Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping...
Time is short.
Time was not on my side.
So this month you get the highlights!

• Blackwork Embroidery is a counted thread stitch, worked on even weave linen or other fabric.
  Commonly it is black thread worked on white (gee, that must be why it's called Blackwork). There are examples of red, green, gold, and blue on historical blackwork pieces.
  
• Archeological digs in Egypt (insert Steve Martin joke here) date Blackwork back to the 1300's and even earlier.
  
• Chaucer speaks of Blackwork in his Canterbury Tales -
  
  Of white, too, was the dainty smock she wore,
  Embroidered at the collar all about
  With coal-black silk, alike within and out
  
  
• The Elizabethans called it "Spanysshe Work" (love that spelling) because of it was thought to be of Spanish Origin.
  
• Blackwork Embroidery became a big smash (so the legend goes) when Catherine of Arragon (1485-1536) married Henry the VIII in 1509
  (Catherine was the first of Henry's six wives. Henry was actually Catherine's second husband, she married his older brother first. Unfortunately the older brother died before he could succeed the crown. Catherine was then promised to 10 year old Henry. What every 10 year old wants for his birthday, don't you think, his dead older brother's wife)
  
• Catherine (born in Spain to Spanish Monarch's Ferdinand and Isabella) was a great embroiderer and she quickly taught her court the Spanysshe Work she knew from home.
  
• Blackwork became the rage. Everyone was doing it.
  
• One of the reasons Blackwork was so popular (besides the fact the Queen was doing it, so we must do it as well) was the fact that it emulated lace, which at the time was highly taxed. Therefore it was sort of the bargain basement version of lace.
  
• At first Blackwork was seen mainly on undershirt collars and cuffs. You can see it peeking out in pictures of the day (more on that later). Because it was used on these parts of clothing it needed to be able to be viewed from the front as well as the back. This led to the wide use of the double running stitch, which is the same on both sides.
  
• For those of you keeping score at home we are now in the Tudor Period (1485-1603)
  
• One of the quaint customs of the day was to entertain your guests in your bedroom (the boudoir, I'm sure). While you had everyone milling about your sleeping quarters, you, as a remarkable embroiderer, wanted everyone to notice your fabulous embroidery skills. So, everyone began to think of other places (besides undershirts) to show off that Blackwork that everyone was doing. Soon, bedcovers, door covers, and nightcaps were covered with Blackwork. Then someone figured out that since you were in your bedroom, you needed some special night clothes to wear and guess what…they put Blackwork on that as well.
  
• How do we know everyone was wearing Blackwork embroidered clothes? Very few actual pieces survive (most pieces still around were ecclesiastical clothing) because of the harsh lyes used in soaps as well as what they used for black dye. Soot, vitriol, brown wool, "allom", iron fillings, and more lye were just some of the items put in the dye. Most pieces rotted quickly (this was even before the big blue marking ink debate).
  
• So again, I asked, how do we know everyone was wearing Blackwork? Four words, Hans Hobein, the Younger (yes, there was a Hans Holbein, the Elder who was a painter, too, but we're not talking about him today). Hans Hobein (1497-1543) was the court painter and he left behind galleries upon galleries of paintings depicting portraits of people and their clothing (guess he didn't do nudes). His work is an excellent source of Blackwork, with so much detail that you can actually recreate a Blackwork pattern from his paintings. You can find an online Holbein gallery here.
  
• We owe so much gratitude to Hans for depicting Blackwork, that the double running stitch so extensively used in Blackwork is also called the Holbein stitch (gee, when I grow up, I want a stitch named after me).
  
• Blackwork went crazy when the Elizabethans came around.
  
• Again, those of you keeping score at home, we are now in the Elizabethan Period (1558-1603), a sub part of the broader Tudor Period
  
• During this period, Blackwork migrated from just cuffs and collars to whole entire sleeves and bodices. Also, slanted lines are introduced into the work (before this, Blackwork was only done in right angles, which gave that very geometric shape to it).
  
• A favorite Elizabethan technique was to outline a shape of a fruit, leaf, or a flower (sometimes all three) and then fill in the outline with geometric Blackwork Patterns.
  
• You thought working out of a pattern book was a 20th century thing. Well, in the 16th century, Germany invented the printing press and Blackwork pattern books were printed. People of the day copied Blackwork patterns out of these books with the "prick and pounce" method of transferring. They would prick holes in the printed page and then pounce over it with a powder substance. This is why we don't see many 16th century Blackwork pattern books today. All that pricking was murder on the paper.
  
• Blackwork continued to be popular into the 17th Century. A painting of the Virgin and St. Anne by Francis de Zurbaran (1598-1664) shows the two embroidering. Looking closely, the Virgin's piece is Blackwork (can't for the life of me find an online picture of that one, sorry folks)
  
• Counted work of all types became less popular starting with the 18th century. Embroidery books of the day do not mention Blackwork at all. Victorians found little interest in counted work.
  
• The 20th century brought about a mini revival in Blackwork. Osyth Wood was a notable embroiderer starting in 1925 through 1960. Though she used many forms techniques of embroidery, she left several exquisite pieces of Blackwork to the Embroiderers' Guild.
  
• The 1960's brought about change to the rules of embroidery (much like it changed many "rules"). No longer were people encouraged to adhere to rigid guidelines of embroidery, but instead were encouraged to expand the boundary of traditional work. Blackwork became a way of shading portraits and pictures. Entire character studies are done in Blackwork. The rule of looking the same on both sides is no longer steadfast. Instead, Blackwork is seen as a study in light and dark. Open work produces a "light" look to the piece, while dense stitches will produce a "dark" look.
  
• What stitches do you need to know to do Blackwork
  (Links will take you to Sherry Boggin's Website)
  
  o Backstitch
  o Double Running Stitch (Holbein Stitch) (from the Blackwork Embroidery Archives)
  o Cross Stitch and it's variants
  o Reversible Cross Stitch (Jill Martz's Excellent Diagram of this Stitch)
  o Eye Stitch
  o Double Cross Stitch
  
• How do you incorporate Silk Ribbon Embroidery Into Blackwork? You can introduce color, gold, red, green, or blue with the Black. You can stitch Spider Web Roses, like the example on the Swap Page (you could even put a Spider Web Rose on the Back side of the piece, therefore recreating the reversible work). You could put Lazy Daisy Flowers, Straight Stitches, Bullion stitches, or whatever you feel like. To keep within the spirit of Blackwork, though, put an equal number of flowers on the piece, keeping the balanced look. Play with the light and dark aspect of the piece, find spaces that you could fill in with ribbon.
  
• That's it, all he wrote. Enjoy the pictures of our swap. They can be found here.
  
• Oh, you want links. Well, there's TONS of Blackwork on the net. Here are a few choice ones:
  
  http://www.blackworkarchives.com/
  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2344/dorren.htm
  http://www.x-calibredesigns.co.uk/how_to.htm
  http://www.x-calibredesigns.co.uk/blackwork_class.htm
  http://www.geocities.com/monstonitrus/a_and_s/blackwork/blackwork.html
  http://crossstitch.miningco.com/cs/blackwork/
  http://needlearts.dm.net/stitches/double-run.html
  http://www.nwlink.com/~dbmeek/hanscan.html (Holbein Paintings)
  http://www.info-tech.com.au/lindagryllis/blackedi.html
  http://tasha.htmlplanet.com/SCA/blackwork.html
  http://www.jmddesigns.co.nz/bwhis.htm
  http://www.dnaco.net/~aleed/corsets/headwear/coifmake.html
  http://www.dnaco.net/~aleed/corsets/black-bib.html (List of Blackwork Books)
  http://www.kreinik.com/HTML/freebies/free_blue_tulips.htm (Blackwork in Blue)
  http://www.lacestudio.co.uk/blackwork.htm
  http://www.white-works.com/blackwork.htm
  http://www.planetc.com/users/derwyddon/blkwrk.html
  http://aeg.atlantia.sca.org/projects/howto/blackwork/ (Patterns)
  http://www.embroiderersguild.org.uk/stitch/infocus/blackwork.html
  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/4756/blckwrk.htm
  http://www.skinnersisters.com/stitch/issue1/
  http://website.lineone.net/~lbsc/blackwor.htm
  http://website.lineone.net/~lbsc/bwplus.htm
  http://www.island.net/~doerksen/needle.html
  http://virtualgardehttp:blackwork.htmns.net/SafeHaven/lessons/blackwork.htm
  http://needlepoint.about.com/library/weekly/aa120401.htm?terms=Blackwork+Embroidery
  http://crossstitch.about.com/cs/blackwork/index.htm?terms=Blackwork+Embroidery
  http://needlepoint.about.com/cs/blackwork/index.htm?terms=Blackwork+Embroidery