How do do Elizabethan Black-Work with beads.

What is Blackwork?  

Blackwork is an early form of adding pattern and decoration to renaissance clothing.  Initially all blackwork was done with black silk thread that was sewn into the clothing to make geometric patterns.  In theory all blackwork was reversible.  The patterning was more expensive than buying lace, simply because of the time consuming nature.  However, because it is not considered lace, there was no tax on it through the sumptuary laws.  (Laws that basically stopped the lower classes from adding decoration to their clothing and looking higher than their class.)  

How did it come about?

This is one of those "we don't actually know the answer" moments in history.  Best guess-- Most historians believe that blackwork came to England through Catherine of Aragon.   She was engaged to Prince Arthur of England at the age of three.  Arthur gave her a doll house as an engagement present.  They were married when she turned sixteen and Arthur promptly died five months later.  Since the marriage was not actually consummated  Catherine was married again to Arthur's younger brother Henry VIII, shortly after his father passed away.  (Henry VII was blocking the marriage, because he had a falling out with Catherine's father Ferdinand)  (Yes that is the one that sent Christopher Columbus out sailing.)  I'm not going to get into the historical details of Anne Boyle and Henry's head chopping history.  (That's a story for another time.)



Let's focus on the blackwork.  Catherine loved lacework and was pretty handy with a needle.  She embroidered many of Henry's tunics with this new style.  It gained in popularity and caught on with the people in England.  At first blackwork followed the Spanish embroidery styles--which looked almost middle eastern in its nature.  An important nature of blackwork is that it is reversible.  More importantly it can be seen from both sides.  Very important if you are looking at a collar or a cuff.





After Catherine is "divorced" by Henry, blackwork falls somewhat out of favor until Queen Elizabeth I starts adding it to her wardrobe.  Since Catherine's daughter Mary was Elizabeth's nursemaid growing up, it is possible that the skill passed to Elizabeth through Mary.  Elizabeth changed the design and used fill patterns.  This style is not reversible and was used to make designs such as fruit and flowers.




Blackwork is most likely the predecessor of cross-stitch.

On to the Bodice: 

I didn't initially plan to put blackwork on the dress.  In fact, I wanted to keep this dress pretty plain, but I ran into a problem.  From a distance, the lines in the chevron were blending into the silk background.  After all the work spent making the dress to specifically have the "v" shaped chevron-ing, I didn't want to have it all blend into a dull yellow color.  Returning to the main picture, I realized that I had drawn the chevron's in with stark black lines.  This gave me an idea.  What if I played with the blackwork process to make the chevron's pop?  

Frankly I've never liked needlepoint or cross-stitch.  I can do it, but I don't like the flat look.  I do love beading.  It is one of my joys.  After doing some research on the blackwork style, I decided it would be possible for me to use black seed beads to create the same effect.  The dark black bead would make the lines pop.

Since I'm used to beading, I wasn't afraid to take this on.  I should have been.  At the beginning I used traditional beading to put on the beads--one bead at a time, double back to reinforce and add another bead.  (See pictures below.)

It worked really well--if I wanted to wear the dress in about five years.  The process was taking a really long time, so on the way back doubling the first line I started triple beading.  It is not as strong as traditional beading, but it sped up the process. To add stability I linked the the two strands of beads together wtih a binding stitch.  (see below.)

Take the thread.

Strand two to three beads.  (Four beads tends to bind together to create a flower.)

Push the needle into the fabric the distance of the beads and pull through so the beads sit firmly on the line.  

Take the needle horizontal and catch the first line of beads that have already been sewn.  Pull the needle through.

Solidify the stitch by catching the the last thread sewn.  Pull the thread tight and grab your next two beads.

I know what you are thinking...."There is not enough time in the day to do all of that."  Yup you're right.  After beading the entire bodice this way, I turned to the underskirt and the sleeves and nearly had a nervous breakdown.  Once the uncontrollable sobbing subsided, I started thinking rationally.

What exactly was I wanting?  Answer: Nice straight rows of beads.  I was fiddling with a string of beads I had bought at the craft store at the time, and I spent a moment looking at the thin fishing line they were strung upon.  An idea formed.  What if I used fishing line?  The plan was fantastic!  Here is the process: 

Items needed: seed beads (good quality-bargain seed beads tend to have holes that are not uniform.  About half of a bag may be unusable.  It's better to spend some money on quality beads.  

I dumped the beads into a custard cup.

Taking the fishing line, I dipped it into the custard cup, gathering up beads and stringing them on the line.  I thought this was going to be time consuming.  Really it only took a few hours to create several yards of beaded fishing line.  

I left the spool on the strung beads, so when I was sewing I had extra line to maneuver.  

I used my old embroidery hoop to lock down the beads onto the fabric, so they didn't shift as I was working.  

When the hoop couldn't be used, for example on the sleeves-- I used a pin to lock the beads in place.  

Just like in the processes above, I made a base stitch.  Pulling the needle through a single bead, I attached it to the fabric.  

The next series of beads I wrapped the thread around the bead and pulled tight until it slid between the beads and locked the fishing line to the fabric.  

The underside of the fabric looked like a somewhat straight line, because I always doubled back one bead with each stitch.  

At the end of the line, I threaded the fishing line back through the last two beads, and top-stitched over where it was looped.  Later I discovered it was easier to give the fishing line some slack, turn the beads and start the second row immediately.  I followed the same process as above, but I did lock the beads together, using the technique I explained in the second section of this blog.  

In the end I decided to use the beads to narrow the perceived waist of the dress.  Since I used a truly Tutor style bodice, it had a thick look to the middle.  I wanted to narrow it, so I did a filled blackwork section on the right and the left to make the waistline look narrow.  

Before:

After: 

I continued the fishing line black lines on the sleeves and the underskirt.  Both turned out remarkably well, especially when I found some flat lace which mimicked the later styles of blackwork.  I will explain how I put together the underskirt in the next post.  For now, you get a picture of the finished product.

I love the way these turned out.  I have a vague idea about how this bodice will eventually flush out, here is my initial pinning.   (In this picture I haven't completed the right side of the filled blackwork, however I have added the velvet trim around the bead work.  I really think it is lovely.  

UP NEXT: THE UNDERSKIRT