Blackwork Keridwen the Mouse This article is the culmination of a number of blackwork projects, classes and discussions on email

and in person. What is blackwork? To start with, definitions of embroidery is a modern concept. At the time of doing the embroidery it is unclear what the embroiderers would have called the various stitches and styles, and yet to study embroidery we have created names to put the work into categories. However, the questions of what is blackwork? is still difficult to answer with an great certainty. Some books define blackwork is any monochrome (only one colour) sewing on contrasting cloth. Others give the definition that it is only blackwork if it is black and by the same rules, anything in blue is bluework and anything in red is redwork. And still others have a much stricter definition. I had a discussion with someone about my blackwork Tudor cuffs only to be told that isnt blackwork, thats Spanish work. The problem is that there are a large number of styles which all could be called blackwork. I think the majority of scholars agree that blackwork was a style which reached the height of its popularity from 1500-1650, predominantly in England but also throughout Europe. There are a number of major styles. a) Monochrome, linear designs, mostly used for collars and cuffs This is the first form of blackwork, which is also called Spanish work. It can be counted geometric forms or free flowing foliage designs. The picture below is one of a pair of cuffs based on a portrait of Jane Seymour.

This shirt shows a floral design (and a much younger Corin)

b) Monochrome, floral designs with geometric fills, mostly in Elizabethan sleeves These are the classic Elizabethan sleeves style. This style was also often embellished with some gold thread and spangles. This is a favour using this style.

c) Monochrome, floral designs with speckling shading The flowers or emblems were sewn to imitate a woodcut, sometimes having been printed from a woodcut and then sewn over. This style often wasnt always completely monochrome. The speckling stitches could be of a different colour to the outline stitches, but the range of colours was still very limited. A classic example of this style is the Shepards Buss (from the V&A images)

d) Repeated motifs In a number of coifs in particular, it was common to use a motif of a few centimetre in size and cover the entire surface of the material with this regular pattern. This form was also often embellished with gold thread and spangles. The example below is from the V&A.

e) other

Even though the above four classes covers most of what you would think is blackwork, there are still extant pieces that dont quite fit the mould. For example, there is a coif in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow that has a floral design and the background is filled in a regular pattern not the flowers! What did they call it then? In Tudor and Elizabethan times, the style was known as Spanish work, in the Spanish fashion, blackwork or wrought with black silk, worked with black, if they bothered to describe the embroidery in any great detail at all. The inventories focussed on the items, not the decoration upon them. For example Wardrobe accounts of Katharine of Aragon sheets and pillow-beres wrought with Spanish work of black silk at the edge. [Geddes/McNeill] New Years Gift to Queen Mary in 1556 were smocks wrought with black silk Spanish fashion [Geddes/McNeill] New Years Gifts to Elizabeth 1578-9 from Lady Digby A smock and two pillow-beres of cameryck with blackwork and edged with a broad bone-lace of black silk [Geddes/McNeill] 1588-9 from Mrs Twist a pair of sleeves of camberick wrought with black silke [Digby] What isnt blackwork? And by the way what is redwork or bluework? Some claim that blackwork is mentioned in Geoffrey Chausers, Canterbury Tales, written between 1388 and 1400. However since this is the wrong time frame, and it doesnt mention anything about the pattern or stitch, it is unlikely that this is the first example of blackwork. Millers Tale describes Alison the carpenters wife Her smock was white; embroidery repeated Its pattern on the collar front and back, Inside and out; it was of silk, and black. And all the ribbons of her milky mutch Were made to match her collar to a touch Coghill translation Gostelow uses the Fulda fragment as the first surviving example of blackwork. It is an icon style line drawing. It is not the right style of pattern and is much too early to be blackwork by our definition. Redwork might have been a term used in Elizabethan accounts to denote something decorated in red silk. It is definitely used to refer to an 18th and 19th century American style of monochrome embroidery used to decorate patchwork quilts. Bluework doesnt refer to any particular style that I know of, although the Deerfield style of the early 19th century was predominately blue. Terms like redwork, bluework, greenwork, etc are confusing because they can mean more than just blackwork done in another colour.

Materials Blackwork was almost always silk on linen. The silk was most often black but there are examples of red, purple, green, brown and blue silk being used. Most often only a single colour of thread was used for the whole piece, but occasionally a second or third colour was used. The pieces was then often enriched with gold thread, beads or spangles. Often lace edging was used on blackworked pieces. The stitches most commonly used in blackwork are running stitch, including speckling stitch, double running stitch (modernly known as Holbein stitch), stem stitch and backstitch. Braid stitch and plaited braid stitch were often used when putting gilt thread sections on a blackworked item. Samplers The oldest surviving sampler is the one by Jane Bostocke from 1598. However, samplers were known of from records since 1502. The word exemplar was found in a dictionary from 1530. In 1552, in the Edward VI inventory, is a sampler or set of patterns worked on Normandy canvas with green and black silks [Warner]. It would seem that these early samplers were not for show as they seem to be today, but were a personal reference tool to be used constantly when embroidering, especially blackwork. These were sometimes bequeathed in wills. The rich wife used them as shown in a story by Barnabe Riche, Phylotus and Emilia Now, when she had dined, then she might go seekout her examplers, and to peruse which would do beste in a ruffe, which in a gorget, whiche in a sleeve, which in a quaife, whiche in a caul, and which in a handcarcheef [Digby] What got blackworked? Most items could have been blackworked. During this time, almost any cloth item that stayed still long enough would have been decorated with embroidery, and I dont doubt that blackwork would have been used a lot. However, there do seem to be items for which blackwork was more commonly used as a decoration. For example, Ive done research which suggested that handkerchiefs were not commonly blackworked. The most common decoration for handkerchiefs in the late 1500s was lace. But blackworked handkerchiefs did exist. Items that commonly got blackworked include nightcaps, handkerchiefs, nightshirts, coifs, forehead clothes, foreparts, sleeves, ruffs, hand ruffs, partlets, stomachers, tooth clothes, jackets, purses, covers, pillow covers and chalice veils. Bibliography Altherr, Ilse, Reversible Blackwork Book 1 Lots of patterns for geometric fill stitches with stitch by stitch instructions on how to sew them reversibly. However, the techniques described are not necessarily authentic. There is a basic technique section and a very brief and inaccurate history section. Ashelford, Jane, (1988), Dress in the Age of Elizabeth I, BT Batsford Ltd, London. Not much text about blackwork, but lots of portraits showing blackwork. Barnett, Lesley, (1996), Blackwork, Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney.

Dont bother with this book. It has a good picture (of a floral shaped slip done in blackwork), but is otherwise useless for the historical embroiderer. It does have basic info about techniques and materials for sewing, but so do other blackwork books. This book talks mostly about modern uses of blackwork as art form. There are far better books out there. Chaucer, Geoffrey, (1987), The Canterbury Tales, Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia. Digby, George Wingfield, (1963), Elizabethan Embroidery, Faber and Faber, London This is an absolutely fabulous book for Elizabethan embroidery and what it was used for. It has lots of lovely black and white pictures. However the information on blackwork is scattered throughout the book mixed in with all the other types of needlework and textiles. Don, Sarah, (1990), Traditional Embroidered Animals, Sally Milner Publishing, Sydney. A surprisingly useful book considering its focused scope. Only a chapter on blackwork, but that was more than Id expected and the information is useful stuff.. Evans, Susan J., (1989), Complete Anachronist No 31, - An Introduction to Blackwork, The Society for Creative Anachronism, Milpitas CA, USA This is generally a good book to start with, but is not the whole story. Most of the historical information comes from Gostelows book. It has several cunning fill patterns and a few ideas about projects, as well as the standard basic sewing tips. However there are no photos of paintings or extant pieces just line drawings. Geddes, Elizabeth, McNeill, Moyra, (1976), Blackwork Embroidery, Dover Publications Inc, New York. I think this is an all round good book. It is cheap and readily available. It has lots of good ideas for fill stitches and many good pictures. Also the history section is pretty good although it sometimes wanders off the subject of embroidery. Again, it has the almost compulsory sections of basic techniques and modern design. Gostelow, Mary, (1976), Blackwork, Dover Publications Inc, New York. A good book generally, although a disagree strongly with her all inclusive definition of blackwork. Lots of good pictures. King, Donald, Levey, Santina, (1993), The Victoria and Albert Museums Textile Collection, Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750, Canopy Books, New York. Fabulous pictures of embroidery over a wide time frame. Only a handful relate specifically to blackwork, but they are good. Levey, Santina, (1998), Elizabethan Treasures: The Hardwick Hall Textiles, The National Trust, London. This book talks mostly about the larger textiles bed and wall hangings, but does mention the household linen, accounts for materials and the textile workers. Norris, Herbert, (1997), Tudor Costume and Fashion, Dover Publications, London. This is one of the earliest costuming books and it is now known to be inaccurate in many ways. However it is still packed with information. It has very little on embroidery and blackwork though.

Ribeiro, Aileen, Cumming, Valerie, (1989), The Visual History of Costume, BT Batsford Ltd, London. General costuming book. It allows you to see the embroidery fashions in their correct timeframe. Speirs, Gill, Quemby, Sigrid, (1985), A Treasury of Embroidery Designs, Colporteur Press, Sydney. This book studies several extant embroidered pieces and breaks down the stitches and patterns so that someone could replicate them. Several of the pieces are blackwork. The historical detail is sketchy but there are detailed pictures of the pieces studied. Staniland, Kay, (1997), Medieval Craftsmen Embroiderers, British Museum Press, London. A very useful book about the embroidery guilds and techniques during the middle ages/pre-1500. It only briefly touches on later Renaissance embroidery styles. Synge, Lanto, (1982), Antique Needlework, Blandford Press, Dorset. Good book for general history of needlework, but little specifically on blackwork. Warner, Pamela, (1991), Embroidery A History, B T Batsford Ltd, London. A good general history focussing on many particular pieces, but not much specifically on blackwork. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/mideng.browse.html http://www.canterburytales.org/canterbury_tales.html