Samplers

‘The sampler, worked as an end in itself or as a show piece to hang upon the wall and showing no progress or development, has merely its decorative value, whatever that may be. The sampler worked as a means of steadily collecting a store of stitch technique, colour, and pattern notes for reference, has a lasting and increasing value to the worker, although it may be anything but a thing of beauty to other people.’

Anne Brandon Jones. Colour Pattern for Embroidery 1929

Brandon Jones recommends making a sampler of the latter type: short rows of each stitch, with variations and combinations. She suggests using a narrow strip of fabric, adding additional strips as necessary, ‘by means of decorative seams‘. A bit like Sharon Boggon’s For the Love of Stitching sampler.

When I was researching the history of UK embroidery for City & Guilds, I was struck by the way the function of samplers changed over the centuries. The early, 16thC practical samplers were made, just like those of Anne Brandon Jones and Sharon Boggon, by women who wanted to record new stitches and test out ideas. Gradually, over the next few centuries the purpose of most samplers changed from a record of ideas and techniques to something which measured and recorded a girl’s attainment. Some of the band samplers made for this purpose in the 17th and 18th centuries are, in my opinion, among the most beautiful pieces of needlework ever made. Even the utilitarian darning samples from this period are beautiful.

And then, somehow, samplers changed from including a wide variety of stitches, or patterns like 19th C woolwork samplers, to a few patterns, an alphabet, and some moralising words, all worked in cross stitch. It is said that alphabets were included so girls could both learn their letters, and how to mark linen for the laundry, but that was true in earlier centuries also.

Here I have to state that I am not a fan of cross stitch. I find it boring to work, and in many cases uninspiring to look at. So why did it become the stitch of choice to impose on young girls in the name of teaching them letters, and morality? And why is it still so popular? There are much more interesting stitches to try!