Les Boutis

Boutis Provencal is a traditional French needlepoint technique, which has been practiced in the south of France, in particular Provence, for centuries.

The French word ‘boutis’ is pronounced ‘bootee’ with no English translation. The name comes from the words ‘pousser, bourrer and emboutis’, which means ‘to push and to stuff’.

Although most boutis is stitched using running stitch, backstitch was used in a small region around Marseilles. Those commanded higher prices because backstitch is more labour intensive than running stitch.