Blackwork Pattern Collection Book Review

Edith Bloecger, self-published, Germany, 2021, ISBN: 978873101160

This delightful book is small enough to fit in a project bag but is so rich in information and ideas you’ll want to use it on several projects at once.

The patterns are at the heart of the book, over 60 pages of them, ranging from small fill patterns to large medallions and borders. In the end, there are several fully charted projects showing many of these patterns in use.

The best part of the book is the introductory chapter which has some of the most straightforward explanations and illustrations of Blackwork I’ve ever seen. First, she shows the three basic stitches used in Blackwork with a large diagram as high as the page. Next, she shows the steps in Doule Running Stitch, so this stitch’s concept is clear.

Next, we see how Blackwork looks in a chart, on evenweave fabric (i.e., needlepoint canvas) and Aida fabric. I love this because stitchers new to the technique or changing from one type of fabric to another can easily look at this information to get oriented.

After this, another pattern is shown, with numbering, so you can easily see how a simple pattern can be stitched. The following pages show how items often found in Blackwork patterns, such as squares, can be stitched and connected.

These pages give you a quick but thorough introduction and will be helpful for any stitcher without giving you tons of history or bogging you down by insisting there is one right way to stitch.

The final three pages of the introduction broaden the horizon by discussing light and dark in patterns (this depends on the density of the pattern), the use of different thread weights to create accents, and thread/fabric combinations.

I have many books on Blackwork and have designed and adapted many patterns myself. However, this book has so many new and exciting patterns I can’t wait to use them.

This book is published through Amazon’s printing service. The company has printing plants all over the world. Even though this is a German book, it is written in English and arrives quickly because it is printed at the nearest facility. For example, my book was printed on 2/21 in Las Vegas, and I received it on 2/24.