Greek Island Embroidery

The embroideries of Naxos are the undisputed masterpieces of Cycladic embroidery. They are unique and instantly recognizable. They are usually worked on plain linen ground in uncoiled floss silk that was locally dyed rust-red. The dense overall pattern covers almost the entire ground fabric.The basic theme and pattern is repeated, elongated diamond shape, like a geometric leaf, set within a diagonal trellis. The untwisted floss silk is laid in two directions, so that light is reflected to make it appear that the monochrome rust red of the embroidery is two different tones of red.