Long-Arm Cross Stitch Handout Pennsic 2022

Long-Arm Cross Stitch

According to the Royal School of Needlework, this stitch is also known as: Long-Legged Cross Stitch, Plaited Slav Stitch, Portuguese Stitch and Twist Stitch. The earliest evidence of the stitch is from 10th-12th Century Egypt, and it can be found in the Greek Islands, Morocco, Assis embroidery from Italy, the Elizabethan embroideries of Hardwick Hall and Icelandic embroideries from the 17th century.

Citation: Fragment (Egypt); linen, silk; 1939-11-21

Direct link to picture and information available at Cooper Hewitt: http://cprhw.tt/o/2D6LX/

This is a fragment in the Cooper Hewitt Collection. Per the website above: “It is dated 10th–12th century and is medium is linen, silk and its technique is plain weave, cross stitch and long-armed cross stitch.”




The long straight lines do appear to be long-arm cross stitch and it is quite possible the whole piece is done in the same stitch as a single X would appear as a regular cross stich.

The picture itself is labeled as a fragment of a rug. Because the stitches end before the edges I am more inclined to think it was a towel.

Close up of the fragment is below. You can see the long-arm stitch for certain in the long straight run of stitched. Whether the other stitches were meant to be cross stitch or standalone long-arm stitches, it is hard to tell.




Another interesting source using the long-arm cross stitch is the Gröss Vestments. There are a number of uses in the piece, unfortunately a lot of them involve swastikas, so I have tried not to include pics of that here.

Direct link to picture and information available at: Rubens Art Server at ANU

This piece has lost much of its original embroidery, leaving behind an easily reproducible “outline”. While the scale is hard to determine, with the high-resolution photos available at the site above, one is able to determine the motifs including number of stitches. Without a scale, it is impossible to determine the scale of the piece or thread count.


The closeup (below) shows us that the stitch goes forward, backwards, up and down. While direction changes should be worked in a manner that's most efficient, there really isn't a method to it. Choosing to change direction when and where you do is really a matter of what seems best at the time. In the case of the cope, it was to make boxes for filling (with what appears to be more long-arm cross stitch)



Long-arm cross stitch is one of many variations on the more modern cross stitch most of us are familiar with. Rather than a line of X-shaped stitches, however, the long-arm version creates a rectangular texturized look, rather like a series of braids.



Examples of long-arm cross stitch worked in different thread types. The silks are on the left. DMC on top right (green and brown). The bottom green is an unknown cotton thread leftover as it the dark red wool that is fraying at the ends.


A long-arm cross stitch is a succession of two stitches made together over 6 steps. When you've completed the first set of two, however, you've already completed half of the next set of 2. This diagram might help:



The green set and the brown set each represent one "cross stitch", as we would think of it in today's embroidery mindset. Due to the nature of long-armed cross stitch, with one arm being twice as long as the other, a single stitch would be rectangular and not square. To remedy this, you are going to make two stitches per pattern square.

The arrows represent the stitches (on the top of the piece) and the direction in which they are worked. The numbers help identify the order those stitches take. When you reach "6", you begin again at "7", but note that the arrow takes you in the other direction. This is because you are halfway through the 2-stitch sequence. When working this stitch, if you do not take the compensation stitch (1-2), your first stitch on a row is worked backward before the row moves forward (stitch 3-4). You can see that in the Egyptian piece above.

To achieve the best texture overall, rows can be worked in pairs to create a knit-like texture. The first row is worked in one direction, then the second is worked backwards so that the two lines mirror each other.






      

Let’s take another look at the cope from above. In this part, it has a continuous ribbon with another ribbon weaving around it back and forth between two repeats. While this is a bit complicated for the class, I’ve made an endless loop square for us to mess around with. We’ll come back to it after a few notes.

          

Normal cross-stitch is generally read that every square equals one cross-stitch and is stitched by doing half the stitch along a row and then returning along the row with the other half of the stitch.

With long-armed cross-stitch, because a single stitch would be rectangular and not square, you are going to make two stitches per pattern square. The green area shows 1 “stitch” equal to one square on a graph. This also means you complete each stitch as you go across the row.

       

My sample piece with some directional lines I took is on the next page. There is no “right” way to go when you are changing directions. This will be your practice piece to decide how you like to change direction best. Below is two parallel lines of long-arm cross stitch.



From the front (if done neatly – certainly not the example below!) closed herringbone stitch (left) is difficult to distinguish from long-arm cross stich. However, on the back, long-arm cross stich produces 2 parallel lines of stitches on the back. Open herringbone stitch produces small stitches farther apart and closed herringbone produces 2 lines of back stitches.


Herringbone – Open on left, Closed on Right


Herringbone – Open on left, Closed on Right

References:

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. (2022, June 6). Retrieved June 6, 2022, from https://www.cooperhewitt.org/

Cope. (n.d.). Retrieved June 4, 2022, from http://rubens.anu.edu.au/raid5/austria/vienna/museums/mak_museum_fuer_angewandte_kunst/textiles/goess_vestments_mid_13thc/cope/

Grimm, J. (n.d.). A medieval cope at st. paul im Lavanttal. Dr Jessica Grimm. Retrieved June 4, 2022, from https://www.jessicagrimm.com/blog/a-medieval-cope-at-st-paul-im-lavanttal

Historical Needlework Resources. (n.d.). The göss vestments. The Göss Vestments - Historical Needlework Resources. Retrieved June 4, 2022, from http://medieval.webcon.net.au/extant_goss_vestments.html

Royal School of Needlework. (n.d.). LONG-ARMED CROSS STITCH. Long-armed cross stitch - RSN stitchbank. Retrieved June 4, 2022, from https://rsnstitchbank.org/stitch/long-armed-cross-stitch

© 2022 - Pennsic 49 Temair ingen Muiredaich (Ann A. Straut)

For a PDF of the handout, please contact me at 70719@members.eastkingdom.org