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Blackwork Embroidery
Blackwork embroidery was very popular in Tudor times, and it is now enjoying a tremendous revival. A form of counted-thread work, blackwork emphasizes shading contrasts that are possible working with a single color of thread.
This book is one of the best modern works on blackwork. After covering the intriguing history of blackwork in a lively text and beautiful selection of illustrations, the authors present every aspect of the modern techniques and uses of the craft.There is a discussion of contemporary techniques of transferring a design, stitches, needles, and more; information on how to make a design, including numerous illustrations of examples such as birds, animals, fruit, architectural forms, an angel, a crusader, and more; over 200 illustrations of embroidery patterns, including simple, filling, and border patterns; and coverage of materials and threads with full charts. A new Publisher's Note gives a listing of current American suppliers.
Done in black silk on white linen, blackwork was originally used to decorate clothes and household articles. Today, you can still produce effective decorations in black-and-white, but many projects will look even better done in color. You can use blackwork on towels, tablecloths, sheets, and clothes, and you can make very attractive blackwork designs for wall hangings and pillows.
This book is one of the best modern works on blackwork. After covering the intriguing history of blackwork in a lively text and beautiful selection of illustrations, the authors present every aspect of the modern techniques and uses of the craft.There is a discussion of contemporary techniques of transferring a design, stitches, needles, and more; information on how to make a design, including numerous illustrations of examples such as birds, animals, fruit, architectural forms, an angel, a crusader, and more; over 200 illustrations of embroidery patterns, including simple, filling, and border patterns; and coverage of materials and threads with full charts. A new Publisher's Note gives a listing of current American suppliers.
Done in black silk on white linen, blackwork was originally used to decorate clothes and household articles. Today, you can still produce effective decorations in black-and-white, but many projects will look even better done in color. You can use blackwork on towels, tablecloths, sheets, and clothes, and you can make very attractive blackwork designs for wall hangings and pillows.
120 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1976
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 4, 2015
An old survey of blackwork embroidery. Half of it is historical context with examples from portraits and extant clothing and other half is trying to adapt it for a "modern" audience. The latter feels very abstract and experimental and doesn't work as well for me.
April 18, 2017
The first chapter is a fascinating history of blackwork embroidery. The rest of the book is a history as well since the book was written in 1965. For example, the information about transferring a design from paper to fabric has seven required materials including French chalk or powered cuttlefish.
The stitch instructions are adequate. The designs are a bit odd, as they're sketches and charcoal drawings rather than the exact designs I'm familiar with. There's an interesting section on designing with cut newspaper and then interpreting this in blackwork.
I appreciate that this book actually showed the fill in and shading techniques which has a lot of similarities with Zentangle. Most embroidery books I've read are all about the outlining rather than the fill in patterns.
The quality and appeal of the samples vary. I only really liked two, one a bird on a leafy grape vine bearing fruit made in 1925 and the other overlapping fish. The motifs are pretty standard but aren't graphed which is odd and not very helpful.
The book is only black and white but since this is blackwork, it doesn't matter at all. :)
The stitch instructions are adequate. The designs are a bit odd, as they're sketches and charcoal drawings rather than the exact designs I'm familiar with. There's an interesting section on designing with cut newspaper and then interpreting this in blackwork.
I appreciate that this book actually showed the fill in and shading techniques which has a lot of similarities with Zentangle. Most embroidery books I've read are all about the outlining rather than the fill in patterns.
The quality and appeal of the samples vary. I only really liked two, one a bird on a leafy grape vine bearing fruit made in 1925 and the other overlapping fish. The motifs are pretty standard but aren't graphed which is odd and not very helpful.
The book is only black and white but since this is blackwork, it doesn't matter at all. :)
August 3, 2014
A bit more experimental at times, but very thorough.
March 31, 2025
Thinking this would be a nice pattern book to help with fills, I was disappointed to find it was mostly a history of the needlework art. It was at least interesting. There were some very nice plates but unfortunately they were often not very clear. I was a bit irked that she kept referring to simple embroidery as blackwork just because it was done with black thread. The author’s “patterns” consisted of wonky drawings done without help of graph paper, her reasoning being that the stitcher may use different fabric thread counts and thus the size would change. Duh and WTF. I did enjoy the historical recipes for creating black dye which definitely made one appreciate the ease (and safety!) of now being able to purchase black threads ready made.
January 19, 2019
Neat ideas for blackwork embroidery.
March 7, 2017
I like its handdrawnness. The design technique with news print is fascinating. I dig it. Very artistic. Hoping to get more interesting reversible stitches out of blackwork.
May 25, 2016
This book gives a lot of history in regards to the embroidery which was great.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews