Contrary to popular belief, what we call Blackwork embroidery was equally popular in blue and red, and frequently combined a second color for accents as well.
I designed this piece as the third and final project for my July 2002 Blackwork Embroidery class. The "cartoon" is the pattern for the outline of the dragon, and creates individual sections of the body. Each section is then filled with a blackwork "diaper" pattern that repeats. The choice of filling pattern is left to the stitcher. The outlines are worked first, in double running stitch. After fillings are added, the double running stitch is overcast, or whipped, to make the outlines heavier and without break.
The border can be worked reversibly. Not all the fillings can be worked reversibly because motifs are not connected.
