A Stitch in Time: Sorbello Stitch

The Sorbello or Sorbello knot stitch is a textured Italian embroidery stitch, originating in the small village of Sorbello, near Naples. It belongs to the knot/looped stitch family and differs from the similar Palestrina and Basque knot stitches in that the first leg of the Sorbello stitch is horizontal and not diagonal.

Traditionally, the Sorbello stitch was worked on a fairly thick, coarse linen fabric known as crash, which was either natural (unbleached) or colored, and was worked with an equally coarse white or brown thread. This stitch was used to decorate pillow covers, tablecloths, curtains, bags, and small mats with bands, monograms, or motifs.

This PDF includes more on this stitch, along with step-by-step illustrations.

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