Assisi Embroidery is a variation of cross stitch embroidery. It is a very charming italian embroidery and simple to do, with this kind of embroidery you can create decorative works.
Assisi stitching was named after St. Clare of Assisi, “sister” of St. Francis, patron saint of needleworkers. It is worked mainly in cross-stitch and it reprenset a form of counted-thread embroidery based on an ancient Italian tradition where the background is filled with embroidery stitches and the main motifs are left void i.e unstitched.
The name is derived from the Italian town of Assisi where the modern form of the craft originated. The old Assisi Embroideries of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries are worked on white or slightly cream-tinted linen. A faded blue linen thread is used for the cross stitch background and the outline is in a rust-brown thread.
Stitches are the same but the principle of design is reversed, as it is the background which is embroidered with crosses and the pattern left plain and in outline, like an intaglio.
This tretment imparts great dignity to the work, and the designs, which are usually heraldic in character, look effective on banners, ecclesiastical or secular, besides forming handsome borders for tea-cloths, bags, etc.