Blackwork Embroidery (Dover Crafts: Embroidery & Needlepoint)

This book was written in 1965, but I highly esteem this book because first it talks about the history of Blackwork Embroidery and have historical pictures which I am a Fan of costume. However this first section is over 1/4 of the book on the "Historical Survey and abridged Bibliography" which can be boring and a waste of time if you are a person that is looking for a modern book with color pictures and focusing more on learning the techniques that shows step-by step instructions with picture of the stitches being demonstration on fabric and using a grid to show you the patterns; I would suggest a modern book for you which is "Beginner's Guide to Blackwork by Lesley Wilkins." This book works for me because the authors of this book not only show you the wonderful needlework of blackwork embroidery but of Fine Art using collage design in the value tone using newspaper and black paper. The author shows you in the Design section with newspaper collage how a strong tone contrast looks, a limited tones, and a wider variation in tone and texture. Also, to any art teachers that is reading this comment this would be a great art project for collage using different fonts of newspaper (headline, smaller title and the reading text) and with black paper in understand the tone values. I highly recommend this book to history lover and anyone that need a good reference book about designing repeat pattern and understand the tone values in designing your repeat patterns and my appreciation to Blackwork Embroidery. I gave this book 5 stars because it is a wealth of information for me that has inspired me in my doodling of geometric repeat pattern. PenandInk

I bought this book way back in the 1980s. Then it was lost, so I bought it again. I d blackwork and this has been a valuable resource. When I first bought it, I did 3 samplers, learning the stitches. I still use this book to gain ideas, recheck the how's and plan my next project.

This is an old book reissued but the basics are there plus a lot of history. It is dated, so if you're looking for something that screams 2000s you'll be disappointed, this is more 1970s in the sections where it discusses adapting blackwork to "contemporary" designs. That doesn't bother me but it might bother you. I think the book's other merits far outweigh that particular detail amd even with the out-of-date "new" designs it gives you a good foundation for designing your own embroidered pieces using various blackwork stitches.

This book is most definitive and inspiring. Beside supplying all the historical information on blackwork, it has wonderful contemporary designs. This is a must for anyone interested in Blackwork.

Geddes writes a consise overview of the history of Blackwork that is easy to read and digest. She references many authors, paintings, and such; but there is NO bibliography. patterns are included, but are NOT referenced, so they cannot be used as documentation on a reproduction. Excellent B&W reproductions of famous 16c. paintings.

More patterns that were helpful for creating my own work. Some of the photos were redundant from most other books on the subject, But this book will be very useful to me.

It gives lots of good info and history, but not as many patterns as I had hoped.

The history in good but basically this is a reprint of an older book. The patterns are so fuzzy as to be unusable.

part of my wifes christmas gifts she is highly delighted with it delivered in good condition

If you are trying to learn the art of blackwork, don't waste your money on this book. There is no real instructions for anything and very small grainy black and white pictures of finished pieces. Probably antique or something along those lines. If it were posible to give minus star ratings, I would give the book a -10 stars

Bought two books, one for the teacher and one for myself. Although both were the same price, one was in much better condition than the other. Of course, I gave the better one to the teacher

An interesting book for someone who has already done blackwork. It was published in 1976 and this shows in its style, so I would not recommend it for a complete beginner. As I went for the used version, it was most certainly worth every penny.

J'ai été tellement déçue par ce livre, entièrement en anglais, ça je pouvais encore m'en accommoder si il avait eu des schémas plus précis. La plupart des modèles présentés sont vraiment très modernes, de plus je n'ai pas les aptitudes nécessaires pour passer d'un dessin au crayon à une réalisation en broderie. Je reste sur ma faim, car ce livre présente beaucoup de variantes des ponts de blackwork, mais pour moi, il est inutilisable en l'état.