Blackwork Embroidery

Blackwork Embroidery is a form embroidery using black thread. Sometimes it is counted-thread embroidery which is usually stitched on even-weave fabric. Any black thread can be used, but firmly twisted threads give a better look than embroidery floss. Traditionally blackwork is stitched in silk thread on white or off-white linen or cotton fabric. Sometimes metallic threads or coloured threads are used for accents.

Scarletwork is like blackwork, except it is sewn with red thread.

Contents

Technique

The stitches used for counted thread blackwork are double running or holbein stitch, backstitch, and sometimes stem stitch. Historically it was done on plain weave fabric. Modern stitchers often use even weave fabric made especially for counted thread work.

Historically, there are three common styles of blackwork:

History

Historically, blackwork was used on shirts and chemises or smocks in England from the time of Henry VIII. The common name "Spanish work" was based on the belief that Catherine of Aragon brought many blackwork garments with her from Spain, and portraits of the later 15th and early 16th centuries show black embroidery or other trim on Spanish chemises.[1] Black embroidery was known in England before 1500. Geoffrey Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales describes the clothing of the miller's wife, Alison: "Of white, too, was the dainty smock she wore, embroidered at the collar all about with coal-black silk, alike within and out."

Blackwork in silk on linen was the most common domestic embroidery technique for clothing (shirts, smocks, sleeves, ruffs, and caps) and for household items such as cushion covers throughout the reign of Elizabeth I, but it lost its popularity by the 17th century. (See also 1550–1600 in fashion.)

Historic blackwork embroidery is rarely preserved, as the iron-based dye used was corrosive to the thread.[2]

16th century blackwork

Modern blackwork

Blackwork remains popular. Common subjects among hobbyists include chessboards, maps, tudor houses, roses and cats. Much of the success of a blackwork design depends on how tone values are translated into stitches.

Today, the term "Blackwork" is used to refer to the technique, rather than the colour combination.

Notes

  1. ^ A. J. B. Wace "debunked" the Spanish origin in the 1930s, but if the black trim on these chemises from the 1470s is embroidery that would support an early Spanish origin
  2. ^ 1992, Christa Thurman, Textiles in the Art Institute of Chicago, ISBN 0810938561
  3. ^ Arnold, Janet, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd, pp. 40–41

References

External links

Styles
Stitches
Tools
and materials
Regional
and historical
Embroideries
Designers
and embroiderers
Organizations
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