shading from the darkest darks to the lightest lights. On the rose, I planned to limit myself to three reds. For the dark areas, I used a maroon with undertones of dark brown. The medium red is a true red. The light areas are a light, bright red with overtones of a sunny, hot orange. I used more variety in the greens for the leaves, but continued to work from dark greens with some blue tones where the leaves were shadowed, to light greens with a slightly yellow cast at the tips of the leaves. Some people have believed that the tips are white, but they are not. Our eyes play all kinds of tricks on us. We tend to see the lightest part of a composition as being white — when very often it is not.

Thank you for all your questions,

Continuous Cross-stitch Variations Sampler

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A Big Bouquet of Roses

The background photo for our summer posts is of a lovely old scarlet rambler which overhangs three paths in our perennial garden, as well as a rustic bench where we can sit and admire it. When we bought this home thirty-five years ago, there was a dying tea rose at this spot in the garden. I found that it was grafted onto another root. (I recognized it because I had grafted young fruit trees with my dad.) I cut away the dying rose and decided to leave the grafted rootstock to see what it might be. Every summer since I have been rewarded with this beautiful and fragrant display. The flowers dry easily once they are past blooming and make a great base for potpourri.

In the post for August 1, 2013, we offered a free rose pattern for you to download. I did samples in counted cross-stitch, conventional tent stitch, and latch-hook. Since then, I have done the same pattern in these media at different scales. The basic pattern has remained the same, while materials and color schemes have varied. All of the projects to date will be shown in this post. My purpose is two-fold: a) to show the results of widespread differences in scale; b) to show the versatility of a pattern that can be adapted for a wide variety of uses. The pattern was not always followed exactly, so you will see some differences in the finished works. Additional rose designs, not derived from the pattern, will also be shown, as well as photographs of some of the roses that were my inspirations. For those of you who missed the original pattern, you can download it by clicking on this link:  Rose Pattern Download.

This sample was designed for an 18-inch (about 46-centimeter) square quilt block, but was destined to become a pillow top instead. It was done in counted cross-stitch with embroidery floss on quarter-inch checked gingham.

The second sample from that post was this yellow rose done in tent stitch on #10 mono canvas with tapestry wool. The finished needlepoint is 9 inches x 11 inches (about 23 centimeters x 28 centimeters). A black, dark blue, or dark green background will enhance most rose designs.

Also seen in that post was our Heritage Rose rug, a latch-hook rug with a central design based on the original pattern, but with each square in the original design represented by approximately four latch-hook knots. This was done on conventional rug canvas.

This picture shows an orange rose done in counted cross-stitch on monk's cloth with embroidery floss. The motif is 7 inches (18 centimeters) in diameter, not counting the frame. The off-white background works well with this vivid rose, but might not be as good for a paler one. This one made its debut in the post for April 30, 2014.

Here is another latch-hook rose (shown as a work-in-progress). This one is done on #5 quickpoint canvas. Each square on the pattern has a corresponding latch-hook knot. As shown here, the motif --- destined to become the center of a pillow top --- is currently 8 inches (about 20 centimeters) square. As you can see, the same pattern can be used in projects of various sizes, color schemes, and stitching techniques.

This floribunda rose, first shown on July 15, 2013, was done in tent stitch on #14 canvas and then embellished with surface stitching. It is in the same size frame used for the orange rose above. We showed it along with the rose from our garden which inspired it, and the tutorial illustrated the steps I take when I convert one of J.D.'s or J.J.'s photos into an embroidery design. One of J.J.'s rose photos was featured on our last post, worked as a latch-hook pillow top on grospoint canvas (June 15, 2014).

Here is another floribunda rose done as Assisi work. The rose was outlined with gold craft thread, letting the monk's cloth background represent the petals. Then the background was filled in solidly with cross-stitches in red embroidery floss. It is 7 inches (18 centimeters) x 9 inches (23 centimeters). For more on Assisi work, see the post for May 21, 2014.

The final rose in our 'bouquet” is another work-in-progress. (Yes, there are a lot of those around my workshop!) It is a French long-stitch rose based on the newest hybrid tea rose in our garden. This one is named after singer Barbra Streisand and is a marvelous combination of purple, lavender, and pink. It is very pretty, even as it fades. Long-stitch is is a satin stitch technique, done with yarn on needlepoint canvas. The stitches may be made horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, and all three may be combined in the same piece of work. For more about long-stitch, see the post for November 3, 2013.

We will leave you with some of J.D.'s roses. We hope you enjoy this bouquet, sent to you with our compliments.

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