So I've been tooling along, talking about blackwork and sharing my patterns, thinking everything is hunky dory. Suddenly it hits me. I never explained what blackwork was. Yeah, there are a thousand sites that tell the story of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII, and Holbein. And yeah, there are some really great tutorials out there with wonderful diagrams. Why should I reinvent the wheel?
I'm not, really. I'm just consolidating information, making it easier for you when you come to visit. And besides, I have these nifty pictures I took and they shouldn't just take up space on my hard drive.
So here it is. The Basics of Blackwork.
 |
Work the stitch in passes, or journeys.
On the first journey, work the even-numbered stitches: 1,3, 5 etc.
|
 |
On the return journey, work the 'in between' odd-numbered stitches: 6,4,2 etc.
|
 |
You will end up where you started.
|
 |
Side trips are worked as their own little journey.
|
 |
Work the element in one direction, turn around...
|
 |
...and join back to the main path
|
 |
Voila! In the traditional sense, blackwork looks the same on the back as it does on the front,
though modern blackwork may or may not hold to that tradition.
|
Thanks for this tutorial. I might be being a bit thick here, but I've never done blackwork. I know that redwork is basically embroidery in red, but it looks like you're working on evenweave? Is blackwork a counted thread method?
ReplyDeleteThanks for asking. Blackwork is a counted thread method, Wendy, and is worked on either aida or even weave. I prefer it on even weave as most blackwork is done with a single thread and it just looks better overall.
ReplyDeleteFor a long time I kept trying to figure out how you did peavine as a double running stitch with no interruptions or breaks, now I'm saying DUH to myself...thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteI've been doing this without knowing I was doing it :D It just makes sense to come back to where I start and work around.
ReplyDelete