Not dead yet...

... just hibernating. With no scheduled end date. Jenn and I both want to see UVFC continue, but we never meant for it to be a two-woman show for so long - so if you like the idea of a community fibercraft blog, we'd love your help making it happen and have a whole post about possible participation. The two of us will be back eventually, though, in any case.

Meanwhile, I've added to the blackwork map. I designed an era-appropriate alphabet and stitched a title, compass rose, and attribution. My personal craft blog has details about the design process and inspiration, if you're curious. You can get the finished alphabet pattern and word layouts in my Google Drive to add to your own medieval-style stitching. Here's mine:

Now I think I'd like to take a walk...

Finished and revised blackwork map

Remember the Upper Valley in blackwork pattern from the end of May? I finally finished my stitching of it! With that experience, I revised the pattern - error fixes, tweaking the town boundaries so they don't require long long stitches, and making how the fillings meet the outlines more consistent (with the goal of avoiding stitches that are so close together they blend into one).

Here's the pattern in Google Drive: Upper Valley Blackwork Map, revised.

I've posted progress pictures on my personal craft blog, which you can find under the tag "blackwork map."

The Upper Valley in Blackwork

Our first tutorial is a map of the Upper Valley (as defined by the Valley News) that I designed in the counted-thread embroidery style known as blackwork. The pattern is a pdf that includes instructions, a preview, a single-page version of the pattern, and a three-page version for easier reading. Download it here: Upper Valley Blackwork Map.

I didn't define blackwork in the previous post because I knew this was coming right up. Despite its name, the central identifying trait of blackwork is not the black on white color scheme; there are ample historical examples in other colors. Instead, blackwork is distinguished by the fact that "solid" regions are filled in with repetitive stitch patterns that are actually quite open. It is also common, though not necessary, that the patterns allow the stitched fabric to be reversible. This requires that the patterns be connected so you do not need to cross between them on one side and not the other, or start and stop threads in the middle of the fabric to avoid such crossing. Wikipedia's blackwork page has a lot of good pictures, and Nordic Needle has a page with history, materials, and methods for blackwork.

Lovely fill patterns that are historical or in the historical style are freely available, and from them I would most recommend Ensamplario Atlantio, a collection by Kim Brody Salazar. However, I suffer that strain of DIY mania common to crafters, and created my own fills from each town's initials. You may wish to replace them, and, in particular, if you want to make a reversible piece of work you will have to replace most of them. In case you'd like to crop the map, in simplifying the town boundaries (and shifting them a bit so the littlest towns still had a decent amount of space) I made sure boundary intersections all happen at grid corners.

The traditional stitch to use for blackwork is double running stitch, also known as Holbein stitch. Needlework Tips and Techniques has a whole page on double running stitch, aimed at blackwork and complete with video.

It will be a while before I finish mine. I'm working with 32 count linen; it's really not very even for an evenweave, but since I'm stitching over two threads to make it 16 count, things average out a bit. I'm using one strand of black (DMC 310) embroidery floss. I started in the middle and have five towns finished: Norwich, Hanover, Hartford, Lebanon, and Hartland.