Blackwork for Agecroft

We had a real treat for our January program - a special program held on a Saturday. It was taught by our own Jean Connelly; who was recently awarded a Mastercraftsman certificate for Counted Thread and had her Blackwork step to show us her impressive skills. As well as a couple of coifs, Agecroft Hall also mentioned that a couple of handkerchiefs and sweet bags would be welcome. Well, what better to decorate a handkerchief than blackwork! Jean designed a lovely pattern that could be worked as a set of accessories or multiple rows could be combined as a wide border.

Jean was an excellent teacher and made us all feel better by telling us she didn't like blackwork the first time she tried it, but once she figured out the paths, it was fun. So with her help, we all started to learn how to do blackwork.

Lots of concentration going on.

And here are Jean's samples. The pincushion (2 pieces on the left) isn't finished so we can see the back. The wide handkerchief border on the right is really 5 fairly easy rows - doesn't it look complex! We are going to try to make at least one handkerchief as a round-robin so everyone can get a chance to work on it, just like the coif.
Many thanks to Jean for her teaching and patterns, and great instructions. And also to Diana for organizing this Outreach Program.