Blackwork, sometimes historically termed Spanish blackwork, is a form of embroidery generally using black thread, although other colors are also used on occasion. Sometimes it is counted-thread embroidery which is usually stitched on even-weave fabric. Any black thread can be used, but firmly twisted threads give a better look than embroidery floss. Traditionally blackwork is stitched in silk thread on white or off-white linen or cotton fabric. Sometimes metallic threads or coloured threads are used for accents.
A knitting needle or knitting pin is a tool in hand-knitting to produce knitted fabrics. They generally have a long shaft and taper at their end, but they are not nearly as sharp as sewing needles. Their purpose is two-fold. The long shaft holds the active (unsecured) stitches of the fabric, to prevent them from unravelling, whereas the tapered ends are used to form new stitches. Most commonly, a new stitch is formed by inserting the tapered end through an active stitch, catching a loop of fresh yarn and drawing it through the stitch; this secures the initial stitch and forms a new active stitch in its place. In specialized forms of knitting the needle may be passed between active stitches being held on another needle, or indeed between/through inactive stitches that have been knit previously.
Guipure lace is a type of bobbin lace. It connects the motifs with bars or plaits rather than net or mesh.
Broderie anglaise is a whitework needlework technique incorporating features of embroidery, cutwork and needle lace that became associated with England, due to its popularity there in the 19th century.
Antwerp lace is a bobbin lace distinguished by stylized flower pot motifs on a six point star ground. It originated in Antwerp, where in the 17th century an estimated 50% of the population of Antwerp was involved in lace making. Antwerp lace is also known, from its familiar repeated motif, as Pot Lace— in Dutch Pottenkant or Potten Kant. It is sometimes said that the flowers were a depiction of the Annunciation lilies; however, the flowers were not limited to lilies.
Combined knitting or combination knitting is a style that combines elements of Eastern-style knitting with the Western techniques. The name was suggested by Mary Thomas in her 1938 book "Mary Thomas's Knitting Book", where she described the technique as "..the better way to work in Flat Knitting. The resulting fabric is more even and closer in construction." By wrapping the yarn the opposite way while purling, the knitter changes the orientation of the resulting loops; then the next row's knit stitches can be formed by inserting the needle through the back leg, rather than through the front leg, without twisting the stitch. This technique is suitable for all knitted fabrics from the basic Stockinette stitch, to any other style, such as Fair Isle, circular knitting, or lace knitting.
In art and iconography, a motif(pronunciation) (help·info) is an element of an image. A motif may be repeated in a pattern or design, often many times, or may just occur once in a work.
Elizabeth Zimmermann was a British-born hand knitting teacher and designer. She revolutionized the modern practice of knitting through her books and instructional series on American public television.
Mary Brooks Picken was an American author of 96 books on needlework, sewing, and textile arts. Her Fashion Dictionary, published by Funk and Wagnalls in 1957, is the first dictionary in the English language to be published by a woman.
Alice Starmore is a professional needleworker, photographer and author of books on needlework, born in Stornoway, Western Isles, Scotland. As an author she is best known for her widely-read Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting, a guide to the complex technique of knitting pullovers and other items using a palette of five colours, on which she is an acknowledged expert. Her photographic work is devoted to the natural world, especially birds and insects.
Lace knitting is a style of knitting characterized by stable "holes" in the fabric arranged with consideration of aesthetic value. Lace is sometimes considered the pinnacle of knitting, because of its complexity and because woven fabrics cannot easily be made to have holes. Famous examples include the wedding ring shawl of Shetland knitting, a shawl so fine that it could be drawn through a wedding ring. Shetland knitted lace became extremely popular in Victorian England when Queen Victoria became a Shetland lace enthusiast. Her enthusiasm resulted i.a. in her choosing knitted lacework for presents; e.g. when in ca. 1897 the Queen gave a lace shawl as a present to American abolitionist Harriet Tubman. From there, knitting patterns for the shawls were printed in English women's magazines where they were copied in Iceland with single ply wool.
In knitting, ribbing is a pattern in which vertical stripes of stockinette stitch alternate with vertical stripes of reverse stockinette stitch. These two types of stripes may be separated by other stripes in which knit and purl stitches alternate vertically; such plissé stripes add width and depth to ribbing but not more elasticity.
In knitting, welting is the horizontal analog of ribbing; that is, one or more horizontal rows of knit stitches alternating with one or more rows of purl stitches.
In knitting, a plaited stitch is a single knitted stitch that is twisted clockwise or counterclockwise, usually by one half-turn (180°) but sometimes by a full turn (360°) or more.
Federico de Vinciolo or Federico Vinciolo was a sixteenth-century lace-maker and pattern designer attached to the court of Henry II of France. He was granted a monopoly on manufacturing lace ruffs in France.
Walter Weldon FRS FRSE was a 19th-century English industrial chemist and journalist. He was President of the Society of Chemical Industry 1883/84.
Arras lace refers to a form of pure white bobbin lace that was made at Arras, France, from the 17th to 19th centuries. It is similar to, but stronger than Lille lace. Arras also produced gold lace and a lightweight lace called mignonette.
Eliza Warren née Jervis (1810–1900) was an English writer on needlework and household management, and editor of the Ladies' Treasury magazine. She was best-known professionally by the pen-name Mrs. Warren, but after a second marriage was also known as Eliza Francis and Eliza Warren Francis.
Matilda Marian Pullan —also writing under the pen names Mrs. Pullan and Aiguillette— was a prolific and influential 19th century British writer on needlework who contributed columns to a wide selection of periodicals in the 1840s and 1850s. She was the author of numerous books on needlework, especially the decorative forms known as fancywork, and she wrote a comprehensive encyclopedia on the subject. She was also an extremely successful businesswoman who ran a needlework supply shop that expanded to become a mail order business. Towards the end of her life, she moved to America, where she opened a consulting business whose clients included the actor Laura Keene.
Mary Card was an Australian designer and educator.
