Beginner’s Guide to Blackwork

Lesley Wilkins discovered blackwork samplers on a school visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London when she was only ten, and has been hooked ever since. Her fascination with the craft has led her to become not only an embroiderer of extraordinary skill, but also an expert in the history of blackwork. She has collected thousands of patterns from all over the world, and her own work is inspired by historical motifs, patterns and borders. Her designs have appeared in Needlecraft and Needlework magazines, and also edited her own embroidered sampler magazine Antique Samplerstitcher for nine years which contained many blackwork designs.Now that she has retired early from local government, Lesley continues to self-publish a variety of embroidered projects online.

• IntroductionMaterials & equipmentDesignUsing chartsGetting startedFlowers and plantsFigures, birds and animalsFill-in patternsBordersMounting your workIndex

I have never attempted Blackwork before so when the opportunity arose to review this book I was extremely happy. I really liked how the sections were set out for example Materials, Equipment, Design, Charts etc taking you through step by step.The designs are very traditional, but saying that going through again and properly looking at all of them you can swap and change and come up with quite a unique piece of blackwork. I found the fill in patterns brilliant and will definitely be giving those a go especially in different colours. Overall an interesting book.