HOLBEIN STITCH | Step by Step 16th Century Blackwork Embroidery

Holbein stitch, also referred to as double-running stitch or Spanish stitch, is a reversible stitch used in early 16th century blackwork embroidery. Follow along step by step as I embroider a flower inside of a braided diamond pattern. Both of these patterns are located on Jane Bostocke's embroidery sampler from 1598, currently at the V&A Museum in London. 

 

 

 

 

 

Hans Holbein the Younger was an artist from the early half of the 16th century, who became a court painter for King Henry VIII of England. The blackwork embroidery in so many of his portraits were so detailed that this particular type of double-running stitch (also known as Spanish Work) earned the nickname of Holbein Stitch.