Long Armed Cross Stitch Cloth

needleworkes ♦ March 29, 2023 ♦ Leave a comment

I recently completed a voided-work cloth, worked in long armed cross stitch. Voided work means that the background is embroidered and the unworked areas form the design. Often called Assisi work, the stitches used can include basic cross stitch, Italian cross stitch and long armed cross stitch. In many cases the design was outlined in back stitch or double running stitch, and then the background was filled in, most often in red, but examples can also be seen in blue and green.

Towels and borders of this style were made in Italy, beginning in the 13th and 14th centuries with ecclesiastical cloths and expanded into more common usage in later centuries. I have used those designs as inspiration for a small tablecloth.

Extant Examples:

This sample is from the Victoria and Albert Museum and is described as:

BORDER

17^th century (made)

 Embroidered in silk thread on linen in Italian cross and double running stitches. It is worked in monochrome red silk so that the pattern is left reserved in the colour of the linen, i.e. only the ground is worked, and the stitch is pulled tight so that it resembles punch work.

These examples are worked in Italian cross stitch, which is quite different to long armed cross stitch, however it is the style and look that I wanted to achieve with this piece.

	From the Art Institute of Chicago Italy, Made 1501–1700Linen, plain weave; embrodered with silk floss in back and long-armed cross stitches
	Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum 16th or 17th century Spainery little information on the website, but it is clearly long armed cross stitch.

My Work:

I have worked my towel with 1 strand of Madeira silk floss on 40 count Newcastle linen, and the design is taken from Renaissance Patterns for Lace, Embroidery and Needlepoint – An unabridged facsimile of the “Singuliers et nouveaux pourtraicts” of 1587, by Federico Vinciollo.  

The particular design that I chose appears to be intended to be worked in filet lace, however it does work splendidly as a counted stitch pattern and is also very reminiscent of the designs seen in Perugia towels.

(PS: I know it looks like plain old cross stitch, but it really IS long-armed cross stitch!)