Tudor blackwork embroidery

Three blackwork cuffs were embroidered, with two left purposely unfinished, using black silk floss and a high count of white evenweave linen to replicate Tudor blackwork embroidery for an upcoming TV adaptation of Philippa Gregory's novel on Catherine of Aragon.

This year was the first year that I had ever attended RUM (Royal University of the Midrealm held on November 22, 2014). I chose to teach an Intro to Blackwork Embroidery class while there. Overall, the class went extremely well. At first, there was some confusion as my class was scheduled in one room and ended up being placed in a classroom across the hall. With my class, I provided a binder for display that had various blackwork embroidery patterns (both historical and modern) as well as…

Click here for the video that goes along with today's post. So, you have learned the basics of how to do blackwork embroidery. Now you're interested in creating your own historical patterns, but maybe don’t know where to start? First, you need to find historical blackwork embroidery designs. Here are links to some examples: "Sir Thomas More and Family" (portrait is at the Nostell Priory and is part of the National Trust Collection) "Portrait of a Boy with a Marmoset" portrait is at the…

For my latest project, I decided to make a blackwork embroidered coif. In first doing research, I found that most historical coifs had a circular pattern, such as the one pictured below. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78811/coif-unknown/ http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O251244/coif-and-forehead-unknown/ http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/228946 (pictured above) A step by step guide on how to make a coif is available at…

Below are some of my blackwork projects.

Here is what I have so far! The diamond pattern and the flower pattern both came from Jane Bostocke's sampler from 1598. The linen fabric that I am using is not an even weave, so the pattern appears elongated. I am using twisted black silk thread for the embroidery. I counted every third hole per stitch on the linen fabric. The fabric is mounted on to a slate frame, as seen here. Watch as I embroider this project from beginning to end here.

A 16th century inspired blackwork embroidery pattern.

A selection of renaissance style cloaks and similar items

It is amazing how different embroidery stitches can appear from far away compared to up close! Based on my first impression of the embroidery on the shirt below, I thought it was a single bold line creating the embroidery seen below (please see my blog post here). © Victoria and Albert Museum, London http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115767/shirt-unknown/ However, upon closer examination, it turns out that it is reversible cross stitch! Such tiny small x's create the bold single line that…

The embroidery patterns below are my interpretations of patterns found on a 16th Century Italian embroidery sampler located at the V&A Museum (Victoria & Albert Museum) in London. Blackwork embroidery is also known as double-running stitch or Holbein stitch. Historically, it was typically found as silk thread embroidered on white linen in a reversible stitch. Suggested Items for Purchase: - Silk thread (Needle in a Haystack): http://www.needlestack.com/WebStore/Thread/AVAS_Ovale.html or…

Tudor blackwork embroidery

Blackwork embroidery pattern from 1544.

16th century embroidery patterns from a German book.

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).

Small pieces of embroidered fabric were loosely stitched together in a pattern book from 17th century Portugal. Some of the embroideries include the double running stitch, also known as blackwork or Holbein stitch. Pictures of this book are made available by the Met Museum here. (Picture from the Met Museum) By zooming in on these pictures, you can actually count the stitches. For example, below is a zoomed in picture of the green embroidery pictured above. For every dark spot on the thread…

Explore RalRay Embroidery's 98 photos on Flickr!

Tudor Blackwork Embroidery: Some Embroidery Patterns from Giovanni Antonio Tagliente