A CATALOG OF FINE NEEDLEWORK DESIGNS AND SUPPLIES

BLACKWORK DESIGNS

Doors of Kew

When I visit London I am based in Kew Gardens, a Georgian suburb of London on the Thames River.  Home to the famous Kew Botanical Gardens and Kew Palace as well as the British National Archives, Kew has many charming row houses with stained glass door panels.  Libby Streuli designed the colored cross stitch stained glass portion of these designs and I created the blackwork backgrounds.

When Libby and I set out to create stitchable reminders of these panels, we used the actual name of the home or the street number of  the house where the original door serves as an entry.

The space we used for these numbers or names are suitable for your use to memorialize a name or a date.  Several stitchers have inserted the street number of their own home.

All of the charts use few colors and substitutions of other colors to fit your home décor is easily accomplished.

Number 15

Number 28

Number 15 and Number 28 make a lovely pair with a dense blackwork background.  As with all of the Kew Doors charts, you may opt to stitch only the center motifs by themselves or you may want to use the filling patterns we've provided to create new designs or substitute for patterns in other designs.

The door at Number 19 is special in that it is one of the few panels using opaque/milk glass in its design.

Number 19

Tarbock

Tarbock's bright and whimsical flowers are echoed in the Blackwork filling pattern.  Just the thing to brighten a gloomy corner.

The home named Sandy Combe has two panels inserted into its entry doors.  The blackwork backgrounds designed for this set of charts have differences that are very subtle.

Sandy Combe II

Sandy Combe I

We've stitched Number 38 and Number 75 in very William Morris sort of colors but they can easily be changed to reflect your personal taste.

To carry on the Arts and Crafts feeling of these designs we've brought you background filling patterns in trellis and a basketweave  designs.  These are interesting as part of the Kew Doors charts, but equally useful as filling patterns for other projects.

Number 38

Number 75

The Lines and Sunny Dene are bright and chearful citrus shaded designs with Art Deco cartouches which are useful for stitching bookmarks or other small projects as well as for these designs.  The blackwork panels evoke the spirit of over-the-moon Victorian beaded curtains.

We've stitched our models on 18ct Damask Aida but they are suitable for any sort of evenweave or linen.  We've seen one studding example stitched over 1 on 36ct linen.

The Limes

Sunny Dene