Assisi is a technique where the background of a design is sewn, and the front is left void. (It is sometimes known as voided work.)

It has become associated with the Italian town of Assisi but the idea of leaving the design 'void' was common in Italy.

Traditionally the background is in one colour (usually red, blue or green) and is worked in cross stitch with any outlines done in back stitch. Common motifs include paired birds or animals and also mythical subjects.

This is a piece I designed ( apologies for the quality of the graphic ) using varying background shades to depict the Seasons.

Some references you may be able to find are :
• Classic Stitches Issue 16 which has some lovely designs by Maggie Phillips using varying background shades (subtler than mine!)
• New Stitches Issue 9 has a good article on Assisi.
• Piecework an american magazine has in issue March/April 1998 an example of 17C Sicilian Cross-Stitch which uses the voided work technique.

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Background adapted from product samples at Fabric Flair