History of Redwork
 

I'd like to express a little difference of opinion with today's Article. Regarding Redwork, the article says that red was used, then blue was used, and " Today there really are no rules as far as color choice only that you use the same color for the entire project." Who has made this rule and why? I was taught to embroider by my mother who was born in 1918, and my grandmother who was born in 1892. They taught me to do all my redwork style embroidery in multi-colors, which was also the way other old women in our town embroidered. What is now called Redwork was a style of embroidery to us. Roses were normally done in red, pink, or yellow; leaves and stems were always 1 or more shades of green; violets could be blue or purple; etc. My hometown was settled in 1877 and, though small, had heritage from different areas of the U.S. and Europe. Maybe this style of embroidery was spread among their little group, but my husband's grandmother who had never met anyone from my hometown also handed down embroidered pieces done this way. I have to believe that at some point the style was to embroider in several colors. Not trying to start an argument or hurt any feelings, these are just my thoughts on the subject. What are yours?

Hi Shirley,
I believe they are talking about RED work. A specific type of outline embroidery. It is when you use all red embroidery thread to do a picture or image. Not just embroidering itself. It was a craze and started during the Victorian era. You see?

I love redwork and have made many many pieces. It is important to add the blue colored pieces were called Blue work.

Here it is more often referred to as Kensington, made popular by the Kensington School for Girls in the 1880s which as you say was done in red then blue, I believe it is more about the style of stiches as well, I understand that backstitch and outline stitches were the only ones used originally. I remember reading somewhere that red was used because it was a strong colour and less likely to fade or bleed. I have also seen more modern pieces of redwork/kensington done in various colours. As to who made the rule about colour - don't know, think it was red from a purely practical point of view - interesting to see what others have to say

I think of redwork as being an outline stitch, which was originally done in red. Like you, I have used many colors in a single project, and why the heck not? I am currently working on a project using black thread, and I thought about changing it up but then figured, I might get sick of any other color, and I don't want this one red, so I'm sticking with black. But I just as easily could have used lots of colors and that would have been nice.

I have a friend who I tried to get to embroider with me, but she thought it was too time-consuming. When she saw that I just outline and don't completely fill it in, she was more interested. Redwork is the only kind of embroidery I do, just not only in red!

For some reason I'm thinking there's a blackwork too that uses different stitches than redwork.
I haven't attempted any of the single color embroidery. I've just done regular embroidery on applique work for my grand niece's quilt.
Rodney

Thanks Ladies. It's a relief to know that some understand what I'm talking about. Yes, all the embroidery I was taught was outline stitching only. Most of the work was done in stem (outline) stitch. Loop (lazy daisy) stitches were acceptable for tiny leaves or daisies. French knots were used for dots. I learned other stitches but never had any use for them until I learned Crewel many years later.

Yes, there is also blackwork and whitework, which I understand (could be mistaken) to be the same as redwork and bluework, with the only difference being which color of floss is used for all the embroidery.

Black work is an entirely different form of embroidery. It is a form where areas are filled with repetitive patterns that are stitched, traditionally in black but now in other colors but almost always just one color.

Embroidery work is using the right colors in the right places example yellow flower. I do redwork. Simply outline all the stitching with red thread.