Showing posts with label Holbein embroidery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holbein embroidery. Show all posts

Saturday, March 21, 2020

Medallions for Needlecrafts

Blackwork border design

I would like to spend some time discussing the stand-alone, small cluster designs that I like to call medallions.   You can use these medallions, either separately or joined, to make borders.

simple medallion border

Now here is the same design ‘grown’ to a larger, more complex, motif. This can be done in a single color, but I have done it here with each addition done in a different color.

more complex design in colors

Besides "growing" the designs, you can continue to use the separate medallions, either as a single motif or as a repeated motif for a border. The motifs can be separated or joined.  They can be used — either singly or joined — for border designs.  Let's look at three simple medallion design patterns in black-line.

Three simple medallions

Here are the same three designs multiplied and done in more than one color.

medallions in color. repeated as border designs
Same medallions in color. repeated as border designs

Some of the simpler designs can be joined and repeated any number of times to make an all-over pattern. They may be in a single color, bi-colored, or multicolored.

Two colored medallions combined as a border
Two colored medallions combined as a border. Stacked they could be an all-over design.

Two or more different medallions that are similar in size and complexity can be combined to make a border or a frame design.
Simple border using two medallions
Simple border using two medallions
Chart for frame with medallion corners
Chart for frame with medallion corners
A corner medallion can give a distinct change to a straight-line linear design as well. This can be particularly attractive if you are using the border design to frame a picture, a collage, a print or a piece of needlework.

Recently we gave you a set of simple medallion motifs to be used in blackwork. Now I'm going to repeat the designs in color. You can substitute your favorite color combinations.  I prefer back-stitch to work patterns like these on fabric, but there are other straight-line stitches from crewel or folk embroidery that will do just as well.

Simple medallions in color
Simple medallions in color

Finally, the individual motifs may also be enlarged to make considerably bigger designs. These may easily be adapted for blackwork, counted cross-stitch,  crewel, or needlepoint. They, too, can be joined together to make deeper borders, such as a design for the bottom of a jacket or a skirt, or to make them into all-over patterns.
Larger more complex medallion
Larger, more complex medallion
If you have followed our blackwork — or redwork, whitework, and Holbein embroidery — posts,  you have probably tried taking a central medallion motif and "growing" it into a larger, more complex, design. If you have not done so, please follow this link to see what I am describing.

Now let me take a different central motif and take you step-by-step through the "growth" process.  These larger designs are nice to frame. You could make several of them to decorate those "problem" places like on a narrow section of wall beside a door, in an alcove, or above or below a window. They are also suitable for aprons, placemats, and pillows. You can keep extending them until they are the size you need for a particular project. You might chose to to do something different than what I have done at any or all stages of the medallion's development. That is what makes this process such fun!

Original motif (black) and 'grown' design in color
Original motif (black) and 'grown' design in color

Now here are some things hat YOU can do:
  • Change a blackwork medallion to a red, white or multicolored one.
  • Take two small medallion designs and combine them to make a border, either separately or joined together.
  • Combine a linear design with four medallions to make a frame.
  • Do a medallion design in another form of needlework, like needleweaving or needlepoint.
  • Enlarge a medallion design to make it simple enough for a quilt block or a rug pattern.
  • Design a medallion pattern for the back yoke of a Western shirt or jacket, along with an accompanying linear design for the collar and cuffs.
Stretch your imagination. You can do it!



bottom border design



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Tuesday, January 21, 2020

New Patterns for Blackwork and Holbein Embroidery

linear design in 3 colors
A simple linear stitch design in 3 colors (two blues and gold)

Holbein embroidery is a special case of Spanish blackwork, so popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. The name is sometimes used interchangeably with “blackwork”. I've taken the position that, as I use the term “Holbein embroidery”, it differs from the traditional blackwork or redwork in two ways: it is done in multicolor, rather than solid black or red, and it can be done on canvas as well as fabric. (Blackwork and redwork are traditionally done on linen, but that's a “rule” I break — a lot!) Besides, I find “Holbein embroidery” a term less confusing than “blackwork done in color”. Our purpose here is to bring these Renaissance techniques into the 21st Century to use on contemporary projects. For example, here are my “Onion Domes” done both in blackwork and in Holbein embroidery. I seldom do the same design more than once — and never in the exact same way — but it seemed worthwhile to repeat this one in order to let you compare and contrast the two techniques.

Onion Domes in b&w and color
Annake's "Onion Domes" and "Colorful Onion Domes"



Detail of blackwork from painting by Hans Holbein the Younger
Detail of blackwork from painting by Holbein the Younger
The Holbein style of needlework is named in honor of Hans Holbein the Younger, a Dutch artist who was the official court painter for King Henry VIII of England from 1537 to 1543, and who painted detailed renderings of the fancy embroidered clothing of that era.  The Holbein stitch is a double-running stitch used widely in Holbein embroidery. Its virtue is that it covers both sides of the fabric. When it is done skillfully, there is no “right” or “wrong” side to the piece.  Once a couple of lines of Holbein stitches are laid in parallel to each other, they can be whipped, couched, threaded. laced, back-stitched, interlaced, made into Pekinese stitch, etc. (For more on these techniques, see our recent post about crewel embroidery.)

Holbein stitch sampler
Holbein stitch sampler, black and gold on blue gingham
Holbein stitch is made up of evenly-spaced running stitches worked in one direction, then worked in the reverse direction to fill the spaces between the stitches, using the same needle holes that were used the first time. The running stitches may be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. I've tried to simplify the process by stitching on checked gingham so the stitches are of uniform lengths, and by using different colors for the forward and backward stitches. Traditionally, the first stitches go from right to left. If you are left-handed, however, you may find it easier to work from left to right. You can turn your fabric at the end of each stitch row if you like, so that you are always stitching in the same direction. Check your practice work from time to time to see that the stitches are uniform on both sides of the fabric. This takes some practice, especially to avoid splitting stitches. On the stitch sampler we have: 1) double-running stitch, 2) a Greek Key design, 3) a stepped design, 4) the stepped design reversed, 5) a design using Holbein stitch vertically, 6) a pattern with diagonal stitches and 7) the last stitch pattern reversed. Combine 3 and 4 to get a border with plenty of space for another design in cross-stitch, star stitch, lazy daisy, etc., inside each outlined space. Combining 6 and 7 gives you a smaller border, but still has room for an extra motif inside. Holbein embroidery uses the same filling designs and diaper patterns that we have used for blackwork, as well as more elaborate leaf, flower, fruit and insect designs.

Snowflake cross-stitch pattern
Snowflake cross-stitch pattern



These patterns are very versatile. In fact, here is that kind of design as the basis for counted cross-stitch!  Can you see how you can adapt patterns from one kind of needlework to another? The pattern could just as easily be done in tent stitch or even latch-hook.





Holbein embroidery design 'doodles'
Holbein embroidery design 'doodles'
Here are some of the designs I've been playing around with as fillers or for use on small projects. If you like to “doodle” and make little drawings while you talk on the phone or wait at the doctor's office, you should try making small motifs of your own like these. The stylized flowers are easy. They can be used in closely arranged rows as filling in a design, in single rows as a border, or broken apart to scatter and repeat over a larger area (a diaper pattern). The little “bugs” were fun to do, as was the snail. Designing them is something enjoyable you can do with your children or grandchildren, too. Some of the larger separate designs are attractive additions to babies' or children's clothing. You can apply these by using a chart and counting threads, by making your own transfer patterns, or by embroidering through waste canvas — a removable needlepoint canvas that isn't interlocked. You pin or baste a piece of the waste canvas, somewhat larger then your design, loosely in the desired spot on the background. Embroider the design as you usually would, not pulling your stitches too tight. When the design is finished, gently pull out each of the canvas threads. I like to steam-press the embroidery afterward.

10 step 3 color stich pattern
10 step 3 color pattern. Click to download step-by-step
But you do not have to use the Holbein stitch if you don't want to do it. Just use the stitches the way you have been doing for blackwork, but do them in the colors you desire. We have shown you a way to "grow" a blackwork pattern using colors. I mentioned then that I use alternate colors when planning a complex blackwork pattern, so that I can do the changes in each new round exactly the same way all around. Then we showed you the design done in rainbow colors.  Now I am going to show you a new design using 3 colors alternately. I will show the first 10 steps.  I have worked the design through four further steps, but I am not going to show those. Instead, I will challenge you to do the next 4 steps in any way you like. I'm pretty sure none of your final designs will be exactly like mine — or like each other's designs. (If you have friends who are interested, make it a competition.) Use as many colors of yarn or floss as you like, but make sure each step is in a different color than the one before it and the one after it, so you will need a minimum of 2 colors.

Here are some simple patterns that each give you the center ‘spot' or ‘cluster’ pattern for one of these developing designs.

Spot or cluster stich patterns
Choose any one of them and draw it in color at the center of a sheet of graph paper. Then start at each side or each corner — or both — with a repeatable element in another color. Be sure you have done the same markings all the way around. Then change colors again and continue in the same way until the design is large enough to suit you. Once it is complete, reproduce it in yarn or floss on an even-weave fabric like checked gingham or monk's cloth. When you have finished, you should have something entirely unique.  Doesn't that feel good?

Another way to use these small motifs is to arrange them in a straight line, either vertically or horizontally, in order to create a border design.  If your border is to be used to frame something, be very careful that your corner motifs line up, with exactly the same spaces between them, both horizontally and vertically. Or you may want a different motif just for the four corner spaces. Be sure your corner motifs are similar enough in design to the motifs for the four sides that they don't overwhelm them. Notice the extra stitch pointing to the appropriate corner on this motif.

Corner motif stitch pattern
Corner motif stitch pattern

My intent is not to give you designs to follow slavishly. My intent is to give you designs that teach you the basic stitch patterns and then — hopefully — encourage you to get enough out of your comfort zone to invent simple patterns of your own. From that stage, I would hope you'd continue until you were adapting patterns to make larger and more complex designs or to apply skills you have learned in one technique to something entirely different, like calligraphy or painting. Another desirable outcome, from my point of view, would be to use something you have learned in another craft — like decoupage or cake decorating, for example — and apply it to some form of needlework like trapunto or needle-weaving.  I want you to come to see the tremendous possibilities inherent in these simple techniques. Look! Try! Do! Explore possibilities! Create!

YES, YOU CAN! I have confidence in you!





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Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Blackwork Revisited: Some New Patterns and Processes

Still life by Annake, blackwork stitching on Aida cloth
Still life by Annake, blackwork stitching on monk's cloth

Periodically, J.D. checks to see what topics readers are searching for in earlier posts. One that always seems popular is Spanish blackwork. It just so happens that there has been a good bit of interest in the subject lately. Also, I have gotten both a request for new blackwork patterns and a question about using them, so I am going to address those issues today.

First of all, I want to present some new blackwork patterns. These are designed primarily to fill larger areas of design than many of the ones we have shown previously. It takes several repeats of the design elements to really display the pattern properly. These would show up well on checked gingham, for example. If you want them to appear smaller and denser, you will need something like #14 needlepoint canvas or a comparable Aida fabric. I suggest you practice by drawing each design at least once on a piece of graph paper before you begin stitching it.  Then you will have the paper patterns for future reference.

Blackwork stitch pattern 1
Blackwork stitch pattern 1
This open-weave design not only covers large areas quickly, but also can give an optical illusion of depth. If I were doing this, I would stitch around all of the woven pieces first. Then I would put three or four closely packed upright stitches in to fill each square between them. This would look like a dark background some distance behind the lattice. If you don't want to create the illusion, then put an X, a plus sign, or an asterisk (made by combining the X and the plus} in each of the small squares to complete the pattern.

Blackwork stitch pattern 2
Blackwork stitch pattern 2
This next pattern is a true tiling pattern. If you draw the large squares with points, you will create the shapes between them without further drawing. Conversely, if you draw the in-between shapes correctly, you will create the squares without further drawing. The little asterisks in the squares just add texture to the design.

Blackwork stitch pattern 3
Blackwork stitch pattern 3




The last pattern is a large one that can be used alone as an all-over pattern for a pillow, baby carriage cover, or an even larger article. It can be made considerably smaller by using fabrics with a much higher thread count. Either way, it requires concentration. I really recommend that you work this one out on graph paper before you begin stitching. You may want to do it in two steps. Step 1 would be to draw in the long-stemmed Y shapes that form the North, East, South and West supports of the design. Add the X at the center of the design. Step 2 is to draw the  ‘petals’ at the four corners of the design. Step 3 puts in the small diamond shapes and the X-shapes between the motifs.  Notice that the arms of all the X-shapes extend through the motifs to make diamond shapes connecting the motifs. It is important that these lines be as straight as possible. To make this more visible, draw Steps 1 and 3 in a dark green pencil or pen, while you do the Step 2  ‘petals’ in a bright color.  This chart will help you even if you are going to do the whole design in black later. Used at a smaller size, the motifs create another type of illusion.  While you will only use straight stitches to construct the design, the illusion will form that you have used curved lines to make it.

Little Red Dragon, embroidery on checked gingham
"Little Red Dragon", embroidery on checked gingham
The question I got was: "Can I do blackwork patterns in other colors?" The answer is most emphatically "Yes!" There was a time when similar pattern stitching was done in red in countries like Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. It came to be known as Russian Redwork. A friend who has traveled to Russia assures me that pieces adorned with this type of embroidery are still being sold at the Moscow airport. I do my own version of it, as you can see in my baby dragon.

Unicorn, embroidery on checked gingham
"Unicorn", embroidery on checked gingham
Scandinavian needle workers do exquisite surface embroidery — often combined with cut work — in white on both white and colored fabrics. Again, I do my own version, as you can see in my rampant unicorn. I did not do any cut work on this picture because it did not seem appropriate. I did use a heavy gold thread for the unicorn's horn and a lighter one on the mane, tail, hooves, nostril and around the eye.  I made the eye itself with a dark blue French knot.

Colorful Onion Domes
"Colorful Onion Domes", embroidery on monk's cloth



When the patterns are done in multicolor, the work is called Holbein embroidery. To be strictly legitimate, Holbein embroidery involves using a stitch that covers both sides of the fabric (see our August 20, 2014 post), but you can do a very good simulation using the traditional blackwork stitching. Here is my blackwork "Onion Domes" pattern done in multicolor.

If you think you may have missed some of our past blackwork patterns, simply go to our search engine ("SEARCH MY BLOG" in the sidebar), type in the words “blackwork pattern” and press Search. When you come to the bottom of the first set of posts, click on Next Posts and follow that procedure until you reach a point where there are no more posts with patterns. Not everything the search gives you will be pertinent: search engines can be rather erratic in their selections. But you should find some useful charts. If you are just starting to do blackwork, or if you are still deciding whether you like it, follow the same search procedure using the term “blackwork” alone to get all the tutorials and other useful tips.

hand drawn pattern in two colors
Hand-drawn draft of a complex pattern in two colors
Finally, here is another color technique I use when designing complex patterns that expand from a central design. The colors make it clear where each round of stitches begins and ends so that I don't produce a lop-sided, uneven pattern. Such a pattern, when completed, can be done as blackwork or in two or more colors.

In fact, I liked that idea so much that a did a new pattern for you in all the colors of the rainbow!
rainbow design
New stitch pattern in rainbow colors
Use your patterns to make something unique.



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Monday, May 28, 2018

Spring Questions and Answers 2018

Butterflies, photo by jljardine
Butterflies, photo by J.J.
I have been looking for the pattern for the yellow (middle) butterfly from your wall hanging (March 21, 2016) I can find the orange one on the top and the purple one on the bottom. Did I miss a post somehow?

I’m afraid the “miss” was mine. I am so sorry. I was sure that I had posted it, but a thorough search of past posts did not find it. Here it is, with my apologies.

Butterfly Needle Arts Chart #4 downloadable as pdf
Click HERE to download

You said we should watch the Questions and Answers for more blackwork. Do you have more?

Blackwork fish quilt block
Blackwork fish quilt block
Yes. Here is the fish block. You will notice that it differs from the original stitch pattern. I usually stitch a pattern first and make changes before I do the printed pattern. This time I was working from a pattern I made years ago and had never done as embroidery. As I worked, I found I didn’t particularly agree with some of the stitch patterns that I originally drew. I liked the partial stitches for the back of the fish, considering they looked more “scaly”. On the other hand, I thought the pattern for the lower part of the fish’s body needed more stitching, not less. I curved the lines for the tiny bones in the top and bottom fins, working them in alternating lines of small chain stitch and backstitch. If you like the straight lines of the original pattern better, I suggest that you use a straight edge to put in light pencil lines on the fabric before working the lines in the stitch of your choice. Never follow a pattern if you think of one that you like better. My patterns are suggestions — not commands!

As it appeared when it was first finished, I thought the fish looked rather lonely. One of my “doodles” was of a small fish that might have belonged to the same family, so I gave her some for company. I like the finished block much better now.

Graph of small fish figure from quilt block
Graph of small fish from quilt block
Here is a little graph pattern for the “baby” fish.  I outlined them first. The interior lines are done in back stitch. The eye is a French knot. Fish change greatly during their lives, so they seldom look the same at all stages of their lives.  Many young fish are very nearly transparent, so you don’t need to put in many details. I didn’t make a transfer for the baby fish — just stitched them free-hand.


While I’m on the subject of fish patterns, here is the Siamese Fighting Fish (betta) that was done in reverse applique as it would appear as blackwork patterns. I told you I never discard a pattern I like!

Tropical fish done as blackwork pattern
Tropical fish done as blackwork pattern
Look for more about Blackwork and see more new patterns in our upcoming "Summer 2018  Questions and Answers" post.

You mention several stitches to use as outlines, but you seem to use chain stitch most of the time.  Why is that?
It is because the chain stitch has so many decorative possibilities itself. Once you establish it, you can embellish it in many ways. For example, you can:
  • backstitch the center of the chain;
  • do a double-running stitch down the center with two colors;
  • whip-stitch the chain;   
  • whip-stitch the sides of the chain separately;
  • work a Pekingese stitch through the chain;
  • interlace the chain;        
  • interlace the chain and then couch the laced loops down with a third color.

And that’s only the beginning!

Owls seem to be on people’s minds this month! That is shown by the following group of questions.

I’m working on the owl blackwork pattern and I’m really enjoying it, but I’m not sure what I am supposed to do with the parts that are solid black on the pattern?

I’m so glad you are enjoying the work. The solid black parts of the pattern, like the feet and the eyes, are supposed to be worked in solid stitching. I use Beauvais embroidery for mine. This is done in continuous chain stitch. I first outline the area with chain stitch. Instead of stopping when I join the ends of the outline, I move my needle just inside the outline and follow it around and around until no background shows through. You can do the same parts in satin stitch or long-and-short stitch, and outline them when they are completed. If making the circles for the eyes does not suit you, make them diamond shapes, with the corners touching the mid-points of the outer square. Or you can simply fill in the whole square with long, straight stitches. Your results will not be exactly like the pattern, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Keep up the good work!


Little owl needlepoint picture


I did. I gave him a full moon to hunt by. Here he is, completed but not yet framed. I have not yet done the little fellow in Holbein stitch or counted cross-stitch, but you can easily stitch him in either technique from the pattern on the post for January 1, 2017, and give him any background that you like.


"Night Owls", Holbein embroidery on gingham
"Night Owls", Holbein embroidery on gingham
A long time ago you did a mother owl and her baby in colors. Are you going to print the pattern for that one?

Oh, my!  That was a very long time ago! That was a fairly large picture done in Holbein embroidery and the figures were larger than the blackwork animals that I have been making. I’m sure they would not fit a one-page pattern. Let me think about it. Maybe I can find a way to make them smaller without losing the Holbein patterns. In the meantime, here is the picture she is talking about.

Have you ever made a really BIG owl?

Small owl latch-hooked wall hanging



Well, I made a latch-hook wall hanging of an owl once that was larger than any of the owls you have seen in other techniques.





"Autumn Owl", large latch-hooked wall hanging
"Autumn Owl", large latch-hooked wall hanging
But last fall I made a really BIG owl. It all began with a dream I had about an owl being attacked by two boys with paintball guns. He suffered greatly, but one evening he awoke to hunt and something wonderful had happened. His feathers had turned to autumn colors. That wouldn’t be a problem while he hunted in the dark. In the daytime he could hide in trees where the leaves were turning autumn colors until the boys gave up hunting for him and turned to other pursuits. Waking, I thought,”What a nice story. I must write it down for Angie to tell her class.” (Angie is one of my “honorary” grand-daughters and a first-year kindergarten teacher.) I needed an illustration. J.D. and I thought of a poster the children had given me long ago of a bright-colored geometric owl. When we found it, however, it wasn’t as either of us remembered it. So I sat down with my rug canvas and yarn to recreate the owl of my dream. Here he is, just waking to find himself wonderfully changed.

Enjoy the Springtime!



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Sunday, March 25, 2018

Back to Blackwork

Blackwork Owl
Blackwork Owl on  checked gingham
On February 13th of this year we began the 6th year of this blog. Welcome, viewers from new countries that joined us this past year: Angola, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brunei, Gabon, Guadeloupe, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Macau, Panama, Paraguay, Serbia, Swaziland, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, and Yemen. We have put symbols for each of those countries on our big wall map. We also want to send our sympathy and best wishes to those areas of the world where natural disasters did so much damage during that time.

We are delighted by the response to the Art Forms in Needlework series and plan to add to it each month for the rest of the year. Along with those posts, we will re-visit some techniques from past posts which got the most attention from viewers, like folk embroidery, geometric designs, optical illusions, and needleweaving. The first of these is the subject of the article below, blackwork embroidery. This topic will return later this year as new patterns are developed.

pastel ginghams
Various pastel ginghams
During the first two years of this blog I wrote several posts about Spanish blackwork and related folk art styles like Russian redwork, Scandinavian whitework, and multicolored Holbein embroidery. One of the projects I started was a series of whimsical blackwork animal patterns appropriate for children. About this time last year, I decided to revisit those patterns and make them into something useful. I consulted our quiltmaker for the Annake’s Garden shop. (You can see our interview with her on the August 16, 2013 post.) She liked the designs and suggested a child’s quilt or puffy comforter. If I could do all of the patterns on pastel quarter-inch gingham, she said, they could be set together with white, since it appears in all the ginghams.

Holbein embroidery lion
Holbein embroidery lion
She considered that I would need at least eight large blocks, but that 12 would be even better. I was not sure I could find 12 different pastel ginghams, so I planned to do two panels in each of six colors. I had completed a cat, a snail, and the owl seen above, and had the pattern drawn for a fish. I had also made a lion in multicolored Holbein embroidery in a pattern that could easily be converted to blackwork. She encouraged me by pointing out that I was nearly half-way to my dozen patterns already, and we discussed subjects like a turtle, a frog, and a butterfly, as well as several other mammals to go with the cat and the lion.

Chart for Blackwork Owl
Chart for Blackwork Owl
So I started working on new sketches and converting them into blackwork patterns like this one for the owl.

But just a few weeks later, our wonderful friend died suddenly after a shockingly brief illness. We were devastated. I folded the ginghams and put them and the patterns away in a drawer, not really expecting to ever look at them again.





Iron-on transfer of fish drawing to gingham
Iron-on transfer of fish drawing to gingham
But recently I began to realize that she would have been disappointed that I didn’t go ahead with the project. She would have scolded me for quitting in the middle of it. I got everything out of the drawer and spread it out on my worktable. I made a hot-iron transfer for the outline of the fish (see the directions for making hot-iron transfer on the post for October 6, 2013) and ironed it onto aqua gingham.

I have done many butterfly designs for different kinds of needlework. I looked for one that I could modify for blackwork. I chose this pillow pattern, done in “stained-glass stitchery” (directions on the post for March 8, 2015) on a needlepoint background, and made a very simplified black line design for it. Then I made an iron-on transfer from the black line design. I debated doing a different blackwork design in each section, but decided that would break up the butterfly design too much, so I will do the same blackwork designs on the corresponding parts of both wings, reversing their directions where it is possible to do so.

Butterfly pillow and line drawing
Butterfly pillow and line drawing


Chart for Blackwork Lion
Chart for Blackwork Lion
I have “converted” the lion from Holbein embroidery and made a pattern for him in blackwork. I had previously made a transfer pattern of his outline to iron on the background for the multicolored design. I considered just “refreshing” that pattern, but decided to do a new one instead. I have had some success in re-using iron-on patterns, but they are seldom as sharply drawn as the originals. I wanted this one to be crisp and fresh.

Completing this project will take some time. I will include pictures and patterns throughout the summer as the work progresses. Look for them in our Spring and Summer Questions and Answers posts, as well as in the regular posts. I have a rhinoceros in mind that may require a post all his own! Watch for him to appear in at least two different kinds of needlework.

stitch patterns
More stitch patterns
All of the outline drawings and blackwork patterns that you have seen in this post are available for downloading (links at the end of this post*). You can click on the photographs to get an enlarged version of each one. Any of the blackwork patterns can be done in counted cross-stitch by simply substituting an X or as much of one as possible for the symbol in each square of the pattern. Equally, they can be done in conventional tent stitch by using a slanted stitch ( / ) to represent each square of the pattern. The little lion can be converted back into Holbein embroidery by simply stitching him in colors. There are some differences in the specific stitch patterns used for the lion, so I suggest that you view the enlarged Holbein embroidery before deciding which stitch patterns you prefer. Or make up your own patterns. Additional pattern segments are shown on the posts for October 6, 2013; February 27, 2014; August 20, 2014 and November 16, 2014.

Same stitch design on different fabrics
Same stitch design on different fabrics
The sizes for your designs will vary, depending upon the sizes of the stitches that can be done on various types of canvas, Aida cloth, monks’ cloth, or other evenweave fabrics. I recommend that you try a small amount of pattern (as least a square inch) on a scrap of the background fabric you plan to use. That way you can figure out how large your completed pattern will be and how much fabric you will need. You don’t want to do a lot of work on a design and then find out that there will not be enough space to finish it. I learned that lesson many years ago!

If you are going to do the design in multi-color, I recommend that you color your chart before you choose the yarns or flosses you plan to use. Purchase a little more than you think that you will need of each color. You can always use the leftovers in another project, but you may not always be able to match a color exactly once you have run out of it.

As for the quilt, comforter, playpen pad, or wherever the blocks are eventually used
someone else will set the blocks together and do the quilting, but it just won’t be the same.

This project is for you, Judy. We miss you so much.




quilt collage
Some of our friend Judy's many beautiful quilts

*To download drawings and patterns, click the following links:
owl chart; butterfly line drawing; lion chart; stitch patterns.

 Creative Commons LicenseThis post by Annake's Garden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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