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Counted Thread Embroidery
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Counted thread embroidery is based on an ancient Italian tradition where the background is filled with embroidery stitches but the main motifs are left unstitched. The name is derived from a town in Italy called Assisi. Cross stitch is used as the background nowadays but conditionally it was rarely done this way. Assisi embroidery used long armed cross stitch. Traditional motifs were usually heraldic, especially beasts and typically featured symmetrically arranged pairs of birds and animals surrounded by borders of ornate filigree.
In counted thread embroidery, no tracing or transfer is required and the design is worked on, on an even weave fabric by counting the threads onto the fabric and working each stitch over an exact number of these fabric threads. The stitches are restricted by the mesh of the fabric and so designs tend to be geometric in form.
There are a number of stitches which are common to counted thread embroidery and freestyle embroidery.. The most common used counted thread embroidery stitches are back stitch, fly stitch, satin stitch, hem stitch, Holbein stitch and ladder hem stitch. The stitches are worked over a regular number of threads of fabric and this type of embroidery is really a mathematical exercise!
Counted thread embroidery is usually done from a pattern and worked on within an embroidery hoop. Counted thread embroidery is a form of cross stitch or needlepoint and it is a very precise and neat way of creating embroidery. It is for the disciplined and for those who can see quite well. And magnifying glass could aid those tired eyes too!
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