One of the gals in my embroidery guild introduced me to the Dunmani Designs website. There are some wonderful — free — bookmark and rug designs available (and more!). Since our chapter is stitching bookmarks for a literacy program this year, I downloaded several of her charts.

Assisi work is usually stitched with just one color of thread, allowing the void area to form the design. But I thought it might be interesting to use a variegated fiber to give the bookmark a bit more movement. This worked out very well in the way the dark part of the thread surrounds the crossbars, and the lighter part of the thread surrounds the crosses. I used DMC 69 (terra cotta) for the main stitching, and DMC 3777 for the backstitching and border.

I chose a piece of ribband with a scalloped edge as the ground cloth. When I finished the body of the stitching, I added a row of nun's stitch at each end of the bookmark, and then gave it some nice long fringe.

When I showed the finished piece to my youngest daughter, she cocked her head to the side and said, "I like the edges." Ah. Thanks, Jodie. The only part I didn't stitch!

If you'd like to learn how to make the Nun's Stitch, read the page in Needlework 101 called Nun's Stitch.

If you'd like to learn a bit about Assisi work, read the page in Needlework 101 called Assisi Embroidery.

Stitched February 26 - 28, 2004

Pattern name:	Assisi Bookmark #1
Designer:	Dunmani Designs
Stitch Count:	approx. 16 x 80
Fabric:	14ct ivory ribband
Floss:	DMC cotton and variegated
Original Cost:	free
Copyright year:	2004

Dunmani Designs
Clair Louise Coult
http://www.dunmanidesigns.co.uk/

Back to Cameo's Corner: 2004
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