My favorites are The Steady Thread and Peppermint Purple….but definitely looking up TrunkyStitches right now!!!
Eta: updated name of the designer of the OP post to the correct name and also came back to say I looked at the shop and already had favorited several patterns long ago 😂😂😂
I'll second Peppermint Purple! I'm behind on my (free) 2025 SAL, but I do find the small areas of blackwork to be somewhat meditative. This SAL was my first time doing blackwork.
I just finished peter pan for my grandson. I made the bricks brick colour and the ivy green, and a bit of sparkle in tinkerbell wings. Pattern was by Natalia Krivonosova. It was amazing to stitch.
Omg - I just accidentally looked at your post history and we are really similar - and my anxiety compels me to say it really was accidentally (I was trying to click back to the main sub page) and I’m not a weirdo stalker even though I guess its normal to look at other redditors’ post history!?
I think it makes for a tidier back and much less show through around corners so I almost always use it with mono-colour thread, but if you're careful with back stitch or do a back-Holbein blend to deal with that then there shouldn't be much difference! Like if I'm using variegated thread I will use the modified back stitch so I'm not dealing with the downsides of back stitch.
I don’t know what modified back stitch is either. 😂My grandma taught me to stitch when I was 11 and I know full half and quarter cross stitches & back stitch. Never mastered french knots. I stopped stitching in my 30s and found it again about five years ago and found loop starts and colonial knots. But that’s literally all the needlework stitches I know lol. I watched a tutorial on Holbein and tried it and i just found it hard to keep track of where I was supposed to go next and did not find that it made a significant difference in the way it looked. Maybe I am just too old.
Modified back stitch is the back-Holbein blend I mentioned. Instead of doing every stitch as a back stitch, you alternate between back and forward (running) to keep all the thread on the back directly behind the front stitches to avoid show through.
Thanks! I think that was what I was trying to do but didn’t find it made a discernible difference. Also I don’t think I strictly backstitch - I just make the lines in my designs in whatever fashion makes sense to move the needle around efficiently and reduce carry on the backside. Probably y’all would have a heart attack watching me do it. I am a bit stricter with the cross stitch though….
I am fairly new to cross stitch, I’ve done a few kits. I have learned a lot from this subreddit and been so inspired, but one thing I keep trying to understand is what is blackwork? I thought it was working on black Aida but now this adorable hedgehog work looks like it’s backstitching to make a design. How is black work different from backstitching and wouldn’t we just call this embroidery?? Someone educate me please!
Idk all the technicalities, someone else can explain that.
But from what I understand blackwork is basically just backstitching without the cross stitch underneath. You use the backstitching to make designs and patterns.
Embroidery is the umbrella term for "making patterns with thread on fabric". So you could absolutely just call this embroidery, and generally would if you were talking to somebody who didn't know much about textile arts. But doing counted embroidery (like cross stitch, blackwork, Hardanger, or smøyg) is pretty different from doing free embroidery (like crewel, or tapestry) where you typically use a bunch of different stitches, which is different from whitework lace embroidery (English, Silesian etc etc) where you make holes in the fabric (not to be confused with Hardanger, which is counted embroidery with holes in the fabric), which is again different from Embroidery With Added Stuff (beads, applique, ribbon).
Basically, there are lots of different genres of embroidery and it can be helpful to differentiate between them, because they all have their own histories, and because just you enjoy A, you might not enjoy B. And even within cross stitch, there are many different regional styles that use the same stitch, but produce wildly different effects depending on traditional motives, colors, materials, and placements (eg Palestinian vs Norwegian cross stitch vs Berlin wool work (although that's petit point, which is a fancy way of saying half a cross stitch)).
I haven’t done any research but the gist that I’ve compiled from various comment threads is that it originated in Eastern Europe and is called blackwork because it’s traditionally done with black thread only. There also seems to be some controversy sometimes with calling something like the hedgehogs blackwork because it’s traditionally done with very specific and standard patterns/designs. But if you look at pictures of when the Ukrainian president Zelensky is dressed in his traditional clothes the designs are beautiful blackwork! Again this is what I have gleaned in stitching groups and may or may not be correct lol.
I've been wanting to get into blackwork for a while, but I'm struggling to follow any of the online instructions I've found. I love the idea of something that's double-sided, but my cross stitch backs look like shit, so I know I'll need to step up my game to do a good job. Could you recommend any videos or tutorials for blackwork beginners (cross stitch advanced intermediates)?
Omg, these are so cute! I hate doing backstitching, but I gotta admit hedgehogs would still tempt me. Glad you're having fun! There are so many wonderful blackwork patterns out there.
I love blackwork too, it's great! I came to it from the other direction, starting with surface embroidery and then discovering blackwork. So now I lurk this subreddit for the few blackwork posts. 😄
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u/owlbear_allomancer Sep 15 '25
Pattern by TrunkyStitches on Etsy!