Drafting Historical Embroidery Patterns

Some museums allow for viewers to zoom in on a picture to the point where you can literally count the embroidery stitches on an item.

I did a video showing step by step on how I draft historical embroidery patterns (using the reversible stitch, aka blackwork or Holbein stitch, as examples from a 17th century embroidery sampler at the Cleveland Museum of Art). 

For this particular sampler, the reversible stitch embroidery was done with silk thread by skipping every other hole on the linen fabric. In other words, the thread and needle went up one hole, skipped a hole, and down into the next hole (and then the same on the under-side).

 

Here are some of the embroidery patterns featured in the above video:

More patterns from this sampler, as well as other samplers, can be found on my Pinterest page.