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Blackwork Embroidery is normally simply referred to as "Blackwork".
It is a simple form of embroidery, using black thread on white or off-white fabric.
Technique
Blackwork is usually executed on even-weave fabric that is easily countable. Any black thread can be used, but firmly twisted threads of any material give a better look than embroidery floss. Sometimes metallic threads or coloured threads are used for accents. Related embroidery forms are Whitework, which uses white thread and Scarletwork, which uses red thread. The stitches used are double running stitch (which is also called holbein stitch or backstitch) and sometimes stem stitch.
Historically, there are three known techniques to execute blackwork.
- The stitches are executed following a counting pattern, creating both the bigger shapes and small filling patterns. Most modern blackwork follows this pattern, especially the commercially produced patterns that are marketed for hobby stitchers. The whole embroidery looks somewhat geometric.
- The shapes, which can be curvilinear, are surrounded by outlines made from stem stitch and then filled with geometric patterns
- The entire embroidery is curvilinear, and often uses random stitches, so-called seed stitches, as filling rather than geometric patterns. This style was invented to mimic etchings.
History
Historically, blackwork was used on shirts and chemises or smocks in England from the time of Henry VIII. Initially it was known as "Spanish work" since Catherine of Aragon is said to have brought many blackwork garments with her from Spain. A favourite motif on her clothing was the pomegranate which was used as a heraldic device in Granada, where Catherine lived as a child.
The portrait painter Hans Holbein the Younger became court painter to Henry VIII, and he painted Henry's queens wearing smocks decorated with blackwork. The double-running stitch employed in blackwork is often called Holbein stitch.
Blackwork in silk on linen was a predominant 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.)
Modern blackwork
Today, blackwork is more popular than ever. It has a modern feel, due to its austere, formal quality. Much of the success of a blackwork design depends on how tone values are translated into stitches.
Amongst the motifs used, maps are parlicularly popular, also chessboards, in fact anything which could be the subject of a pen and ink drawing.
Blackwork is also an integral part of Assisi Embroidery where it is used to outline the main motif and some of the decoration. Both modern and folk-art cross-stich are sometimes combined with blackwork or similar backstich embroidery.
References
- Digby, George Wingfield. Elizabethan Embroidery. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1964.
- Gostelow, Mary. Blackwork, Batsford, 1976; Dover reprint, 1998, ISBN 0486401782
- Readers Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, 1979, ISBN 0895770598.
External links
- Blackwork Embroidery {History, design sources, period patterns)
- http://www.sca.org.au/cunnan/wiki/Blackwork
- A Blackwork Embroidery Primer
- Blackwork for Costume
- The Elizabethan Practical Companion's Blackwork Gallery (links to portraits depicting blackwork)
- http://www.prettyimpressivestuff.com/stitches/holbein_files/holbein_frames.htm Holbein Stitch Diagram
Embroidery | History of clothing (Western fashion) | History of clothing (Europe)
"Blackwork Embroidery"