Technique Basics Blackwork I by Ilse Altherr Copyright 2003 This booklet may be reproduced by The Embroiderers’ Guild of America, Inc. or by its chapters for use by its members. No other reproduction is permitted, in whole or in part, without written permission from the author.Historical annotations ‘The rebitth of blackwork is generally accredited to a Spanish lady by name of Katharine of Aragon, daughter of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, Katharine traveled to England in 1501 to become the wife of King Arthur, eldest sen of Henry Vil, When King Arthur died shortly thereafter, she married Prince Henry who soon after ascended to the throne to become King Henry VIL In her trousseau Katharine had many items embroidered in black on white Evidently, the Moots, a race mixed of Berbers and Arabs who conquered Spain in the 8” century, inspired the pattems. The designs consisted mainly of flowers surrounded by scrolls of heavy braiding. Small animal motifS were also incorporated. During King Henty's reign many women passed through the court of England. The King hired a young Austrian painter, Hans Holbein the Younger, who at the lime lived in Switzerland. Holbein painted the ladies of the court in their clegant attire, as well as the King who was known for bis taste in elaborately embroidered clothes “Blackwork™ 1 6408Welcome to az introductory course in blackwork for the New Kid on the Block series! While using this booklet you will leam two different methods of working blackwork pattems. The reversible method arrived at by daring or “one-way” running stitches, and the double running stitch method some times referred to as Holbein embroidery. The design pictured on the font page of this booklet can be used as a small tablemat; it ean be framed, used as a pocket or, if backed, used as a small bag. My preference would be to make a pincushion; this one would do by folding the outer triangles to the back and lacing or whipping the edges together to form a small pillow, You have a choice and may use the project as you see fit, The finished embroidery counts 136 threads by 136 threads. Materials you will need to complete the project: A S.inch square of countable material, such as 24 count evenweave linen, of... 22 count Hardanger fabric, or . evenweave linen or cotton fabric of the count ‘you prefer to stitch on, ‘You will need 1 dail of black Peart cotton size 12. 2 strands of 6-stranded cotton can replace this, should it be difficult for you to obtain the Pear! cotton, Equipment you will need: A.6” embroidery hoop, preferably made of wood, A tapestry (blunt) needle size 24 and a chenille needle (sharp) of the same size. Embroidery or any other type of scissors. Water soluble marking pen, Basting thread Fabric and Design Preparation: Fold the fabric in half horizontally and vertically. Finger-crease the folds. Baste accurately along the creases, making sure that you stay in the grain of the fabric. You have now established the conter of the fabric, that is, where the basting fines intersect in the center. Please baste by going over and under four (4) fabric threads. Bring the needle up through the fabric on the bottom left side of a vertical fabric thread and insert four (4) threads akead. See diagram, vei — FACE deel, fabric thread og, Tbe f Aap be FAFSA FFA : Basting diagram “Bilackwork™ 2 6/03Before the design can be transferred to the fabric, you must work the cross stitches so that the design can be centered accurately. The graph above shows the placement of these stitches. 7 “Blackwork” This diagram shows the cross stitch worked over two threads of the fabric. Look closely and you will notice that it covers two vertical fabric threads. 3 6/03‘Transferring the design: With Scotch or any other tape * fasten the line drawing onto the working table so thet it does: not move. Place the fabric, matching the basted intersecting center point with oe shown ‘on the line drawing, over the line drawing, and fasten the fabric with a couple of small pices of tape. Trace the design to the fabric with a water-soluble marker. Suggestion: When using the marker, don’t draw a line but rather use a dotting method by holding the pen straight down and touching the fabric with the tip of then pen in closely spaced dots. ( * Note: The above method of transferring the design works well provided that you are using linen, which is transparent enough to show the design through its linen fibers. Should you be using closely woven cotton fabric, such as Hardanger cloth or other type of cotton, you may have to tape the design against a sunny windowpane and proceed as above Mateh this point with your center basting intersection Once the design has been drawn (dotted) onto the fabric, remove the tape. You are now ready to start stitching the design. By the way: the numbers 1, 2 and 3 inside the 3 leaves pertain to the pattern used for each leaf. The patterns will be numbered accordingly. “Blackwork™ 4 603Stitehing: From now on I will refer to the thread as Pearl Cotton and to the fabric as linen, You must translate this to whatever fiber and fabric you will be using. Phe Ourline Cut « 30° length of Pearl cotton and thread the chenille needle. With small outline stitehes (see diagram A below) outline the entire design following the dotted line you drew onto the linen. Start with an “away knot”. Make an ovethand knot at the end of the thread and insert the needle from the top down through the linen, along the perimeter of the linen piece, at least 4” ‘away from the starting point marked @ on the line drawing, Work atound leaf | towards the stem, Now thread the tapestry needle and whip the outline stitch as shown on diagram B. Change back to the cheniile necdle and outline leaf 3 working clockwise around this leaf Outline the vine or eur] and whip back the vine and leaf 3. Outline leat 2, clockwise again ang 10 the second vine, and return whipping back. Lasily, outline the stem and finish whipping the stem. Tie off all cnds by whipping them, on the wrong side, under the outline, ak eek. Ourtine stitch ~ diagram A Whipping the outline stitch ~ diagram B Pattern 1 ~leaf 1: ‘Cuta fairly long thread of Pear! cotton, about 50” long, and thread the tapestry needle. Do not make a knot at the end of this thread! Bring the needle down through the linen on the perimeter of the fabric leaving a long tail of approximately 25” or haif the length of the thread, You will be working with approximately 25° of thread, Don’t worry about the exact measurement of the thread; the suggestion is only ‘an approximation given as an example, Remember that this long tail must be on top of the work and out of the way! Bring the needle up (om the bottom left side of @ vertical linen thread ( see basting instructions) inside but very close to the outline and about halfway down the leaf shape. “Blackwor 5 6/03Now you are ready to work Pattern 1, Important note ! Please notice that while the cross-stitehes on page 3 were drawn inside one square of the geaphpoper, cach square represented 2 by 2 linen threads. The stitches on the graph below ‘were drawn between 2 Tines of the graphpaper! Here, each line of the paper represents one (1) finen thread, The stitches stiown below go over two (2) linen threads. Work horizontal running stitches over and under 2 linen threads all across the leaf’ Skip 2 linen thread and work another row of running stitches below the first. Work a third and fourth row in the same manner, Continue to add parallel rows until the bottom haif of the leave is filled. Bring the needle up on the perimeter of the linen and remove the needle, ‘Theead the tail in the needle and work additional rows toward the top of the Jeaf until the entire leaf is filed with running stitches, See diagram A below. Arrow P= stitch over 2 threads Needle upp needle down You probably have some thread Jeft in thr needle. You may use this thread, as well as th. tail end, to work the vertical stitches, Vertical rnning stitches, shown on Diagram B, connect the horizontal stitches previously worked. You will see that you have created boxes ~ squares ~ that look like these shewn on diagram C. Now — work conventional _cross.stitches connecting the boxes as shown on diagram C. Notice that the cross stitches skip every other set of four boxes, When sunning out of thread, thread the needle again but with a shorter length, All thread ends may be fastened in the ontline of the underside of the work, Diagram C “Biackwork” 6 03‘Leaf 2 — Pattern 2 Like in leaf | and starting with a long thread, work diagrams A and B as shown in Leaf “Blackwork™ Diageam A Work diagonal running stitches connecting every other row of boxes. Each stitch goes ‘over wo (2) intersections of threads of the linen, and travels under the boxes. You do not have to travel in rows. If you prefer fo do so, then get to you next point by wrapping around the outline on the underside of the work. Diagram B Work the same pattern as in Diagram A but working the stitches in the opposite direction, This will form hexagons with a box in the center Diagram C Next, work conventional cross-stitches in the boxes as shown on the graph, ideLeaf 3- Pattern 3 The patiern for this leaf is worked with the double-running stitch: As in leaves 1 and 2, bring the needle up on the left side dotted line and at the widest part of the leaf. { like to start all patterns in the middle of the motif and then work downward with huif of the thread and upward with the other half. In this manner I have to tie off half as many times! Diagram A Work diagonal stitches over 2 intersections across the leaf as shown The dotted line is a stitch on the underside, Diagram B Bring the needle up at 1 and * work a straight stitch downward; return under it to position 1 apain and work the first diagonal stitch. (There was a stitch on the underside but non showing on the right or upper side, Work under the next diagonal stitch and repeat from * to complete the row. Diagram C Work additional rows repeating Diagrams A and B, spacing the rows by 2 threads as shown. 8 6003Finishing The edge was finished with a blanket stitch, squaring off the cross-stitched diamond, Refer to the picture on page 3 Work the blanket stitch 4 threads deep, inserting the needle between eack fabric threed, meaning in each hole, so as to oblain a solid row. These 2 cross-stitches-ate the same as those shown in the center of each side of the finished square, See page 3 = a COLD aL t ‘Turning a corner with blanket stitch Diagram B When you have worked all around the perimeter, minus the very last stitch, inseri the needle under the very first loop, see left side on diagram A, - the loop has been darkened for identification purpose - to form the last stiteb, here shown by an arrow * insert the needle ad Gene ee Blanket Stitch Diagram © under the loop and. through the fabric as shown. “Blackwork” 9 6/03hope that you have enjoyed, and leamed from, this simple course in blackwork, Below you Will find a list of blackwork publications, should you wish to pursue the study of this technique further. In the meantime, enjoy this Blackwork Chis. ist reffects-only the boaks D an familinn with: 2 have probably left aut other good. references, which dacs nat mean Blackwark enthusiasts should wat puasuo.them. 1. Reversible Blackwork 2. Blackwork and Holbein Embroidery 3, Blackwork Companion 4, Make a Joyfisl Stitch 5. Blackwork 6. Blackwork 7. Blackwork Embroidery 8, Folio of Blackwork Pattems 9. Blackwork 10 Why Call it Blackwork 1L.The Heart of Blackwork 12. Embroider Now “Blackwork” 10 lise Altherr Ise Altherr se Altherr Ilse Altherr MeNéeill/Geddes Mary Gostelow Pascoe Marion Scoular Marion Scoular Marion Scoular Ann Strite-Kurz Hetsie vanWyk ireduction to the wonderful world of self-published self-published self-published self-published Dover Publ. Van-Nostrand Batsford self-published Leisure Arts self-published self-published Perskor Publ. 603