Blackwork embroidery designs

In this post I'm going to share with you a key part of my preparation for my RSN blackwork module - choosing the blackwork stitches.

Blackwork or Spanish Blackwork is a form of embroidery using black silk on white or off-white linen. Learn more and get free designs here.

Blackwork is a centuries-old form of embroidery. In Elizabethan times clothing was decorated with delicate blackwork patterns stitched in black silk threads, and sometimes accentuated with g…

Finished up a couple of Blackwork bookmarks in July. We spent a couple of days at my In-Law's cabin on a lake. If I wasn't helping with meals or reading, I was stitching under the trees. It was such a relaxing couple of days. The basic pattern, for the bookmark above, is from my Blackwork Made Easy Book by Leslie Wilkins. The other bookmark shown below was a pattern I found on Pinterest. They just need a nice little backing and then will be put into my Bible. That's all for today. Until…

It's finished, done, complete. I will miss the slow pace of the work, the richness of the gold and black, that wonderful experience of doing something new for the first time. However... Ta Da! (imagine trumpets playing a fanfare here...) Here's a close up of the wrapped pearl purl and the

Here are the best free blackwork embroidery patterns showing classic Elizabethan monochromatic designs. Used to adorn cuffs, collars and hems of garments, today

Modern blackwork embroidery charts and blackwork embroidery kits. You'll find some free blackwork charts, blackwork embroidery instructions and details of our free blackwork stitch-a-long. Plus lots of photographs of beautifully stitched up pieces in our galleries!

Jane Bostocke's 1598 Sampler can be seen at the V&A Museum here. Jane Bostocke's Sampler at the V&A Museum. Embroidered linen with coloured silk and metal threads, seed pearls and beads. The blackwork embroidery patterns below are from Bostocke's sampler and can be found here (Claudette Ziemann's page).

My attempt at stitching the first page of fill-in patterns from Lesley Wilkins' Beginner's Guide to Blackwork. Blogged at: backstitch.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/blackwork-fill-in-sam...