Blackwork

On a whim I decided to start some blackwork cuffs for a new camicia or smock. I was going to do this at Quest while sitting troll, but a combination of an awesome influx of volunteers and the event shutting down early, stopped this from happening. Therefore I started yesterday, in order to have something to do between changing loads of laundry.

I have never done any blackwork that's not monochromatic, so I pulled out some gorgeous red silk I've been saving for a rainy day. It just so happens that yesterday was quite rainy. Add that to some black silk, and a 16th Century Italian needlework sampler pattern, and I have hours of fun(The pattern I'm using is at a upper left diagonal from the large red pattern in the center-ish). My fabric doesn't have a perfectly even weave, so that changes it to look more diamond shaped than the original. I count threads rather than use waste-fabric. I've tried that method and I can't get the stitches to lay smooth and flat, and it's just so very fussy. I've been working on a blackworked caul for ages using waste fabric and I have struggled to finish it because of this. I'd rather have a slightly skewed pattern that can be interpreted as having *meant* to look like that, than deal with waste fabric.

The stitches on the far right were for getting a feel for the stitch length versus floss weight before starting my actual pattern. The "wrong" side of the embroidery isn't as clean and reversible as I would like due to changing colors, but it is improving as I go along. The picture is craptacular, but it does give you a feel for how far I got on yesterday.

I got a request to do a scroll for Uprising, which has a very short turn-around time, but I'm waiting for some more information on whether the recipient has registered arms or not before I begin.