Assisi

designs:

pieces of work:

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Chinese

Plaiting

Alphabets

Florentine

Celtic

Blackwork

Furthermore

method of working

If you actually start to create embroidery, look also under "do it yourself".

In making Assisi embroidery, you can divide the work in three parts:

The embroidering of the contours of the motifs.

Filling in the background.

The making of the border.

The embroidering of the contours of the motifs.

part of the pattern of "devils-square".
In the explanation, this pattern is used as an example.

The contours are embroidered, back and forth, in running stitch. They are worked in horizontal, vertical and diagonal direction. All the time you make the stitches over three threads of the cloth.

drawing for the explaination how to make the contours of the motifs.

The thin grey lines are the threads of the cloth. The black ones are the embroidery thread at the upper side of the cloth, the dotted line at the underside. Every stitch is made over three threads of the cloth, in horizontal, as well as in vertical and diagonal direction. To embroider over three threads is the same as passing over two holes. Later, by going back you finish the contours. See also the pictures below.

Start in the middle of the cloth with the centre of the design. Embroider the contours without all the details.

It's a bit annoying, but you can't permit yourself making little mistakes and not to correct them. Irrevocably it causes problems during the making of the background. But it's inevitable to make one, now and then. So to minimize the extra work and to discover mistakes as soon as possible it's wise to pay attention to the following rules of the game:

Embroider the contours by going forwards and back as shown below. If you make the contours at once, it's much more difficult to undo and after discovering a fault, it's twice as much work.
Figure out a working order in such a way that you can stay as close as possible at parts, which are already made. In this way you have a possibility to control. Also, try to connect as soon as possible to already made parts. Omit details; you can make them while you are going back. The drawings below give some more comment.

fig 1

fig 2

fig 3

fig 4

See figures 1 to 4 above: The small arrows give the working direction. The black line is the working thread on the upside, the dotted line on the downside of the cloth. Start in the middle of the pattern (fig. 1, big arrow). If you arrive at a part what is already made (fig.2, big arrow), then go back( fig.3), until you arrive at a new part of the contours. (fig.4, big arrow).


	Go on with the part witch is not yet made, without starting with the details. Coming at a finished part (big arrow)...


	Go back again. During this way back, you embroider the details (big arrow).


	At the big arrows there are more details, which has to be embroidered during you way back.


	Continue to go back until you arrived at a new part of the design (big arrow).

Filling in the background.

Embroidery of the cross-stitches.

In the pictures below, the thin grey lines represents the threads of the cloth.
The green lines represents the embroider thread and the black dotted lines represents the embroider-thread at the down site of the cloth.
The arrows give the direction, in which to embroider.

In Assisi embroidery you always pass over two holes of the cloth on witch you are embroidering to put the needle in the third hole. (That's the same as surpassing three threads).

	Rows of cross-stitches are made in two stages. First half cross-stitches are made, going from left to right (see drawing at 1). Next, going from right to left, the cross stitches are finished (see drawing at 2).

	If you embroider more rows, you make first all those rows by embroidering half cross stitches (see at 3) and thereafter, by going back, the rows are finished one by one

	In a piece of embroidery all the cross stitches are made in one direction, that's to say in horizontal of vertical direction. Also the upper thread of every cross-stitch lies in the same direction. In that way you get a more even effect.

Filling in the background

Start at the bottom left with a row of half cross-stitches. At the end of the row go to the right by making half cross-stitches in the row directly above the already made half cross-stitches. In this way, going from left to right and from right to left you fills the background with half cross-stitches. If it's impossible to go on, go back while you're finishing the half cross-stitches. As soon as you arrive at an empty part of the background, you go on with making half cross-stitches on that empty part until you can't go on. Then you go back again, finishing the half cross-stitches and so on and so on. Study the drawings down below. You will get a good idea how it works. In the beginning it's a bit difficult, but gradually it becomes much more easier.

The border

Finally the border is embroidered. This border also is made, going back and forth, in straight stitch and always over three threads.

See for alternative methods: "do it yourself".

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