The Assisi style rabbits
voided embroidery is an adaption of a design from Variety, Book No.
4. originally published by Carmela Testa Co. Inc. Boston Mass.1925
and from the website of Robin Berry who features a replication of the
original design. Variations of this pattern have been used for Assisi
work for the several centuries.
I adapted the design
Robin features on her website to fit into a 3 1/2 inch by 5
inch frame so that I could hang the embroidery in my rabbit room.
Robin has finished her design off in a very cute pin cushion, please
visit Robin
Berry's website
to see the her design and how she has finished the embroidery.
Voided Work is any embroidery where the design is left open and
unworked and the surrounding area is worked to create a
"void". Assisi embroidery is one such style of this work.
Assisi work takes its name from embroideries made in Assisi, Italy
beginning with the 13th and 14th centuries. The earliest examples
preserved in Italian museums and churches were worked by nuns in
convents for use as altar cloths in the churches. They were worked on
white linen with silk thread in one color; red, blue, brown, yellow
or green. The embroideries background was completely worked in
long-armed cross stitch or a drawn thread background of whipped
stitch. Most often designs were of elaborately styled animals, birds,
foliage, beasts and occasional classical or biblical scenes.
Assisi embroidery lost its popularity during the 18th and 19th
centuries. At the turn of the 20th century women of Assisi began a
revival of the art. Copying early embroideries, they selected the
stylized animal and plant designs and simplified them. These women
changed the function of the embroidery from ecclesiastical to secular
and also changed the technique to a purely counted embroidery worked
in Holbein and cross stitch. With the use of the Holbein stitch, the
finished embroideries are almost reversible.
Working the
Assisi Style Rabbits
I used the simplest
method to work the voided work rabbits, I wanted a quick and easy
picture to make up in an evening so I worked the background in cross
stitch and motifs along the top and bottom of the design in running
stitch/back stitch. If you wish to work the design in long armed
cross-stitch the more traditional stitch from Assisi period and Holbein
stitch please visit Robin
Berry's website
for instructions.
Fabric: The
design is worked over two threads of the fabric on a 32
count Belfast Linen fabric for a finished embroidery
size of 2 1/4 inches by 3 7/8 inches wide high (5 3/4 cm high by 10
cm wide) to fit in a frame 3 1/2 inches high by 5 inches wide. Any
size counted fabric can be used, the size of the embroidery will come
out larger on a smaller count fabric (i.e. 28 count fabric), or the
same size if worked on a 16 count fabric over one thread of the fabric.
Thread:
Two strands (separated from the six strands) of DMC Red No. 916
embroidery floss was used to work the red rabbits and two strands of
DMC Blue No. 3750 was used for the blue rabbits, any colour can be
used to work the embroidery, half a skein of floss is required. The
design would also work well in red Au
Ver A Soie Red Silk thread
Needle:
A No. 26 Tapestry Needle
was used to work the embroidery.
Cross-Stitch:
Background
There are 59
cross-stitches in a line above and below the motifs and 61
cross-stitches across the top and bottom of the trees.
Beginning a Thread:
Begin the thread with an away knot (knot on top of the work about 1
1/2 inches (4 cm) from where you are going to begin the cross-stitch,
see the diagram below). Carry the thread across the back of the work
and into position for the first stitch, the thread at the back of the
work should be along where a line of cross-stitches will be worked
and not across open areas of the design.
When you work the first
row of cross-stitches ensure that the stitches at the back of the
work catch the starting thread. When you have worked up to the knot,
cut off the knot sheer to the fabric. Do not begin a thread with a
knot on the back of the work as this can make the embroidery lumpy
and knots can become loose making your stitches loose.
You can begin the
cross-stitch at any position on the embroidery, I began the design
along the top of the trees, working a row of 61 cross-stitches and
then worked the sections on the sides of the trees and between the
trees in rows.
