Needlework Sampler - An amazing history

Although I have been sewing since I was a small child I have never come across a sampler and was thrilled to bits when my friend Dinah brought her Nan’s sampler for me to see.   

 

What a treasure!

I was so excited by this extraordinary piece of work that I immediately began researching samplers and their history and thought to share this with you.

Nan’s sampler is an example of a utilitarian piece of work and was made in the early 1900’s whilst she and her sister were being taken care of at a convent after becoming orphaned.  Their mother died in childbirth and when their father discovered that he was dying of tuberculosis he made plans for his children to be taken care of and the girls, Nan being just seven years old, were taken into the convent.

 Nan’s ambition was to be a nanny to children and as part of her training she produced her sampler as a demonstration of her competence in needlework and used this as her CV whilst looking for employment.  The sampler is made from linen and contains "pages" of needlework examples including alphabet cross stitch, sample size clothing items such as sleeves, waistbands, gussets and demonstrating button holes, embroidery and stitching.  Also in her collection are fragile paper miniature dresses sewn by hand with paper “lace” surrounds, sleeves and hems which I can only imagine must have taken a very steady hand and a lot of patience.

Nan’s sampler is estimated to be a hundred years old and whilst the material items are slightly discoloured with age the needlework is pristine and the sampler is strong and robust.

Apparently the earliest dated English sampler was made by Jane Bostockein 1598 to celebrate the birth of a child and is made from linen, embroidered with silk and metal thread including a variety of complicated stitching, pearls and beads.  This beautiful sampler is housed at the Victoria and Albert museum.

Highly valued early English samplers were long and narrow ribbons containing a variety of designs including alphabets and often cut or pulled thread work.  During the 17th century the style of sampler changed to spot samplers which were generally made up of numerous patterns, stitches and techniques using a metallic thread in various braid and knot stitches including tent, Florentine, satin, Hungarian, stem, back stitch, queen stitch, eyelet, Roman, reversible cross, diamond eyelet, wrapping, long armed cross, herringbone and trellis.

During the 18th and 19th century samplers began resembling pictures with decorative borders, birds, animals and flowers and occasionally verses.  Samplers became displays of achievement with school girls working samplers as part of their education, producing needlework exercises of maps, almanacs and mathematical tables.

Minature paper dress with paper "frill"

 

The "pages" of Nan's sampler

Samplers are mentioned in the book The Art of Clothing: a pacific experience by Susanne Küchler, Graeme Were (Chapter 5, Page 76) and references can be found on websites such as Wikipedia showing some fascinating pictures of samplers from 1760, 1791 and 1805.