Stylized designs embroidered on a dark colored background in a variation of cross stitch technique, characterize Marash stitchery, a style of needlework that originated in the city of that name in western Armenia. Sofi Khachmanyan, whose passion for embroidery began when her mother started teaching her at age eight, is an expert in Armenian textiles, which she studied at the Art Technical College in Armenia. Like many other Armenian girls, Elmira Admanian learned to embroider at home from her grandmother in Armenia. Khachmanyan will direct Adamian in learning the Marash style, something that she did not learn as a child from her grandmother, but which is uniquely Armenian.
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Since mid-October, Sofi and Elmira "Ellie" have been meeting every Monday morning at Ellie's home to work on their projects.Together they have mapped out a number of projects for the year: bookmarks, pillow covers, a purse, and a large wall hanging with the family tree.
Photo courtesy of Sofi Khachmanyan |
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While Ellie works to learn the complicated Marash stitches and to combine them into geometric designs, Sofi uses the time to work on a pillow cover of her own. |
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Ellie's first project to learn the primary stitch: bookmarks |
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Ellie is working on a pillow cover of her own. Learning to stitch on arcs is difficult and frequently she finds herself tearing out her work and starting over. Both women are a perfectionists. |
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The primary Marash stitch is actually four stitches that are layered over each other forming embroidery that is almost relief-like or sculptured on the cloth. |
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This piece shows the primary stitch around the outside with a secondary "filler stitch" in the middle. The designs protruding from the circle are crosses made utilizing the basic stitch. This basic stitch can be combined in a number of ways to produce the many symbols that are used in the embroidery. |
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