Countdown to Christmas Day 2: Blackwork Hexie Holiday Tree

At first glance, this looks like your normal hexie quilt. Look a bit closer...see all those patterns? They are blackwork done by Pam Harris of Gingerbread Snowflakes. I am in complete awe of this work. The amount of detail is astonishing. Each hexi is an individual pattern brought together to make a holiday tree. You can see more of the process on her blog. 

Making Spot Guest Post: Free Blackwork Pattern

Care to try your hand at blackwork? Well, we have a wonderful guest post today with a free pattern, courtesy of the wonderful folks at The Making Spot. Read on to learn more about blackwork! :)



Hey there! My name's Zoe and I'm visiting Feeling Stitchy today with a little guest post. I edit a craftilicious website called The Making Spot - filled with all sorts of patterns and tutorials for stitching and knitting. Today I'm sharing a free blackwork squares pattern, especially for Feeling Stitchy.



One of the reasons I love blackwork is the simplicity of the patterns, and the way it never dates. This section is a taster of a larger Blackwork sampler - part of our vintage patterns series. I thought it would be fun to bring this small section to try as a freebie. The other great thing about blackwork is it's inexpensive - all you need to get started is some fabric, a tapestry needle and black thread. We've used 16 count aida, as the holes make it easy to mark out your stitches, but blackwork looks especially lovely stitched on linen too.

You can download the free blackwork squares pattern here.

All of the stitches are made using simple backstitch - if you've never tried it before, check out our Easy Guide to Backstitch. Stitch just the one part or a few. The beauty of blackwork is, it doesn't matter if you've never picked up a needle or thread before!
Enjoy!
Zoe

Book Review: Blackwork by Becky Hogg

Today's book review is one of the Essential Stitch Guides published by the Royal School of Needlework:

Blackwork by Becky Hogg

Blackwork is one of those techniques you think should be insanely easy - a couple of basic stitches, a single colour... how complicated can it be? To a certain extent that's true, and if all you want to do is stitch up a pattern you've found to decorate your SCA Elizabethan wench outfit (we all have one, right?) you're well equipped with some double running stitch and black floss. If you want to step outside the bounds of basic blackwork and design beautiful, visually complicated work, this book will show you how.

The blackwork most of us have seen and identified with consists of repeating patterns, called diaper patterns, which created shading on a piece. However that isn't all it has to be - shading can be achieved by varying the thread thickness, by breaking up the diaper pattern or by changing the diaper pattern used in different areas. Becky introduces all of these techniques with photos of stitched examples demonstrating exactly how breaking up a pattern works and what kind of effect thread variance gives.

Becky has also supplied forty pages of example diaper patterns which you can apply to whatever piece you have in mind. They range from the very simple to the impressively complex and she's supplied not only the pattern, but a stitched sample of each. 

The icing on the cake, as far as I'm concerned, is that interspersed throughout the book are examples of finished pieces. Stunning pieces created by graduates of the Royal School of Needlework. Drool-worthy pieces. Gorgeous, intimidating and unbelievably inspiring pieces. The book is worth having just for the picture of the tiger, believe me.

Blackwork by Becky Hogg is a technique book aimed at stitchers who wish to create their own blackwork masterpieces. It is more than a casual stitcher needs, but a necessity for those who want to bring their blackwork to the next level (the one called Awesome).

My rating: 5 out of 5 Gold Needles (loaded up with black thread of course).

Patterns: Studio M.M.E Illustrations

Embroidery patterns and stitching by Studio M.M.E

I was browsing the embroidery patterns on Etsy, which is a bit of a hobby of mine, and to be honest I normally recognise most of the patterns on there or at least the designer, so it's a rare treat for me to see something new and to be totally blown away by it. And I was totally blown away by the embroidery patterns of Studio M.M.E Illustrations, an Etsy store that principally sells some absolutely beautiful prints. Luckily for us embroiderers, Megan from Studio M.M.E has now also converted some of her illustrations into embroidery patterns. Billed as embroidery patterns for experienced sewers, I think it's great to have patterns available that are a little more of a challenge. However Megan herself taught herself to embroider over 2 months in order to create these patterns, so I think they're probably actually doable by most embroiderers, that extra effort would be worth it to have such a fantastic final piece. So I definitely recommend checking out the link above so that you can read more of the story behind each piece.

Patterns: Button embroidery

Embroidered button display hoop - originally uploaded by doe-c-doe - inspired by Haylie Waring for Design*Sponge

Buttons and blackwork are possibly a perfect combination. doe-c-doe, who stitched this beautiful piece, was inspired by an original piece of artwork by Haylie Waring for Design*Sponge. The original piece of artwork was for a rectangular frame and was a print out on card, as opposed to doe-c-doe's embroidery. I think both versions are beautiful, you can download Haylie Waring's here and doe-c-doe's here.

Christmas Countdown #4: Beautiful Blackwork

Stitched by konnykards

Love the detail on this wonderful blackwork piece by Connie!

Beautiful Stitching

I am fascinated by bees. We would not have food without our bee friends. Another thing that I'm totally fascinated with are samplers. Maybe it's because I have no patience to do them or because they have a such a wonderful history. Whatever the reason, I adore this Bee sampler. My favorite part-the beekeeper.

 Insomerset rocks!

Black stitching

My take on blackwork embroidery: 1, originally uploaded by JammySage.

Isn't this lovely? Definitely goes to show that using just one colour doesn't have to be boring but can be rather spectacular. Very inspiring, I think!

Black inspirations

Here I am again, with another non-official color of the rainbow. But, after seeing the amazing things you guys do with blackwork, black fabric, and black threads, I must say I'm feeling the black magic. I love black - it goes without saying - but there's something about using the color black in embroidery that makes the work that much bolder and more dramatic...

Are you a fan of the blackwork, too? If it was down to one color for you... out of all the colors you've seen... and maybe one more surprise color... tomorrow - could you pick one?

Enjoy the black magic by the creative stitchers below:
1. Universal GillMan by SheenaRamone
2. Orion Embroidery by piddlipoo
3. wolf by fionabearclaw
4. not good enough by beefranck
5. blossoms by racaire
6. coinpurse by lifepieces
7. Black Rabbit Quilt by badbird
8. Finally finished by Mrs Gibson's Atelier
9. Blackwork Robin by konnykards
10. Vader Drinking a Pop by Mama Sass
11. Elizabethan Cross Stitch by whimsyandcharm
12. because I love you by Sarah Blick

Technique: Blackwork

Blackwork became popular in England during the reign of Henry VIII, and the style is often called Spanishe Worke, a name given to it due to its introduction to England being linked with the Henry's wife, Catherine of Aragon.

The portrait painter Hans Holbein the Younger became court painter to Henry VIII, and he painted Henry's queens wearing clothes richly decorated with Blackwork. The double-running stitch employed in Blackwork is often called Holbein stitch.

While most often associated with England, blackwork embroidery can be found in other parts of Europe as well.

During its most popular period of usage, three distinct styles of blackwork emerge, all of which co-existed together.

Linear, Reversible Blackwork

• This is the type of work that most people associate with blackwork. It is a usually a counted thread design (though this is not always the case), which is reversible, that is, it looks the same from the front and the back. This style tends to be linear in nature and was mostly used on collars and cuffs of clothing.
• It's popularity can be attested to by the fact that some form of blackwork can be seen in just about every surviving Tudor and Elizabethan portrait. One painter, Hans Holbein, detailed it so well that the stitch used to make this style of blackwork took on his name - Holbein Stitch. This type of blackwork can be done in either double running or back stitch.

Free Form Style with Geometric Fill Patterns

• This is second most popular form of blackwork. This type of blackwork consists of free form shapes, (most popularly, flowers and leaves) that are then filled in with repeating geometric fill patterns. This type of blackwork was used extensively in the production of pillow covers and various forms of clothing, such as large sleeves, coifs, nightcaps, smocks and skirt foreparts.

Free Form Outlined Motifs - This type of blackwork comes in three versions:

• The first is the use of scattered, individual motifs on items such as pillow beeres (cases) and other bed linens. These are usually done using stem or chain stitch.
  

• The other form is a repetitive strapwork pattern, again done in stem stitch or chain stitch. Examples can be seen in the portraits of Henry VIII (shirts) and in skirt foreparts.

• The final form is free form motifs with speckling stitch used to add shading to the motif. This is the last form of 16th Century blackwork to develop.

Examples of Historical Blackwork

• Elizabethan Practical Companion
• Smocks and Shirts at the V&A
• The Coif Gallery
• Coif
• Man's Nightcap
  

Patterns
There are many great free patterns for blackwork available on the web:

• The Blackwork Embroidery Archives
• How to Do Double Running Stitch
• M'Lady Osanna Blackwork Designs
• A Blackwork Embroidery Primer
• Fill In Patterns for Blackwork
• Blackwork Designs from 16th Century Sources
• Blackwork Patterns