This week’s Costume Word of the Week is “Blackwork“.

Traditionally when someone talks about blackwork, it is referring to black embroidery in a geometric pattern on a light colored (white or cream) ground. But blackwork wasn’t always done in black, but can be found in period portraits in gold, red and rarely green or blue. There are also several kinds of stitches, some do not look as good on both sides. This was something I had a problem understanding when I was first trying to do blackwork. I thought it all had to be done in “holbien stitch” or “double back stitch”. Blackwork can be borders, or fills within an organic shape. It’s quite versatile.

One of the best websites for explaining blackwork is “A Blackwork Embroidery Primer“.

You can see a gorgeous blackwork partlet coming together at Kimko Sews’ Livejournal.

The Attack Laurel has some mind blowing blackwork and other embroideries on her website Extreme Costuming. She’s even selling embroidery patterns for coifs through Reconstructing History.

One tip I used while working on a plain fabric (not an embroidery fabric like Aida), was to set down a piece of plastic canvas over the area I was going to work, and with my sharp charcoal or chalk pencil, I put a dot in the center of each of the holes. I could then do my embroidery with reference points as if I WERE working on Aida. And I didn’t even have to worry about it not coming out because I was putting a hole at each one of the spots that got covered up by thread anyway.

It’s much easier to do on aida, however aida is not generally used in clothing, nor is it period. The plant with bugs is done on regular cotton because I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I might do something like it in the future on linen. My favorite is my sampler. Most times when I want to see how a design will turn out, or how to tweak it, I do it up on the sampler and see how it looks with a line or two missing, and with different numbers of threads.

You can also “fake it” by using black thread in your sewing machine, and using some of the decorative stitches that may already be on your machine. Even try combining a few stitches to make them look like a design. One of the reasons I purchased my Brother sewing machine, in the model I did, was so I could program my own designs in and easily put blackwork edging around items. Look at your sewing machine’s manual, usually you can find a chart of stitches in there. just think about how some of them would look next to each other, or even overlapped. You may find using some sort of wash-away stabilizer (I prefer aqua melt) is helpful for thin fabrics, so your fabric doesn’t get sucked down into the machine. You will have to wash the stabilizer out before wearing it if you use it. And one good thing about using a sewing machine stitch for this, is that it’s usually the same on both sides and quick to apply.

Here are some examples of blackwork in period portraits:

During Henry VIII's Reign

From Mary I's Reign

From Elizabeth I's Reign