Blackwork Revisited: Some New Patterns and Processes

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

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

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

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

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

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", 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 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!

New stitch pattern in rainbow colors

Use your patterns to make something unique.

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Serendipity at Work

Needlepoint border with top-stitched diaper pattern

SERENDIPITY: The discovery of useful, valuable, or desirable things that you weren't looking for.

The mention of diaper patterns (used in blackwork, redwork, whitework, and Holbein embroidery) in the previous post produced requests for new and different diaper patterns — which have nothing to do with babies' bottoms. Those are time-consuming to create. They were not on my current agenda, so I wrote them at the bottom of my planning list as an afterthought.

But I'm a great believer in serendipity. The very next day it came to my aid, as it has done many times over the years. I was looking through a box of folders that I made 40 years ago, when I was teaching English at a business college at night and teaching art and needlecrafts at a Parks and Recreation center during the day at a city on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. Needless to say, I hadn't looked at those folders for a long time! I was searching for some applique patterns for a project I did with my daughter at about that time period. I didn't find them (I will; I never throw good patterns away!), but I did find enough new materials for a number of blog posts that you will see later this year. Among those materials were several sheets of diaper patterns — and here they are!

All-over Patterns

All-over patterns are meant to be used in large areas of a design. Before you choose these patterns, it is a good idea to know how dark you want that area of the pattern to appear. The darker the area, the denser the pattern should appear. Denser patterns are made by using lots of short line elements that are close together and limiting the amount of background that shows through them. Let me give you an example. This pattern starts very simply at the left. As we move to the right, new elements are added in each vertical row. See how much darker the pattern is at the last row?

Here are some additional all-over patterns:

Tip: It is a good idea to practice a pattern on graph paper before you try it on fabric. Do additional rows both horizontally and vertically until you are sure you know what comes next in the stitching. You may also see the advantage of stitching a pattern on checked gingham before attempting it on monks' cloth, Aida, or even finer fabrics.

Border Patterns

You can see a border pattern enlarged across the top of this post. They are linear patterns and are often outlined in a border stitch like outline stitch, back-stitch, or chain stitch. Any of the border designs shown can be made wider by adding such outline stitches. You can see from the “flower” borders how very small changes can alter the look of a border, as well as how doubling the stitches in facing rows makes a much wider and bolder design. Some of the patterns are designed to be mitered at the corners so that they make a frame around the major design. Here is an example of a corner design:

Tip: Some border patterns can be repeated as all-over patterns. To try this, draw two rows of the border pattern, leaving a row of empty squares between them. Experiment until you can find an attractive way to join them, using short stitches. Then include the pattern in your all-over patterns as well as in your border patterns.

Many of the patterns can be done in two or more colors (thereby qualifying them as Holbein embroidery). Here is an example of a pattern done in two colors. See what a difference it makes when the colors are reversed?

Tip: If you are working a design in a single color and want to emphasize certain parts of the design more than other parts, use more strands of floss or yarn for the emphasized portions and fewer strands for the parts you wish to have remain in the background.

“Spot” or Cluster Patterns

These are small designs not meant to connect with each other. They may be used alone in small areas of a larger design or be scattered across a larger area as repeated designs. These repeats are rarely done at random; rather, they are carefully spaced at regular intervals.

Tip: Don't dismiss these designs as too simple, however. Look at this series of designs. Each one begins with the same design in the center. (The original spot pattern is seen in bold pen at the far left). The developing design is shown in pencil, with the added-on stitches shown in bold pen as they are added. You can create some magnificent medallions in this way. The pattern “grows” much as a snowflake does as it falls through the clouds — adding features to its outside edges.

Tip: Don't be afraid of making mistakes as you sketch these patterns. Who knows? You may create a whole new diaper pattern!

Blackwork and whitework designs are usually done completely in their signature colors of black or white. Redwork, however, is sometimes done in more than one shade of red. When this is done, the denser the pattern is, the darker shade of red is used. Done properly, this gives a three-dimensional appearance to the whole design. It does take some prior planning to make the illusion work, however.

Holbein embroidery is done in multicolor. I am working on a series of new Holbein patterns that you can expect to see in a post a few weeks from now. In the meantime, there is a series of Holbein “spots” across the bottom of this post.

Have fun — always,

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Summer Questions and Answers

Lithuanian redwork

My aunt was in Moscow a couple of years ago. She said she saw a lot of redwork in the shops, but she didn't bring any home. Can you show me what it looks like?

I don't have any Russian redwork, but I did show you a sample of antique Lithuanian redwork in the January 29, 2014 post. It should be similar to Russian work of the same period. Much of this work depended heavily on counted cross-stitch, double cross-stitch, and long-armed cross-stitch. Russian redwork would be done on white linen with wool yarn, linen floss, or silk floss. It is my impression that their red is not as bright as this red — more of a rosy red. From my studies, this red seems to grow darker the further north you go in Eastern Europe, ending up as nearly purple around the eastern end of the Baltic Sea. Traditional patterns include geometric patterns, flowers, animals, and historic or religious scenes. You might ask your aunt what kinds of patterns she noticed. I would imagine that contemporary redwork might vary from the traditional patterns and materials in some ways.

Little Dragon wall hanging

I can show you a piece of my own version of redwork, which is basically Spanish blackwork done in red. This little dragon has some embellishments done in linear and solid chain stitch in colors other than red, but the major parts of it are done in redwork. (The little fellow has stepped on his own tail, hurt himself, and is looking for someone to blame — and flame!)

Closeup of stitching on dragon

The secret to doing blackwork, redwork, whitework or any monochromatic embroidery is to decide in advance which sections of the finished picture are supposed to be the lightest, which are the darkest, and where the shadings in between those two would be on your picture. Work the lightest parts in a very open pattern with a few stitches or widely scattered stitch motifs. This lets much of the background show through. Use increasingly complex patterns with more and more stitches as you work through darker and darker shades. Save your densest patterns — those with the most stitches and the least background showing through — for the darkest parts of your picture. The closeup of the stitches shows this effect. To see the technique done almost entirely in white, go to the post for August 20, 2014.

Help! I just hate the way the back of my bargello looks! Am I upset over nothing? Should I just ignore it and keep doing what I'm doing?

I would never advise someone to ignore something which is interfering with their enjoyment of doing needlework! I have said that I am not a purist. I do not expect the back of my work to look as good as the front does. But there is no reason for it to look like last year's bird's nest, either. Here's one of the samples from the last post seen both front and back. Let's see what may be causing your distress.

Front and back ( yes, really - look closely) of bargello sample

First of all, I work with strands that are no longer than 18 inches (46 cm). Longer than that and the yarn or floss begins to look worn or frayed. If I am working with a metallic thread or one that tends to look “fuzzy”, I will use even shorter lengths. I secure the beginning of my strand by holding it against the back of the canvas with a couple of my fingers and stitching over it (but not over the fingers). If this is difficult for you, check our search engine for posts in which I discuss “waste knots”. This may be a better technique for you. When starting a strand in the middle of a row, I run it under a number of completed stitches before I stitch with it. Secure the end of a strand by running it backward under existing stitches and cut it off as close to the canvas as you can without damaging the finished stitches. When you carry lengths of yarn across the back of your canvas, hide them by running them under existing stitches. These samples are shown from the back of the canvas:

1. Correct way to start a strand;
2. Starting a strand in the middle of a row;
3. Correct way to end a strand;
4. Wrong way to carry yarn across the back of the canvas; and
5. Correct way to carry yarn across the back of a canvas.

The stitches on the front of the canvas are upright and work from left to right.

Your stitches should cover both the front and back of the canvas. When you are doing designs with ascending and descending stitches — as we have been doing — it is easy to forget this on the descending stitches and cover only the front of the canvas. This leaves strips of nearly bare canvas on the back of your design. The stitches in the pattern at the top of the sample are made from top to bottom. This is adequate to cover the side-by-side stitches, but the descending stitches leave only a tiny horizontal stitch on the back of the canvas. The rest of the canvas is bare. The stitches on the bottom pattern are made from bottom to top. This not only covers both sides of the canvas, but also provides bands of stitches to secure the beginning and end of each strand. It does, however, use more yarn than the top technique. You cannot tell the difference by looking at the work from the front; you must check the back.

I suspect this is what is bothering you. It does not look good. Even more importantly, it makes part of your work uneven in thickness and weaker than the rest. I suggest you get into the habit of checking the back of your work at the end of each row. If you have made a mistake, gently remove the stitches with the eye, not the point, of your needle, and stitch the row correctly. Do this immediately. I hope these suggestions help!

 What will you be concentrating on this fall?

As promised, I'm going to discuss bargello “optical illusions”. Knowing my enthusiasm for the subject, this will probably involve a series of articles over the coming months. I have also been doing a lot of crewel embroidery that I plan to share with you. And we will make a simple start on Swedish weaving. In addition, J.D. and I will discuss drying and storing herbs, saving flower seeds and ways of preparing the garden for winter.

Thanks for asking!

Crewel embroidery piece in progress

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More Readers' Questions Answered

I apologize for taking so long to answer questions from your e-mails and our conversations at shows. I'll try to catch up on some of them now.

Holbein's portrait of Jane Seymour

Why is it called Spanish blackwork? (See Basic Blackwork, Part I, Oct. 6,2013.)

Because it became really popular in Spain and spread from there to much of Western Europe. The patterns and techniques were introduced into Spain by the Moors, who invaded Spain from Morocco in the year 711 AD and ruled parts of it for nearly 800 years. The Moorish embroidery was done on wool with silk, gold, and silver threads. The style gained greatly in popularity when it began to be done on cheaper and more readily available linen. There is a widespread story that blackwork was brought to England by Catherine of Aragon, the Spanish first wife of King Henry VIII, but this is not accurate. Chaucer describes blackwork in his Canterbury Tales, written between 1387 and 1400, so it was well established long before her arrival in 1509. Nevertheless, there's little doubt her marriage to the king made it even more popular. It was widely used for the clothing and linens of royalty and nobility throughout the reign of Queen Elizabeth I -- and beyond. This type of embroidery was popular in Renaissance Italy, as well as in Switzerland, Germany, and the Low Countries, although each area had its individual style. Altogether, this was the period of the most lavish costumes in human history. There's a lot of history to be found in needlework!

Redwork embroidery (antique Lithuanian tablecloth)

Is blackwork always done in black?

No, although it is usually done in a single color. Even when its popularity while done in black was at its height, it was rivaled by redwork. This was done in deep red with embellishment in gold and silver thread. When the Muslim religion began to have an influence on the Byzantine Empire (330 to 1453 AD), a style of redwork spread from Constantinople northward into Bulgaria, Romania, the Caucasus and Russia, reaching as far north as Finland. (Lots of geography in needlework, too.) It remained very popular in Russia throughout the centuries. A lady who recently visited Russia assures me that it is still abundantly available in gift shops there today. The Finnish work, done in a deep purplish-red (called “Turkey Red” in my youth) is still very similar to that done in the Byzantine Empire a thousand years ago.

A sample of drawn/pulled thread whitework

“Blackwork” can also be done in white. You would think this could legitimately be called “whitework”, wouldn't you? However, this would dismay many of our Scandinavian friends, for whom “whitework” is a specialty. They will tell you it isn't “whitework” unless it is used in combination with drawn-thread work or pulled-thread work.

Owls, done in a modern version of Holbein embroidery

Finally, there is a version of this stitchery which is done in multicolor and is quite attractive. This is called Holbein embroidery, in honor of Hans Holbein the Younger, a German painter who was court portrait painter for King Henry VIII. Many of his works show amazing examples of embroidered clothing and accessories. (see the portrait of Jane Seymour above). Holbein embroidery will be the subject of a future blog.

Unicorn (in progress) in white floss - NOT "whitework"

Why are the blackwork patterns called diaper  patterns?

The word “diaper” came into English from the French language, indicating a fabric with a distinct repeating pattern. Used originally for a rich silk fabric, it came to be associated with soft white linen or cotton fabrics used for tablecloths and towels. (Don't tell me you've never grabbed up a dishtowel for the baby in an emergency!) Finally, the term was applied to any all-over fabric pattern made up of small repeated motifs or units of design (often geometric figures) connected with each other by straight or curved lines. Now the word is used here in the USA primarily for baby bottom coverings -- most of which contain no fabric at all. Just for fun, I traced the word from French to Latin and finally back to an old Greek word, diaspeirein. It is the root of both “diaspora” and “dispersion”, and originally meant to sow seeds. Eventually it came to mean “to scatter “ -- whether seeds, patterns, or people. If you are collecting diaper patterns, you might want to check this page on String-or-Nothing.com. In the meantime, I'm still inventing and adapting patterns of my own and will have some for you to download on a future blog.

Her Highness is NOT amused!

I know a “katana” is a Japanese sword; why did you name your cat Katana?

Katana is also a form of calligraphy in which the characters end in curved points like cat's claws. The cat got her name because when she was a kitten she thought she was a ninja. Sneak attacks were her specialty. The first time she met J.D., she flew through the air, snatched the doughnut he was eating out of his hand, and disappeared with it. The look on his face was priceless. If only I had had a video camera running! She will be twelve in June, so she is too old and fat for ninja antics now. But she can still race up the stairs and across the back of the couch at a pretty good speed. Her “official” name is Princess Katana, but we don't use her title in her presence. She's already vain enough.

"Feliz Navidad," a one-of-a-kind crocheted tree

Love the [crocheted] trees! Do you sell the pattern?

No, I'm sorry, I don't. Each one is really a unique yarn “sculpture”:  there isn't a single pattern. So much depends on the weight and texture of the yarns, the size of the dowel I'm mounting the tree on, the height of the tree, the color combination I'm trying to emphasize, the weight and number of ornaments I may be adding, the type of finial for the top, etc. You can probably see at least 3 basic tree shapes in the photos on the November 21, 2013 blog post. There are several more that aren't illustrated. The trees are crocheted in independent layers, and the number of layers varies from tree to tree. I modify the layers as I go along to get the effect I want. Sometimes I start at the bottom and work upwards. At other times, I start in the middle and work both ways. I may use 6 or 7 different hooks in one project. Sorry I couldn't be of more help, but I'm delighted you liked the trees!

There were also several questions about the puppets, which I will answer in the next Q and A blog. There will also be a puppet pattern to download.

Keep the questions coming!

Annake

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