Tell Me About Counted Cross-Stitch

When I first saw a family member of my husband's doing counted cross-stitch, it looked like something out of Star-Wars for me, as I was still struggling with crocheting in my early marriage days. My mother-in-law was attempting, very carefully and patiently, to teach me the basic crochet stitches.

I look back, still remembering to this day the ABSOLUTE STRUGGLES beyond belief, and realize the woman was an absolute saint for even attempting such a thing. I kind of knew "a little" of embroidery, which my mother had taught me as a very young girl, but my husband's mother decided my education was not complete until I knew how to crochet. My goodness...

I know now, many years later, that the cross-stitch is a popular form of counted-thread embroidery. Little X-shaped stitches are used to form a picture, anywhere from basic stitches to highly complex. Some of the pictures look real enough to be a work of art, ready to hang on the wall.

What makes them so good are the many stitches commonly used in cross-stitch: the ¼, ½, and ¾ stitches, and backstitches. They are created on evenweave fabric, a fabric on which you can count the stitches easily, or on a fabric that is not-countable where a countable fabric is applied by drawing out every thread of it under the embroidery: this fabric is called "waste canvas" and is removed later.

If you are 'real good" (ahem), you can count the thread in each direction, making the stitches of uniform appearance and size. This form of cross-stitch is called counted cross-stitch, which distinguishes it from other forms of cross-stitch.

To complicate matters further there are several counted-thread embroidery techniques available. I have listed just a few of the outstanding techniques here that have stood the test of time:

Assisi embroidery

Assisi embroidery is a form of embroidery based upon ancient Italian tradition. The background is filled with embroidery stitches and the main motifs are left unstitched.

The Assisi name comes from the Italian town of Assisi; the modern form of the craft came from there originally.
It is a method where "voiding" is referred to the background being filled, while the motif itself is left blank ... or void. The cross-stitch is used for the background, and Blackwork Embroidery (the Holbein stitch) is used to outline the motif, and to create the decorative scrollwork around the motif.
It is usually used in "long-armed cross-stitch" rather than cross-stitch itself.
The traditional colors used for the backgrounds were red, blue, green, or gold; the outlines were in black or brown.
Some of the motifs were "heraldic of beasts", with symmetrical pairs of animals and birds surrounded by ornate filigree borders.
In the older days, the figures were surrounded with the Holbein stitch, and the background was filled to a point; the figures were drawn on the fabric free hand.
During more modern times, the patterns were constructed carefully on paper the same way as cross-stitch patterns are today.

Bargello, or Florentine work

Bargello, or Florentine work is a type of needlepoint embroidery, consisting of upright straight, vertical stitches. They are of different lengths and colors, producing a characteristic wavy pattern.

The name originated from a series of chairs, found in the Bargello palace in Florence, Italy, during the medieval period; they had a flame stitch pattern with the thread spanning 4 threads of the canvas; offset from the previous stitch by two or more threads (called stepping).
This was called the Bargello work, or Florentine work.
This stitch was done in wool on canvas: toning threads colors, or different shades of single color (monochromatic) were used.
This work was for pillows, upholstery, and carpets.

Blackwork embroidery

Blackwork embroidery (normally referred as "Blackwork") is a simple form of embroidery, using black thread on white, or off-white, fabric. It is created on easily countable even-weave fabric with any black thread, as long as it has firmly twisted threads of any material.

They look better than the embroidery floss: the threads can be used in metallic and colored threads for accents.
Related forms are whitework (white thread) and Scarletwork (using red thread).
Stitches used are running stitch (also called the Holbein stitch or the backstitch), and occasionally the stem stitch.
Blackwork techniques:
- Stitches are created using a counting pattern, which makes both bigger shapes and also fills the small patterns. This is a traditional Blackwork technique for the commercially produced patterns for hobby stitchers. It looks "rather geometric."
- Curvilinear shapes of the entire embroidery, surrounded by outlines, made from the hemstitch, then filled with the geometric patterns.
- Random stitches can be occasionally used, also called "seed stitches", and then filled with geometric patterns. It was used to mimic etchings of actual drawings.

Hardanger embroidery

Hardanger embroidery is also called "Hardangersom" or "Whitework embroidery", a form of embroidery traditionally created with white thread on white even-weave cloth. Counted thread was used, with drawn threadwork techniques.

The origins of Hardanger were thought to be in Persia and Asia, spreading to Italy during the Renaissance, evolving into Italian Reticella and Venetian lacework.
By 1700, variations had spread to northern Europe: Danish and Dutch Hedebo; English Ayrshire work; Ruskin lacework and Norwegian Drawn Work.
From 1650-1850, Hardangersom flourished in Norway (meaning the work was from the Hardanger area). National Norwegian costumes, clothing, household linens such as mats, curtains, and bedspreads were made from the flax that was grown and woven from the area.

As you can see, if you've gotten this far, there's a suprising and subtle variety to counted cross Stitch, combined with a rich history and further extended by crossing the boundaries and borrowing from neighbouring needlework crafts ... but that's the subject of another article, another time.