A close-up photo of a blackwork embroidery sampler on white Aida cloth in a bamboo hoop. The sampler consists of squares filled with abstract geometric motifs stitched in shades of teal thread.

A photo of a blackwork embroidery sampler on white Aida cloth. The sampler consists of sixteen squares filled with abstract geometric motifs stitched in shades of teal thread.

#TBT to April 2021 and one of my early sampler designs. #Blackwork #embroidery on 14-count Aida.

Pattern here: www.loosethreadstitchery.com/shop/p/black...

A photo of an incomplete piece of blackwork embroidery on black Aida cloth. The piece shows a firefly, its forewings partly open. A glow, represented in a fading blackwork motif, emanates from its abdomen. The firefly is only partly outlined.

A little firefly this #WIPWednesday. I'm using DMC E940 for the abdomen, the glow, and the outlines, and it turns out the tricky part isn't stitching with glow-in-the-dark floss; it's photographing it! #Blackwork #embroidery on 14-count Aida.

I'd probably use iridescent white, but I can see metallic silver or gold too!

I have a desk lamp that shines on the top of my work, and I try to keep something bright behind it. That can be a white pillow on my lap or my white desk, or it can be a laptop or tablet with the screen on low. 2/2

My usual setup isn't really set up right now as I'm getting ready to move, but the key to working on black Aida is good lighting. You want plenty of light on your work, but also a bit of backlighting - not so much that the holes become blinding pinpricks, but enough that they're visible 1/

Happy Trans Day of Visibility!

Thanks! It's blackwork - it's a type of counted work like cross stitch, and can easily be done on Aida cloth, but uses straight stitch, backstitch, and often double running/Holbein stitch.

Thank you, and enjoy your experiments! Bright colours on black Aida is one of my favourite looks (if you haven't used it before, I suggest good lighting and also some backlighting when working on black).

One stitch at a time! The stitches are quite simple, just a mix of straight stitches and backstitch. I work out the design beforehand, and from there it's just following my own pattern.

Thanks!

Thank you!

Thanks!

Thanks! It's a very meditative sort of stitching.

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thanks!

A close-up photo of an incomplete piece of blackwork embroidery on black Aida cloth. The piece consists of a repetitive geometric background in white thread which creates miniature heart-shaped spaces. Some of these spaces are filled with motifs in purple, blue, green, and yellow thread; others are not yet filled in.

Sunday stitches. #Blackwork #embroidery on 14-count Aida.

Thank you!

A photo of a piece of cross stitch on white Aida cloth. It reads "My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me. - Jane Austen". The word "courage" is rainbow-coloured; the rest of the quote is in black thread. A blackwork frame in black and rainbow thread surrounds the quote.

Once again today, posting this for everyone who cannot bear to be frightened at the will of others.

Which do you find the easiest to work with? Are there are any that feel reasonably smooth to the touch? I love the look of metallics, but not the feel, and find them a bit of a pain to work with, so I don't use them as often as I'd like.

A photo of a blackwork embroidery sampler on black Aida cloth. A central square filled with a red motif is surrounded by irregular octagons in which orange and yellow thread form a gradient. The sections are arranged in a very stylized geometric flower shape, with each petal topped with a square motif in pale yellow.

A close-up photo of a blackwork embroidery sampler on black Aida cloth. A central square filled with a red motif is surrounded by irregular octagons in which orange and yellow thread form a gradient. The sections are arranged in a very stylized geometric flower shape, with each petal topped with a square motif in pale yellow.

A close-up photo of a blackwork embroidery sampler on black Aida cloth. A central square filled with a red motif is surrounded by irregular octagons in which orange and yellow thread form a gradient. The sections are arranged in a very stylized geometric flower shape, with each petal topped with a square motif in pale yellow.

#TBT to the Fire Flower sampler, from March 2024. #blackwork #embroidery on 14-count Aida.

Pattern here: www.loosethreadstitchery.com/shop/p/fire-...

#craftsky #stitchsky

A close-up photo of an incomplete piece of blackwork embroidery on black Aida cloth. A repetitive heart-lattice pattern is worked in white thread. A rectangular area remains unstitched.

Sunday stitches. Nearly finished the background before I move on to the more varied motifs! #Blackwork #embroidery on 14-count Aida.

It's beautiful!

... but for finished things and designs with more colours, I've mostly switched to MacStitch (Windows version is WinStitch). It's paid software, but a one-time fee rather than a subscription, and there's a demo version as well.

Of course! Most of my older patterns were done in Karo Graph, a little free program for Mac. It's not meant for cross stitch/blackwork design, but does let you draw lines on a grid and export to .pdf. I still like it for doodling...

A close-up photo of a blackwork embroidery sampler on white Aida cloth. It consists of multiple squares, each filled with an abstract geometric motif in shades of orange-red thread. A bamboo embroidery hoop is visible in the lower left corner.

#TBT to March 2022. Where does the time go? #Blackwork #embroidery on 14-count Aida.

Pattern here: www.loosethreadstitchery.com/shop/p/fiveb...

A close-up photo of blackwork embroidery on black Aida cloth. A repetitive heart-lattice pattern is worked in white thread.

Sunday stitches. Not much to see so far, but the background of this one will take awhile. #Blackwork #embroidery on 14-count Aida.

Looking for a new #crossstitch pattern? (that are not AI or pattern milled!)

All patterns at clickstitch.app/patterns are created by cross-stitch designers or fellow stitchers!

Here's an example of some wonderful patterns designed by @buzybobbins.bsky.social 😊

Thanks!

A photo of a blackwork embroidery sampler on white Aida cloth. Irregular sections form a sixteen-pointed star shape. Each section is filled with a geometric motif in shades of blue, purple, and dark red. The fills thin out toward the points of the star so that they appear to be fading.

#TBT to the blues of March 2023. #Blackwork #embroidery on 16-count Aida.

Pattern here: www.loosethreadstitchery.com/shop/p/black...